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Iranian Constitutional Revolution

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Movement of clergy, merchants, laborers and reformers that forced Iran's Qajar shah to grant a constitution and convene the country's first parliament, the Majlis, in 1906, limiting royal power and establishing rule of law in place of arbitrary rule. The broader revolutionary period lasted until 1911, and its gains were eroded by renewed social tension, foreign intervention from Russia and Britain, and the onset of the First World War.

Facts
Founded Year
1905 1
Founding Context
The revolution began in 1905 as protest against a foreign-run customs administration enforcing tariff collections to repay a loan the shah had taken from Russia to fund an extravagant European tour, part of wider grievances over foreign economic concessions under the Qajar dynasty. 1
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The Iranian Constitutional Revolution: Iran's First Parliament

A revolution can succeed in the narrow sense of winning its central demand and still fail to hold what it won. The Iranian Constitutional Revolution did exactly that: it forced a constitution and a parliament into existence, and then watched both erode within a few years under pressures it could not control.

A coalition of clergy, merchants, laborers and reformers, united more by opposition to the Qajar shah's arbitrary rule than by a single program, forced Iran's shah to grant a constitution in 1906 and convene the country's first parliament, the Majlis. The new constitutional order limited royal power and asserted rule of law in its place, one of the earliest such settlements anywhere in the Middle East. The revolutionary period continued through 1911, but its gains were eroded from multiple directions at once: renewed social and factional tension inside the coalition that had won the constitution, direct foreign intervention by Russia and Britain acting in their own strategic interests in Iran, and the onset of the First World War, which overtook the constitutional project before it could fully consolidate.

The 1906 constitution and its Majlis survived, at least on paper, into the Pahlavi era that followed, and constitutional monarchy remained Iran's nominal form of government until the 1979 revolution replaced it outright with a theocratic republic. Where Iran's constitutional movement had tried to limit a monarch's power under a constitution, the later revolution rejected the monarchy itself and rested Iran's new constitution instead on the doctrine of velayat-e faqih, the guardianship of a Shia jurist, a fundamentally different answer to the same original question of where ultimate authority resides.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Russia, Countries

This source names Russia directly: "tension, foreign intervention from Russia and Britain, and the onset of the First World War."

Shaped

Sources
1. Iranian Constitutional Revolution (Wikipedia)
WikipediaFirst protests section
Quote, First protests section
In 1905, protests erupted about the imposition of Iranian tariffs to repay the Russian loan for Mozaffar ad-Din Shah's royal tour.
View the Source
1. Iranian Constitutional Revolution (Wikipedia)
WikipediaBackground section, sentence on the 1905 customs-tariff protest
Quote, Background section, sentence on the 1905 customs-tariff protest
The Constitutional Revolution began in 1905 with protest against a foreign director of customs (a Belgian) enforcing 'with bureaucratic rigidity' the tariff collections to pay for a loan to another foreign source (Russians).
View the Source
Constitutional Revolution, Iran (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaView the Source
Persian Constitutional Revolution (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Quote, Lead section
The Persian Constitutional Revolution took place between 1905 and 1911 during the Qajar era. The revolution led to the establishment of a parliament in Iran.
View the Source
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