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The death by famine of tens of millions of human beings in Asia and
Africa during the Victorian era (1837-1901) is "the secret history
of the nineteenth century" about which Western history books
contain nothing. The Great Famine of 1869-1873 in Iran took 10-12
million lives, or two-thirds of the population, and is part of this
secret history. While the famines that ravaged China and India
during 1876 to 1902 have received some recent scrutiny, the
precursor of these cataclysmic famines, the Great Famine of
1869-1873 in Iran, has remained practically unknown. This study is
the first monograph on the subject in the English language. This
famine in Iran killed on a scale similar to the 1876-79 famine in
China, which has been called the worst to afflict the human
species. This study is based on British diplomatic reports and
semi-official sources, European travel accounts, Persian documents
and writings, British and American newspapers, and the reports by
American missionaries who witnessed the famine. These sources
enable one to provide a chronological and numerical account of the
death and suffering as the famine spread from the southern and
central regions to the rest of the country. The population
statistics and rich micro-level data on famine losses in rural and
urban areas indicate that during the nearly five years of famine,
two-thirds of the population had perished. Not until 1910 did Iran
come close to recovering its 1869 population. Soon after, Iran was
plunged into the Great Famine of 1917-19, which claimed another
8-10 million, and again the 1942-43 famine and typhus epidemic that
carried off an additional 4 million persons. In the seventy-five
year span of 1869-1944, Iran had suffered three famines that had
taken 25 million lives. Iran's 1944 population of 10-12 million was
unchanged from 11 million recorded in 1841, a perfect case of a
Malthusian catastrophe. It is difficult to find another country in
which a century of population growth had been wiped out by famine.
Having previously described and quantified the 1917-19 and 1942-43
famines, Majd does the same for the 1869-73 famine. This book is
the third of a trilogy on famines in Iran during the last 150
years.
Occupied Iran in World War II became the most important supply
route to Russia and source of fuel to the Allies. Having pledged to
meet Iran's "minimum needs", the Allies commandeered the means of
transport, seized food and fuel, severely restricted imports,
forced Iran to print money, brought Polish refugees from Russia,
and initially did little to contain the chaos and insecurity. The
resulting famine and typhus epidemic of 1942-43 had claimed 4
million lives amounting to a quarter of the population. This was in
addition to the 8-10 million lost in the Great Famine of 1917-19.
Iran's 1944 population was the same as 1900, a perfect case of a
Malthusian Catastrophe. Having previously described the World War I
famine, and using US diplomatic, military, and intelligence
records, as well as primary British sources, Majd completes the
task by also telling the story of the World War II Iranian famine.
Coming shortly after the British occupation of Iraq and the German
invasion of Russia, the Anglo-Russian occupation of Iran secured a
vital route for supplies to Russia and assured British control of
the oilfields. To save the Pahlavi regime, Reza Shah was replaced
by his son and Iranians were given a "New Deal." The Allied
occupation thus ushered in a brief period of democratic freedoms.
Having described the rise of Reza Shah in a previous work, Majd
completes the story by describing his downfall. The author has made
an extensive search of the widely scattered U.S. diplomatic and
military records and these are supplemented by reports in the The
New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Chicago Daily Tribune,
as well as other press accounts. More than seventy years later,
this interesting story has remained untold. August 1941 is the
first detailed and documented account of the affair.
The 1920s saw the creation of numerous new monarchies and regimes
in the Middle East. This book gives a detailed history of the new
regime change in Iran in the 1920s. Using U.S. State Department
archives, Mohammad Gholi Majd first describes the overthrow of the
Qajar dynasty, which ruled Iran since the 1790s, and its
replacement by the Pahlavi monarchy in 1925. He then describes the
consolidation of the new regime and suppression of the opposition
between 1926 and 1930. By 1931, resistance to the Pahlavi regime
and the harsh response thereto set the stage for a long struggle
between the Pahlavi monarchy and the Ulama that ended with the
Islamic Revolution in 1979. This book is the first detailed and
documented history of Iran during 1919-1930 in the English
language.
In the wake of World War I, British attempts to exclude American
oil companies from Iraq and Persia caused serious strains in
Anglo-American relations. In May 1921 an 'oil entente' was reached
that granted American oil companies an 'open door' and 'equal
opportunity' in Iraq, and in return America acknowledged British
domination of Persia and monopoly of its oil. This entente was soon
tested when Persians gave an oil concession to the Sinclair Oil
Company of New York and tried to rid themselves of the recently
installed Pahlavi dictatorship. It was in the midst of this unrest,
in May of 1924, that American Vice-Consul Robert Imbrie arrived in
Tehran. Almost immediately after his arrival, Imbrie began sending
reports to Washington that were highly critical of the British
policies in Persia. On July 18, 1924, Imbrie was brutally murdered
in Tehran, supposedly by a mob of religious fanatics. To save face
and avoid international complications, the U.S. government accepted
the Persian government's version of the killing. In this detailed
examination of Anglo-American, American-Persian, and Anglo-Persian
relations, author Mohammad Gholi Majd argues that Imbrie was in
fact the victim of a conspiracy. Using records of the U.S.
