Will Kürlich Kerl
Banned
Challenge: Have Persia join World War One on the side of the Allied Powers.
What happens?
What happens?
Suicide.
They've got Russia and India to either side, the entente would take them down rather easily.
Pretty unlikely they'd make this decision too. Germany didn't have too much to do with Persia. Britain, France and Russia were rather involved there however.
Persia did not have a strong central government in this period which is pretty much how the Russians and British wanted things. They had resolved the Great Game by dividing Persia into spheres. In the north the Russians had exercised a heavy hand causing considerable resentment. In the south the British exercised a softer touch playing favorites with certain tribes and rulers. One very good example is Kha'zal al-Ka'bi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaz'al_al-Ka'bi who ruled the semiautonomous Sheikdom of Mohemmerah. He was very helpful to the British during the Mesopotamian campaign.
The Shah was only a boy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaz'al_al-Ka'bi and the Majlis had trouble reaching a decision and when they did had trouble executing policy. Perhaps you could get a nominal declaration of war but that means little more than the Persian Cossack Brigade and the South Persia Rifles fight the Ottomans which is what they did OTL. Oh and Wassmuss will still have some success stirring up discontent amongst the tribes that were not favored http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Wassmuss
wrong side.
...in WW1 the allies were the Germans and co.