WI: The Iranian Revolution was instead a Qajar restoration?

[T-Mag 3004]

Since my last thread in almost 3 years was a complete and utter failure, I've decided to try a subject I don't know a lot about, but very much intrigued me.

For those who don't know, the Qajar dynasty ruled Persia from 1795 (having overthrown the Zand dynasty) until they were overthrown themselves by Reza Pahlavi in 1925 (establishing the Pahlavi dynasty)
By the 70's when not just the clergy and aristocracy began to dislike the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah for his authoritarian and western oriented rule, but the people as well.

what would be required for the Qajar pretender Hamid Mirza Qajar or someone else to become a powerful enough symbol against the Shah and the Pahlavis to see himself and his own family regain control of the Sun Throne?

 

[Mad Bad Rabbit]

Unlimited military backing from Britain and the U.S. ?

 

[David T]

I think the last chance to make "David Drummond" (Hamid Mirza Qajar) Shah of Iran was in 1941. https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...-iran-qajar-restoration.455419/#post-17847662 He did return to Iran in 1957 but by then had no political ambitions and no serious support as far as I know, and returned to Great Britain in 1971.

 

[Lalli]

Would Iranians trust Qajars any more than to Pahlavis when they have lived decades in UK?

 

[Garetor]

Would Iranians trust Qajars any more than to Pahlavis when they have lived decades in UK?

Perhaps some kind of palace coup by conservatives who see the shah is going to ruin them? They assemble military resources, then capture the Pahlavis and give them an ultimatum to leave or die. The Qajars are "restored", but with vastly curtailed powered that makes the country closer to the UK.

 

[Wendell]

What the Pahlavis should have done is built a republic modeled on Kemalism.

 

[Histor32]

What the Pahlavis should have done is built a republic modeled on Kemalism.

OH they should have done a lot of things. Instead they went with, let's rebrand but keep things basically the same.

It seems a pattern in alot of places where they change management but keep all the rhubga that were bad because that was the only thing keeping everyone from killing each other in chaos and hate from the prior regime

 

[Omar04]

What the Pahlavis should have done is built a republic modeled on Kemalism.

Kemalism in Turkey was in a completely different situation. Ataturk was not a monarch and had a functioning state to work with. Both Reza and Muhammad Shah were autocratic monarchs who tried to surpress Majlis and had to build up the state from quite literally no power projection outside the capital and no bureaucracies.

 

[overoceans]

What the Pahlavis should have done is built a republic modeled on Kemalism.

Kinda hard for kings to build a republic, I would think.

 

[T-Mag 3004]

Atleast this thread gained some traction, and no I don't know much about the political situation the Qajars were in at the time. I just found it interesting since, think about it; a former dynasty overthrowing the dynasty that replaced them hasn't happened often in world history as far as I'm aware, (not counting former dynasties that were restored by another greater power)

 

[Garetor]

Kinda hard for kings to build a republic, I would think.

I don't think it's impossible-since 1789, one of the key tools of a monarch beset by republican protests is to draft a new constitution, then position the monarchy as the guarantor and champion of the constitution's liberties. It requires a competence that the Pahlavis lacked, though.

 

[Omar04]

I don't think it's impossible-since 1789, one of the key tools of a monarch beset by republican protests is to draft a new constitution, then position the monarchy as the guarantor and champion of the constitution's liberties. It requires a competence that the Pahlavis lacked, though.

The constitution was created in 1906 under the Qajars. Reza Shah took power in a coup and didn't need or want to give powers to the parliament. He had complete control over who would run and be elected and political activity in parliament (parties and noncompliant newspapers were shut down and spies in place to report back).

 

[Garetor]

The constitution was created in 1906 under the Qajars. Reza Shah took power in a coup and didn't need or want to give powers to the parliament. He had complete control over who would run and be elected and political activity in parliament (parties and noncompliant newspapers were shut down and spies in place to report back).

That bodes well for the Qajars, then, in a restorationist scenario. They'd have more credibility positioning themselves as the monarch restoring the liberties of the people. Actually *getting* to that point hasn't really been addressed by anyone knowledgable, though. I've only read a few books about Iran, myself, mostly centering on Mossadeq and 1979.

