XVIII. The First World War - Part I (1870-1896)
The events of the Great World War to the end of Naser Shah Qajar's reign (1731-1896)
From "The Clumsy Diplomats", by K. A. Arand, Armuza University Press (1898).
4 years into the First World War, in November 1866, a congress was held in the Mongolian-Australian mining city of Astrakhan, to which the hostile great powers consented to attend while observing a ceasefire. The gloominess of this city's iron smelters should have been taken as a sign by the world's diplomats who had gathered there, but instead their sunny idealism led them to press for all manner of ridiculous schemes, and in many cases to vote against their own interests.
The most tragic mistake, which doomed the talks from the start, was the refusal to invite a German delegation. Germany's army, in numbers at least, was the mightiest involved in the war, and by that measure alone they should have been guaranteed a seat. Their non-inclusion may have been engineered by the French, who had ambitious aims at the congress, and condoned by the untrusty Mongolian hosts, but it was certainly a failure of the Persian delegation that they did not insist of German representation as a condition for their own participation.
The pacts that were signed at that congress were recognised as sheer foolishness only months after they were signed, and are some of the best examples of failed diplomacy that the world has yet seen.
First, there was the the case of Frankfurt (or Francfort, as the French stubbornly insisted). The French had a weak claim, over a thousand years old, that the area was French-speaking before German settlers had moved in. Persia, Russia, and Spain were against this motion, but upon losing the vote, the the Persian delegates, to their shame, pressured the Germans to withdraw, in the interests of keeping the French at the table for the duration of the congress.
Following that, the Persian alliance formed a coalition of delegates to vote for re-assigning two Japanese cities - Athenai (on the Mediterranean) to Carthage, and Naha (on Borneo) to their own republic. In the face of the might of the Persian-German armies, the Japanese relented, handing over these cities, which had been drains on their economy, in the hopes of a lasting peace.
Everything, however, hinged on the Germans honouring the results of what had been a manifestly unfair process for them. The Germans honourably cooperated at first, but after a year of violent protests in their cities, reneged and sent their forces back into French lands in December 1867, plunging the world back into a war that was more bitter than it had been before the congress.
The results of the Astrakhan Congress of 1866
The allegro
When the war erupted again in early 1868 after its brief and false interlude, it took on a furious tempo.
Frankfurt quickly fell to the Germans and
independent Makkah to the Turks. Persian forces had to be rushed across the Indian Sea to Naha, to counter the
Japanese forces that were returning intent on retaking the city. They were requested by the Naha governors for the additional reason that Persia now had a land border on Borneo with China.
The Germans retake Frankfurt
The Turks capture Makkah/Mekke
The reinforcements arrive in Naha
From the beginning, the war had been fought with by subterfuge as well as with infantry, cavalry, and cannons. The Japanese codes that Leone Alberti had cracked 30 years earler were, amazingly, still being used by Japanese universities in their joint projects with the military establishment, and
Persian spies took advantage of this in 1866 by feeding misinformation into the research-military-industrial loop, rendering the work of Kyoto University useless. Similar espionage successes followed at other Japanese universities.
A spy operating in Kyoto University
Other developments
Persia's plans to settle the still-ungoverned regions of Africa were not stalled during the war, as the admirals now expressed confidence in their navy to be able to protect the important shipping lanes of the Indian Sea. Thus, in 1870, Persia, a latecomer to the enterprise of colonisation,
established its first overseas outpost, Gogana, on the east coast of Africa, in a region rich in dyes and, most importantly, oil.
The founding of Gogana
Also, as a consequence of Persia's bolder naval presence,
contact was reestablished with the kingdom of Portugal, which had surprisingly become one of the strongest nations in the west.
Portugal became an important market for the Persian fishing industry, and in return, middle class Persians developed an appetite for Portuguese wines. In a few short years, a defensive pact was also signed. Persia now had two reliable allies in the west - Spain and Portugal.
