Bahram Mirza

Bahram Mirza
Portrait of Bahram Mirza by Abu'l-Hasan Sani al-Mulk
Died	21 October 1882
Dynasty	Qajar
Father	Abbas Mirza
Religion	Twelver Shia Islam

Bahram Mirza Moezz-od-Dowleh (Template:Lang-fa) was a Qajar prince, statesman and governor in 19th-century Iran. The second son of the crown prince Abbas Mirza, he served as the Minister of Justice from 1878 until his death on 21 October 1882.

Bahram Mirza first started working for the government in 1828, where he briefly governed Khoy. After the death of his grandfather and sovereign Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834) on 24 October 1834, a dynastic struggle for the throne erupted. Bahram Mirza helped his elder brother Mohammad Shah Qajar defeat some of the rebel princes, and was made the governor of Kermanshah, Khuzestan and Lorestan, the latter which he assigned to his brother Farhad Mirza.

With the assistance of British military advisor Henry Rawlinson, Bahram Mirza led an expedition to confront the disobedient Bakhtiari Chahar Lang tribe, which ended in a truce. Bahram Mirza's tenure ended soon afterwards due to grievances from its residents, and he subsequently held other posts, including governor of Azerbaijan (1858–1860) and chief of the military council (1865–1868). His final post was as the Minister of Justice from 1878 to 1882.

Biography

Background and early career

A member of the ruling Qajar dynasty of Iran, Bahram Mirza was the second son of the crown prince Abbas Mirza and grandson of the shah (king) Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834). Bahram Mirza first started working for the government in 1828, when he was given the governorship of Khoy. The same year, the city was besieged by the Russian Empire. Abbas Mirza evacuated Bahram Mirza and brought Amir Aslan Khan Donboli in his place. After the death of Abbas Mirza in 1834, his eldest son Mohammad Mirza was appointed the new crown prince. Bahram Mirza was in the company of Mohammad Mirza when Fath-Ali Shah died on 24 October 1834, which sparked schemes and a dynastic struggle over the throne.

Governorship of Kermanshah and Khuzestan

Illustration of Kermanshah, made by Eugène Flandin and Pascal Coste in 1840

Under the orders of the newly ascended Mohammad Mirza (now known as Mohammad Shah Qajar), Bahram Mirza was appointed the governor of the southwestern region (Kermanshah, Khuzestan and Lorestan), which he successfully wrested from the rebellious brother princes Mohammad-Hossein Heshmat od-Dowleh, Asadollah Mirza and Nasrollah Mirza. Hesmat od-Dowleh, attempting to avoid Bahram Mirza, took an alternate route to the capital of Tehran, but was soon captured and sent to imprisonment in Ardabil. Meanwhile, Asadollah Mirza and Nasrollah Mirza were captured by Bahram Mirza and sent to Tehran. Bahram Mirza subsequently appointed his brother Farhad Mirza as the governor of Lorestan. In April 1835, Mohammad Shah sent the British military adviser Henry Rawlinson to Kermanshah to serve "as a sort of military adviser and assistant" to Bahram Mirza.

In the spring of 1837, Bahram Mirza was ordered by Mohammad Shah to launch a military expedition to Mungasht, the fortress of the disobedient Bakhtiari Chahar Lang tribe led by Mohammad Taqi Khan Bakhtiari. Bahram Mirza was joined by Henry Rawlinson, who had trained a Kurdish regiment for the shah. Six cannons and five thousand cavalry and infantry troops made up the military expedition. After the celebration of Nowruz (Iranian new year), the Qajar and Chahar Lang forces clashed on the Malamir plain near the banks of the Karun river. With neither of the forces managing to emerge victorious, a truce was made.

The contemporary historian Mohammad Taqi Sepehr reported that following the truce, Rawlinson was permitted to choose a thousand Bakhtiari tribesmen to be added to the Iranian elite regiment Nezam-e Jadid. Escorted by Rawlinson and 5,000 soldiers, Bahram Mirza met with Mohammad Taqi Khan at Mungasht, where he gifted him a jeweled sword and a robe of honor (khilat). Mohammad Taqi Khan promised that the Bakhtiari would stop avoiding their yearly taxes and fight for the shah if needed. As a sign of his compliance, he sent his brother Ali Naqi Khan to live in Kermanshah. However, in reality the Chahar Lang would first start paying their yearly taxes during the 1840s, as a result of the harsh measures by the new governor, Manuchehr Khan Gorji.

Later career and death

Illustration of Tehran, dated 1871

Bahram Mirza was soon called back to Tehran as a result of the grievances expressed by the residents of Kermanshah. In 1850, during the visit to Isfahan by Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–1896) and his prime minister Amir Kabir, Bahram Mirza was named deputy governor of Tehran. In the same year, Bahram Mirza composed the military drill manual of Nezam-e naseri, which had 400 copies published in Tehran. It was praised as "well done and carefully written" by the Iranian government's official gazette, Waqaye-e ettefaqiya.

In 1858, Bahram Mirza was given the governorship of Azerbaijan and the title of "Moezz-od-Dowleh". However, he was in reality only its titular governor, as he had given his pishkar (general manager) Aziz Khan Mokri complete control of its administration. In 1860, the governorship of the province was instead given to the crown prince Mozaffar ad-Din Mirza. Bahram Mirza was summoned to Tehran, where he served as the chief of the military council from 1865 to 1868. Mirza Mohammad Khan Sepahsalar had established this council to look into military personnel promotions and to propose new regulations. From 1865 to 1869, Bahram Mirza served as the governor of Khuzestan and Lorestan. He briefly held the governorship of Mazandaran from 1873 to 1874, being subsequently re-appointed as the governor of Khuzestan and Lorestan. In 1878, he was appointed as the Minister of Justice. He died on 21 October 1882 from a heart attack.

Legacy and assessment

Bahram Mirza is given very little attention in Nader Mirza's biography of the governors of Azerbaijan, which suggests that outside from serving as a soldier, he had no real interests. The social wellbeing of the individuals under his authority does not appear to have occurred to him. His shifting provincial governorship assignments are indicative of his uncompromising wealth accumulation strategies, which in turn infuriated the populace and led to his removal.

Sources

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