Under Five Shahs
Hassan Arfa
William Morrow & Co.
The structure and political institutions of Iran at the beginning of the nineteenth century did not differ much from what they had been under the Safavi dynasty which reigned from 1502 to 1736, and there was little change up to the First World War and the appearance of Reza Shah.
Administration did not exist, the towns and provinces were ruled by Governors, s~ .hereditary, some sent from the capital, whose and arbitrary power was only limited by that, more absolute and more arbitrary, of the Shah in Teheran...
Contents
Foreword / ix
Prologue: In the last century before 1895 / 1
Part I
Before The First World War In Europe And Iran. Under The Last Qajar Shahs (1895-1919)
1895-1912 Chapter 1. My childhood and early youth-Mozaffar-ed-Din Shah / 15
1912--1913 Chapter 2. The Ottoman Empire-Harbiye-The Balkan War / 27
1914 Chapter 3. First contact with Iran / 40
1914-1919 Chapter 4. The War years-Switzerland-Turkey-Monte Carlo / 60
Part II
Iran Under Reza Shah Pahlavi modernisation (1919-1941)
1919-1921 Chapter 5. Iran after the First World War -Ahmad Shah-Mazanderan-The Coup d'Etat / 81
1921-1922 Chapter 6. Campaigning against the Tribes: Khamseh-The Kurds-Azerbaijan / 114
1922 Chapter 7. Journey through Turkey-Mohammad Ali Shah / 143
1923-1924 Chapter 8. Monte Carlo again-Hilda Bewicke-My marriage-the Diaghilef Russian Ballet-Saumur Cavalry School-Leila / 158
1924-1925 Chapter 9. Back to Iran-Campaign in the Turkoman Steppe / 166
1926 Chapter 10. Military Attaché in London / 186
1927 Chapter 11. Campaigns in Kordestan and Lorestan / 201
1927-1940 Chapter 12. France-the Staff College-Work in the Iranian Army / 214
1921-1941 13 Chapter 1 J. Larak-Journeys to Turkey in 1934 and 1938-Atatürk and the Shah Baluchistan and Makran / 238
Chapter 14. Reza Shah and Iran / 279
Part III
During the Second World War in Iran-Recession (1941-1946)
1940-1941 Chapter 15. Impact of War on Iran / 297
1941-1945 Chapter 16. Iran under Occupation / 309
1944--1946 Chapter 17. My work as Chief of Staff / 331
1946 Chapter 18. My arrest and imprisonment / 365
Part IV
Contemporary Iran-Mohammad Reza Shah-Progress Through Struggle and Upheavals (1946-1963)
1946-1951 Chapter 19. Post-War Iran / 385
1951-1957 Chapter20. My Life in Larak-My political activities-Mosaddeq and after / 396
1958-1963 Chapter 21. Ambassador to Turkey CENTO-Ambassador to Pakistan- Mohammad Reza Shah / 419
1963-1965 Chapter 22. The Last Two Years / 459
Appendix / 444
Index / 452
FOREWORD
The decision to write this book was taken on the advice of an old and valued friend who has himself recently published an autobiography in which he tells of certain events in Iran in which we both participated, but which he sees from a point of view entirely different from mine. After reading his book I told him the true story of other and more recent happenings in Iran about which he had heard quite a different version and he then suggested that I should render a service to my country by writing my reminiscences and making known the truth about certain events in which I had taken part. As my parents were of different nationalities with completely dissimilar backgrounds, I have had the opportunity of meeting many interesting personalities and of being concerned in one way or another in much of the recent history of my country. Others had also urged me to write the story of my life, and so this book has been written. In it I have tried to set down what I remember of the events in which I have taken part in a dispassionate and impartial way, from the point of view of an Iranian army officer which I was for thirty-three years and which I remain in spite of my subsequent political and diplomatic career.
I hope that none of the persons whose names have been mentioned in this book or their relatives will be hurt by anything I may have said in my efforts to give a true account of things as I remember them.
I should like to express here my deep gratitude to my wife without whose encouragement, help and advice this book would certainly never have been written and who for forty years has given me her unfailing moral support.
As I have been not only the spectator but one of the actors in the tremendous evolution of my country from the position of a mediaeval oriental state to that of a modern progressive one, this national renaissance being entirely due to the untiring efforts of the late Reza Shah the Great and of his son and heir His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah, I wish here to offer my humble tribute to the Imperial House of Pahlavi, to which the Iranian nation owes the preservation of its independence and in which it places its hopes for the future.
Acknowledgment
This book, which is my first attempt to write in English, although it was written in a very short time, was so stuffed with memories which directly or indirectly influenced my life, and were woven into the history of my country, that it was shapeless and sometimes confused. Thanks to her energy, intelligence and understanding, Mrs. Osyth Leeston of John Murray, so shaped and reduced this production of my inexpert pen, as to render it, I hope, readable to the British Public, and I am deeply grateful to her.
Hassan Arfa
Under Five Shahs
William Morrow & Co.
William Morrow & Co.
Under Five Shahs
General Hassan Arfa
New York, 1965
Copyright © 1964 By Hassan Arfa
Published in Great Britain in 1964.
Published in the United States in 1965.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 65-25219