The prospering Kingdom of Portugal
The Japanese front
Soon after the resumption of hostilities after the failed Astrakhan talks, the Persian High Command revised its strategy on the Japanese city of Koushuu. Instability in the republic remained a constant worry, especially in the eastern, ethnic-Chinese areas. If Koushuu (formerly Chinese Guangzhou) was captured from the Japanese, there would be severe agitation from the Chinese population to return it to the government of China, and increased unrest if it were to become another Persian-governed city. Moreover, the city's history of revolts and the recent years of war had turned many areas of the city into uninhabitable rubble. Therefore, the decision was made, upon its relatively straightforward conquest in 1870, to
have the city razed and to evacuate its citizens. Although the Persian army attempted to provide for the basic needs of the refugees as they waited for passage to their homeland, the camps in the region of the abandoned city eventaully became squalid slums, and many refugees took to flimsy boats to attempt a perilous journey to the Japanese mainland.
The destruction of Guangzhou/Koushuu
Peace with China and Japan
In 1872,
peace was finally made with the revolutionary government of China. As a condition,
Persia insisted that physicists currently working at the academies of Beijing would be required to complete their projects before they could be repatriated to overseas China, as the advances they were close to making (describing the atomic properties of rare metals such as uranium) were deemed too important to let their work be interrupted. The period of peaceful Sino-Persian relations was brief, however, as in 1876 the overseas Chinese territories once again collapsed into a collection of warring fiefdoms.
The Sino-Persian Treaty of 1872
After 10 years of cold war with Japan following the destruction of Koushuu,
peace was also made when a delegation visited Kyouto in 1882.
The Persian-Japanese Treaty of 1882
The long road to Mongolia
The Persian military's attention had now been for some time fixed on the Mongolian front. The campaign had been slow, due to the difficult terrain in the north and the lack of even basic roads for the transport of troops. However, by 1882, Persian forces were in a commanding position in an arc along the souther borders of Mongolian territory.
The Mongolian front in 1882
The conquest of Ulaan-Ude marked a milestone in world military history, as, for the first time,
the bombardment of the city was assisted by modern airships. Although the firepower of these cumbersome aircraft was minimal, the psycological effect on the Mongolian population was no doubt significant. With the aid of cannon batteries,
the Persian cavalry and infantry captured the city with a minimum of casualities, most notably to the 16th Infantry, which was disbanded after a near total defeat on the front lines.
The Battle of Ulaan-Ude
The full world-war reignites
During the war, Scandinavia, still at war with Japan, and with an administration strained to the brink of collapse, began sending delegates to the meetings of the Central Asia Treaty Organisation (CATO), made up of the Persian Republic and its Satrapies. Initially they were granted observer status, but in October 1892,
they were welcomed as a full-fledged Satrapy of Scandanavia. This, of course, resulted in
a resumption of hostilities with the Japanese, who had not given up on their own hegemonic designs in Eurasia, and were not willing to quietly allow still one more nation to join the ever-growing Persian bloc.
The Satrapy of Scandinavia
The conquest of Ulaan Baatar proceeded generally along the same lines as that of Ulaan-Ude several years before, after miltary divisions, especailly new cannon batteries, were reconstituted -
cannons and airhips soften the defence, and a combination of cavalry and infantry (particularly the Nader Shah and Lotf Regiments) overwhlemed the city. Military commanders noted, though, that the reliance on cannons, and their constant need for replacement, was becoming a liability. The Persian government, hearing of these concerns,
initiated a joint research programme with the Scandinavians and Russians to develop more effective artillery.
The Battle of Ulaan Baatar
After 35 years of almost continual hostilities with Mongolia, and a steady rate of success in capturing Mongolian territory, the government in KharaKhorum was still unwilling to capitulate to Persian demands that it become a protectorate within CATO and the Persian bloc. Mililtary leaders were ashamed that they had not been able to bring to fruition the designs of their now-retired superiors. And in the year 1896, Naser Shah Qajar, the longest-living monarch in Persian history, died peacefully in his sleep, but with his country still in the grips of a world war.
