Ahmad Shah Qajar


Ahmad Shah Qajar was the shah of Iran from 16 July 1909 to 15 December 1925, and the seventh and final ruling member of the Qajar dynasty.
Ahmad Shah was born in Tabriz on 21 January 1898 and ascended the throne at the age of 11 after the removal of his father Mohammad Ali Shah by the Parliament on 16 July 1909. Due to his young age, his uncle, Reza Khan Azod al-Molk|Ali-Reza Khan], took charge of state affairs as Regent. Upon reaching the age of majority, Ahmad Shah was formally crowned on 21 July 1914.

Reign

On 16 July 1909, Mohammad Ali Shah was overthrown by rebels seeking to restore the 1906 Constitution. The rebels then convened the Grand Majles of 500 delegates from different backgrounds, which placed Ahmad Shah, Mohammad Ali's eleven-year-old son, on the Sun Throne.
The Grand Majlis enacted many reforms. They abolished class representation and created five new seats in the Majlis for minorities: two seats for Armenians, and one seat each for Jews, Zoroastrians, and Assyrians. The Majles also democratized the electoral system, diminished the electoral dominance of Tehran, and even lowered the voting age from twenty-five to twenty.
Not much is known about Ahmad's early life before his succession to the throne. Due to his young age, his uncle, Ali Reza Khan Azod al-Molk, governed as regent.
Ahmad Shah was formally crowned on 21 July 1914, upon reaching his majority. He attempted to fix the damage done by his father by appointing the best ministers he could find. He was, however, an ineffective ruler who was faced with internal unrest and foreign intrusions, particularly by the British Empire and Russian Empire. Russian and British troops fought against the Ottoman Empire forces in Iran during World War I.
The Second Majlis convened in November 1910 and just like the First Majlis, did not lead to any relevant accomplishment. The Majlis was rendered ineffective because the central government was weak and did not have enough influence to rein in the changes that it had proposed.
[Image:Ahmad Shah Qajar.jpg|thumb|Ahmad Shah (center) as a child, pictured with Haj Seyed Gholamhossein Majd Mojabi (above) and guards in 1901.]
In 1917, Britain used Iran as the springboard for an attack into Russia in an unsuccessful attempt to reverse the Russian Revolution of 1917. The newly born Soviet Union responded by annexing portions of northern Persia as buffer states much like its Tsarist predecessor. Marching on Tehran, the Soviets extracted ever more humiliating concessions from the Iranian government – whose ministers Ahmad Shah was often unable to control. The weakness of the government in the face of such aggression by an atheist foreign power sparked seething anger among many traditional Iranians – including the young Ruhollah Khomeini, who would later condemn both Communism and monarchy as treason against Iran's sovereignty and the laws of Islam.
By 1920, the government had virtually lost all power outside the capital and Ahmad Shah had lost control of the situation. Ahmad Shah has also been described as "pleasure-loving, effete, and incompetent". The Anglo-Persian Agreement, along with new political parties, further immobilized the country. The Moderates and Democrats often clashed, particularly when it came to minority rights and secularism. The debates between the two political parties led to violence and even assassinations.
The weak economic state of Iran put Ahmad Shah and his government at the mercy of foreign influence; they had to obtain loans from the Imperial Bank of Persia. Furthermore, under the Anglo-Persian Agreement, Iran received only a small fraction of the income generated by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. On the other hand, the Red Army along with rebels and warlords ruled much of the countryside.
On 21 February 1921, Ahmad Shah was pushed aside in a military coup by Colonel Reza Khan, Minister of War and commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade, who subsequently seized the post of Prime Minister. During the coup, Reza Khan used three thousand men and only eighteen machine guns, a very bloodless coup that moved forward quickly. One of Khan's first actions was to rescind the unpopular Anglo-Persian Agreement. In addition, he signed the Russo-Persian Treaty of Friendship. This agreement canceled all previous treaties between the two countries and also gave Persia full and equal shipping rights in the Caspian Sea.
Stripped of all his remaining powers, Ahmad Shah went into exile with his family in 1923. Ahmad Shah's apparent lack of interest in attending to the affairs of the state and poor health had prompted him to leave Iran on an extended trip to Europe. He was formally deposed on 31 October 1925, when Reza Khan was proclaimed Shah by the Majlis, as Reza Shah Pahlavi. This terminated the Qajar dynasty.

Exile and death

Image:احمد شاه و رضا خان.jpg|thumb|Reza Khan behind Ahmad Shah with the prominent prince Abdol-Hossein Farmanfarma.
The coup of 1921 rendered Ahmad Shah politically weaker and less relevant. In 1923, Ahmad Shah left Iran for Europe for health reasons. Later, the formal termination of the Qajar dynasty by the Majles turned Ahmad Shah's 1923 European tour into exile.
Ahmad Shah died in 1930 of influenza at Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris, France, and was buried in his family crypt in Karbala, Iraq. His brother, former crown prince Mohammad Hassan Mirza, assured the continuation of the dynasty through his descendants. French publications at the time reported that his estate was worth some seventy-five million francs.

Personal life

Ahmad Shah Qajar married five times. His first wife was Lydia Jahanbani. He had four children, each by a different wife.
He had 12 grandchildren, who respectively carry the last names Albertini, Faroughy, Panahi and Qajar.

List of prime ministers

Honours

Iran

Foreign