The Persian Revolution Of 1905 1909

Many dangers and many anxious days lie without doubt before the new Persia. Over eight decades later, Edward Browne's fears and hopes have a special resonance in the minds of contemporary readers. The Persian Revolution of 1905-1909, an account of one episode in Iran's eventful annals, has maintained its relevance and freshness, even after the occurrence of a revolution more intense and all-embracing than the Constitutional Revolution of 1906-11. When the aspirations of the Constitutional period are contrasted with those of the more recent revolution, the irony is poignant and inescapable, especially when it is noted that the occurrence of the second revolution was a distant protest against the failure of the first. What Browne primarily intended to achieve in his book was to allow the voice of the Persian people to be heard by his Western audience.He tried to demonstrate to his readers that the tumultuous events they were witnessing in Iran, often with suspicion if not disdain, were in fact no less than a genuine struggle by an oppressed and impoverished nation to establish a constitutional order despite the overwhelming odds of domestic tyranny, foreign intervention, and ideological divisions. The Persian Revolution was more than a simple record of a revolution, for it influenced the very course of events it covered in its pages. An essential volume for anyone attempting to understand Persia's past and present, this new edition features an introduction by Abbas Amanat, Browne's correspondences, and contemporary reviews of the book, all of which provide a rich context for The Persian Revolution of 1905-1909. Also included are 56 period photographs. Originally published in 1910 by Cambridge University Press.

Excerpt from The Persian Revolution of 1905-1909 To discuss the general question of the value of small nationalities would, however, unduly enlarge this Preface; but, even those (and in these days they are, alas! Many) who would deny this value will perhaps admit that certain exceptional races, such as the Greeks in Europe, have contributed so much to the spiritual, intellectual and artistic wealth of the human race that they have an exceptional claim on our sympathies, and that their submergence must be reckoned a calamity which no expediency can justify. What Greece owes to this feeling is known to all, and I suppose that few would deny that modern Greece owes her independence to her ancient glories. And Persia, I venture to think, stands, in this respect, in the same category. Of all the ancient nations whose names are familiar to us Persia is almost the only one which still exists as an independent political unit within her old frontiers (sadly contracted, it is true, since Darius the Great caused to be en graved on the rocks of Bagastana or Bisutt'm, in characters still legible, the long list of the provinces which obeyed him and brought him tribute), inhabited by a people still wonderfully homogeneous, considering the vicissitudes through which they have passed, and still singularly resembling their ancient for bears. Again and again Persia has been apparently submerged by Greeks, Parthians, Arabs, Mongols, Tartars, Turks and Afghans; again and again she has been broken up into petty states ruled by tribal chiefs and yet she has hitherto always re emerged as a distinct nation with peculiar and well-marked idiosyncrasies. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

In order to understand Iran's religious revolution of 1978-1979, it is important to look closely at an earlier revolution in the country, the constitutional revolution of 1905-1909. This revolution, which resulted in the establishment of Iran's first parliamentary democracy, was a seminal event in the country's history. The most thorough and comprehensive history of the revolution to date, Bayat's book examines the uneasy alliance of clerical, bureaucratic, landowning, and mercantile elements that won the support of the masses for a more democratic government, especially the clerical dissidents that gave the revolution an aura of religious legitimacy. Bayat argues that the recent religious revival in Iran is much less surprising when one sees how constitutionalists at the beginning of the century had to couch their calls for reform in the language of the Koran, claiming that political reforms constituted a return to Islam.