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Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 25.2 (2005) 377-398


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The Bakhtiyari Tribes in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution

Arash Khazeni

The Bakhtiyari tribes have at different times played an important part in the history of Persia. Their chiefs would descend into the plains at the head of large bodies of brave and daring horsemen. Sometimes they threatened Isfahan, the capital; at others they encountered the enemies of their country.
—Austen Henry Layard, Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia

In June 1909, eight hundred Bakhtiyari horsemen (sawars) rode from their summer pastures in the Zagros Mountains toward Tehran to restore the Majlis (Parliament), and defend the constitutional movement in Iran. By early July, a twelve-hundred-man Bakhtiyari cavalry with one mountain gun had gathered at Rubat Karim, just southwest of Tehran, and planned to join nationalist mujahideen from Gilan and the Caucasus at the Karaj River.1 The Bakhtiyari and the nationalist mujahideen entered Tehran on 12 July from the hills north of the city through the Bahjatabad Gate and then moved to make their headquarters at Baharistan, the site of the old Parliament bombarded by the forces of Muhammad ‘Ali Shah during the coup of 1908.2 By 16 July, the number of Bakhtiyari tribesmen in Tehran had swelled to nearly two thousand, forcing the shah's Russian-led Cossack Brigade to surrender and compelling the sovereign to seek refuge in the Russian Legation.3 As the event unfolded, it appeared that under the banner of constitutionalism (mashrutiyat), the Bakhtiyari were poised to become the next tribal dynasty of Iran.

As supporters of the constitutional cause, the Bakhtiyari tribes were fondly portrayed in the revolutionary press as "the protectors of the nation" (hami-yi millat) from Qajar rule and European imperialism.4 An article in the 5 July 1909 edition of the revolutionary newspaper Habl al-Matin (Firm Rope) beckoned the tribes to come to Iran's aid: "Oh lucky Bakhtiyari, oh persevering Qashqa'i, oh brave Shahsavan, oh Pushtikuhian, oh Kalhurian—rise up (‘barkhizid'). Unite for Islam and the nation. Put aside your differences and drive away the foreigners from the sanctuary. Don't stand content while your country's independence is blown [End Page 377] to the wind."5 Edward G. Browne, author of The Persian Revolution (1910), hailed the Bakhtiyari tribes as supporters of the constitutional cause, calling them "the brave and hardy Bakhtiyaris who so often played a part in Persia's endless wars."6

Other observers remained skeptical of the Bakhtiyari's motives in the revolution. ‘Ali Akbar Dihkhuda, the writer for the newspaper Sur-i Israfil (Trumpet Call of Israfil), feared that the Bakhtiyari were supporting the constitutional cause as a pretext for ascending the throne and warned that they were "a lot more dangerous than the weakened Muhammad ‘Ali Shah."7 Over time, however, certain activities of the Bakhtiyari discredited the tribes and their commitment to constitutional principles. Indeed, from the beginning of the Bakhtiyari's involvement in the revolution, some observers were doubtful of their intent. In his articles for the Times of London and in Persia and Turkey in Revolt, David Fraser portrayed the Bakhtiyari as indifferent to the constitutional cause and still committed to nomadic ideals of liberty. Fraser's reports in the Times tended to portray "the Bakhtiyaris as completely indifferent to the Constitution, and as actuated solely by tribal ambitions, innate love of fighting, and hatred of a dynasty at whose hands they had suffered much."8 Between 1909 and 1911, the Bakhtiyari's disregard for the law in the cities and on the roads revealed the tribes' tenuous commitment to constitutionalism.9 The Bakhtiyari's final break with the revolution occurred in 1911 when they clashed with the left-leaning Democrats and accepted the Russian ultimatum, closing down the Majlis. The Bakhtiyari, one of the groups that had ostensibly fought the most for the revolution, had come to abandon the cause.

The question of the Bakhtiyari's motivations has...

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