 

[overoceans]

I don't think it's impossible-since 1789, one of the key tools of a monarch beset by republican protests is to draft a new constitution, then position the monarchy as the guarantor and champion of the constitution's liberties. It requires a competence that the Pahlavis lacked, though.

Okay, sure, monarchs could create a constitutional monarchy, yeah.

 

[Omar04]

That bodes well for the Qajars, then, in a restorationist scenario. They'd have more credibility positioning themselves as the monarch restoring the liberties of the people. Actually *getting* to that point hasn't really been addressed by anyone knowledgable, though. I've only read a few books about Iran, myself, mostly centering on Mossadeq and 1979.

The Qajar dynasty is generally very negatively viewed in Iran for the drastic decline in Iran's prestige and reliance on Britain and Russia to the point that zones of spheres of influence were agreed upon by Russia and Britain to prevent clashing interests in Iran. Most people in 1979 weren't looking for another monarchy either.

 

[Garetor]

The Qajar dynasty is generally very negatively viewed in Iran for the drastic decline in Iran's prestige and reliance on Britain and Russia to the point that zones of spheres of influence were agreed upon by Russia and Britain to prevent clashing interests in Iran. Most people in 1979 weren't looking for another monarchy either.

Ahh, okay, so this whole thing might just be wishful thinking for Qajar legitimists.

 

[Dan1988]

The constitution was created in 1906 under the Qajars. Reza Shah took power in a coup and didn't need or want to give powers to the parliament. He had complete control over who would run and be elected and political activity in parliament (parties and noncompliant newspapers were shut down and spies in place to report back).

OTOH, considering the considerable amount of Islamic language in the 1906 Constitution, it's also possible that a Qajar restorationist Irân, if it wanted to redeem itself from its awful reputation, could also be similar to the modern-day Islamic Republic, only swap the Supreme Leader with the Qajar monarch. Which would not be seen as good in the eyes of Washington, much like OTL.

 

[T-Mag 3004]

The Qajar dynasty is generally very negatively viewed in Iran for the drastic decline in Iran's prestige and reliance on Britain and Russia to the point that zones of spheres of influence were agreed upon by Russia and Britain to prevent clashing interests in Iran. Most people in 1979 weren't looking for another monarchy either.

I was indeed wondering how the Qajars were viewed at the time, since I knew Persia declined as a regional power during them, but then again, I thought it could've turned into a similar situation to the Orléans in France, where the majority of legitimists chose to side with the Comte de Paris, despite his family being criticised by the same legitimists less than 2 decades earlier for "betrayal" and "treason" against the Bourbons

Though I know this wouldn't remotely be the same situation, but a similar one to some degree.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

What the Pahlavis should have done is built a republic modeled on Kemalism.

Kinda hard for kings to build a republic, I would think.

Ironically enough Reza Khan did want to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic. The parliament opposed it because the constitution had some fairly strong restrictions on the powers of the monarch; if Reza had established a republic he would have had complete control over the drafting of the new constitution. Obviously though Reza just ignored the restrictions on the monarchy after he ascended.

 

[Falecius]

An interesting point to note is that a lot of Qajar descendants (of whom there are many) retained important public and political or religious roles all through the Pahlavi period (a few were ministers under both Pahlavi Shahs for instance). Remarkably, a surprisingly large number of them were actively involved with the Tudeh party, the Iranian Socialist/Communist movement, which was large, militant, and quite diverse. Specifically, Prince Eraj Mirza Eskandari was the secretary-general of the Tudeh party for a long period under Mohammed Reza Shah (also living through the Revolution, which he initially supported).
So you may theoretically have a path for a Far-left revolutionary movement that restores a Qajar constitutional monarchy... where the monarch is also the Party's Chairman. Sounds out of character for Eraj Mirza, but he was far from the only Communist Qajar prince (or princess) around (another prominent one was the grandfather of director and graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi, referenced to in her Persepolis, but I could not find much information about him).