Department of State, this text examines how the murder enabled
Britain to maintain its monopoly of Persian oil and further
consolidate the Pahlavi dictatorship. The killing of Imbrie
ultimately facilitated the consummation of the Anglo-American oil
entente.
The victors of WWI created the modern Middle East, but little has
been written and even less is known about Iraq during WWI. Similar
to his earlier works on Persia, Dr. Majd combines extensive
research of U.S. State Department archives with official British
sources to create a timely history of Iraq from 1910 to 1918 that
will promote a better understanding of subsequent Iraqi and Middle
Eastern history. In 1914, Great Britain invaded Iraq and Persia to
gain control of the region's vast oil resources. With the Allies
attacking the Ottoman Empire from every direction and the ongoing
discord between Iraq's Shia and Sunni populations, the British
anticipated an easy victory. Instead they encountered a vigilant
force of Shia and Sunni Arabs and Turks united against the British
invasion. It was only after America's direct entry into the war,
the revolution in Russia, and occupation of the oil-rich province
and city of Mosul after the cease-fire with Turkey, that Britain
was able to complete the conquest of the region. After the war
"mandates" and "modern nation-states" were established and the
stage was set for the oil ententes of the 1920s that divided the
oil among the victors. This book chronicles an important and under
researched period of Middle Eastern history. It is the third book
in Majd's World War I trilogy.
Using U.S. State Department archives, Persian sources, and memoirs
of British military officers, Majd provides an outline of military,
diplomatic, and political events in Persia during 1914-1918. Persia
in World War I and Its Conquest by Great Britain describes Persia's
failure to gain recourse at Versailles, alleging that Persia was a
loser both in war and peace. It is the second book in Majd's World
War I triology.
As many as eight to ten million Persians perished because of
starvation and disease during the famine of 1917-1919, making it
the greatest calamity in Persia's history. In this book, Mohammad
Gholi Majd argues that Persia was the greatest victim of World War
One and also the victim of possibly the worst genocide of the
twentieth century. Using U.S. State Department records, as well as
Persian and British sources, Majd describes and documents a
veritable holocaust about which practically nothing has been
written. It is the first book in Majd's World War I trilogy.
At least 8 10 million Iranians out of a population of 18 20 million
died of starvation and disease during the famine of 1917 1919. The
Iranian holocaust was the biggest calamity of World War I and one
of the worst genocides of the 20th century, yet it remained
concealed for nearly a century. The 2003 edition of this book
relied primarily on US diplomatic records and memoirs of British
officers who served in Iran in World War I, but in this edition
these documents have been supplemented with US military records,
British official sources, memoirs, diaries of notable Iranians, and
a wide array of Iranian newspaper reports. In addition, the
demographic data has been expanded to include newly discovered US
State Department documents on Iran s pre-1914 population. This book
also includes a new chapter with a detailed military and political
history of Iran in World War I. A work of enduring value, Majd
provides a comprehensive account of Iran s greatest calamity.
Using recently declassified U.S. State Department archives,
Mohammad Gholi Majd describes the rampant tyranny and destruction
of Iran in the decades between the two world wars in a sensational
yet thoroughly scholarly study that will rewrite the political and
economic history of the country. The book begins with the British
invasion of Iran in April 1918 and ends with the Anglo-Russian
invasion in August 1941. Though historians are aware of the events
that ensued, until now they have had no written evidence of the
dreadful magnitude of the activities. Majd documents how the
British brought to power an obscure and semi-illiterate military
officer, Reza Khan, who was made shah in 1925. Thereafter, Majd
shows, Iran was subjected to a level of brutality not seen for
centuries. He also documents the financial plunder of the country
during the period: records show that Reza Shah looted the bulk of
Iran's oil revenues on the pretext of buying arms, amassing at
least $100 million in his London bank accounts and huge sums in New
York and Switzerland. Not even Iran's ancient crown jewels were
spared. In contrast to incomplete and unreliable British records
for the period, the recently declassified archives and bank records
that Majd uses encompass a wide range of political, social,
military, and economic matters. A work with immense implications,
this book will correct the myth in Iranian history that the period
1921-41 was one of unqualified progress and reform.
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