Army of Iran, since 1800 - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
General Material Designation
[Article]
First Statement of Responsibility
Cronin, Stephanie
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Leiden
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Brill
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
(1,861 words)
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
At the beginning of the Qājār period, Iran possessed no modern standing army , although the shah retained a personal tribal bodyguard and a corps of slave horsemen. In military conflicts, such as that with Russia in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the shah relied on untrained irregulars raised by tribal khān s, landlords, and provincial governors. Troops so mobilised were fighting for plunder and immediately disbanded upon the end of campaigning. In 1803, the loss of Georgia, an Iranian vassal state, to Russia convinced the valī ʿahd (heir