The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's Majlis, convening as a constituent assembly on 12 December 1925, declared Reza Shah, a former brigadier-general of the Persian Cossack Brigade, as the new shah of Iran, beginning the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty.
The Qajar dynasty, as the ruling lineage, held prominent positions as tribal heads long before establishing imperial rule, leveraging their military prowess and tribal alliances to unify the country amid post-Safavid chaos.[6]
During the establishment of the Safavids Empire, when Ismail led the 7,000 tribal soldiers on his successful expedition from Erzincan to Shirvan in 1500/01, a contingent of Qajars was among them. After this, they emerged as a prominent group within the Qizilbash confederacy,[7] who were made up of Turkoman warriors and served as the main force of the Safavid military.[8] Despite being smaller than other tribes, the Qajars continued to play a major role in important events during the 16th century.[9]
The immediate ancestor of the Qajar monarchs, Shah Qoli Khan of the Quvanlu of Ganja, married into the Quvanlu Qajars of Astarabad. His son, Fath-Ali Khan (born c. 1685–1693) was a renowned military commander during the rule of the Safavid shahs Soltan Hoseyn and Tahmasp II.[10] He was killed in 1726. Fath Ali Khan's son Mohammad Hasan Khan (1722–1758) was the father of Agha Mohammad Khan and Hossein Qoli Khan (Jahansouz Shah), father of "Baba Khan," the future Fath-Ali Shah Qajar. Mohammad Hasan Khan was killed on the orders of Karim Khan of the Zand dynasty.[11]
Hamid Mirza, heir presumptive and head of the Qajar dynasty from 1975 till 1988[13]
The Qajar Imperial Family in exile is currently headed by the eldest descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah, Sultan Mohammad Ali Mirza Qajar, while the Heir Presumptive to the Qajar throne is Mohammad Hassan Mirza II, the grandson of Mohammad Hassan Mirza, Sultan Ahmad Shah's brother and heir. Mohammad Hassan Mirza died in England in 1943, having proclaimed himself shah in exile in 1930 after the death of his brother in France.
Today, the descendants of the Qajars often identify themselves as such and hold reunions to stay socially acquainted through the Kadjar (Qajar) Family Association,[14] often coinciding with the annual conferences and meetings of the
International Qajar Studies Association (IQSA). The Kadjar (Qajar) Family Association was founded for a third time in 2000. Two earlier family associations were stopped because of political pressure. The offices and archives of IQSA are housed at the International Museum for Family History in Eijsden.
Qajar dynasty since 1925
Heads of the Qajar imperial family
The headship of the Imperial Family is inherited by the eldest male descendant of Mohammad Ali Shah.
Naser al-Din Shah, the fourth Qajar shah, notably used the title "Pivot of the Universe" (Qebleh-ye Alam)[18]
The shah and his consort were styled Imperial Majesty. Their children were addressed as Imperial Highness, while male-line grandchildren were entitled to the lower style of Highness; all of them bore the title of Shahzadeh or Shahzadeh Khanoum.[19]
The Qajar Shahs also adopted grandiose titles that reflected their perceived divine authority and centrality in the Persian monarchy.[20][pageneeded] These titles were not merely honorific but served to legitimize their rule amidst internal and external challenges, blending pre-Islamic, Islamic-Shi’i, and nomadic elements of Persian governance.[21] Among these titles were;
Abdol-Hossein Sardari, Consul General at the Iranian Embassy in Paris 1940–1945; helped and saved the lives of Jews in danger of deportation by issuing them with Iranian passports. A Qajar Qoyunlu and through his mother a grandson of Princess Malekzadeh Khanoum Ezzat od-Doleh, the sister of Nasser ed-Din Shah.
Nader Jahanbani, general and vice-deputy chief of the Imperial Iranian Air Force
Brig. General Changiz Voshmgir, deputy commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces of the Imperial Iranian Army, son of Hassan Khan Shoja Saltaneh & Bashir-ol-Moluk
Religion
Aga Khan IV, The titles of Prince and Princess are used by the Aga Khans and their children by virtue of their descent from Shah Fath Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty. The title was officially recognised by the British government in 1938.[23]
Princess Tadj al-Saltaneh, daughter of Naser-din-Shah, co-founder of the first Iranian women's rights movement Anjoman Naswan, author of a memoir, painter
Princess Mohtaram Eskandari, intellectual and pioneering figures in Iranian women's movement.[24]
Iran Teymourtash (Légion d'honneur), journalist, editor and publisher of the newspaper Rastakhiz, founder of an association for helping destitute women. Daughter of court minister Abdolhossein Teymourtash and through both her maternal grandparents a Qajar.[25]
Literature
Princess Taj-al-Saltaneh Qajar, daughter of Naser-din-Shah, First Iranian woman to write a memoir, co-founder of the first Iranian women's rights movement Anjoman Naswan, author of a memoir, painter
The Qajar dynasty is particularly noted for its extensive construction of royal residences across Iran, which served as the principal seats of power, diplomatic reception, and court life.[27] The most prominent of these were the Golestan and Niavaran Palace Complexes in Tehran.
↑Amanat 1997, p.2: "In the 126 years between the fall of the Safavid state in 1722 and the accession of Nasir al-Din Shah, the Qajars evolved from a shepherd-warrior tribe with strongholds in northern Iran into a Persian dynasty with all the trappings of a Perso-Islamic monarchy."
↑Bailey, Harold Walter; Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin; Melville, Charles Peter; Bailey, Harold Walter; Gray, Basil (1991). The Cambridge history of Iran. Cambridge (GB): Cambridge university press. ISBN978-0-521-20095-0.
↑Bailey, Harold Walter; Avery, Peter; Hambly, Gavin; Melville, Charles Peter; Bailey, Harold Walter; Gray, Basil (1991). The Cambridge history of Iran. Cambridge (GB): Cambridge university press. ISBN978-0-521-20095-0.
↑Ghani, Cyrus (2000). Iran and the rise of Reza Shah: from Qajar collapse to Pahlavi rule. London New York: I. B. Tauris Publishers. ISBN978-1-86064-629-4.
↑Ghanī, Sīrūs (2000). Iran and the rise of Reza Shah: from Qajar collapse to Pahlavi rule. London; New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers. ISBN978-1-86064-629-4.
↑L. A. Ferydoun Barjesteh van Waalwijk van Doorn (Khosrovani) (ed.), "Qajar Studies". Journal of the International Qaja Studies Association, vol. X–XI, Rotterdam, Gronsveld, Santa Barbara and Tehran 2011, p. 220.
Atabaki, Touraj (2006). Iran and the First World War: Battleground of the Great Powers. I.B. Tauris. ISBN978-1860649646.
Bournoutian, George A. (1980). The Population of Persian Armenia Prior to and Immediately Following its Annexation to the Russian Empire: 1826–1832. Nationalism and social change in Transcaucasi. The Wilson Center, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies.
Kettenhofen, Erich; Bournoutian, George A.; Hewsen, Robert H. (1998). "EREVAN". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol.VIII, Fasc. 5. pp.542–551.
Kohn, George C. (2006). Dictionary of Wars. Infobase Publishing. ISBN978-1438129167.
Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011). Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol.1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN978-1598843361.
Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). Historical Dictionary of Georgia (2nded.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN978-1442241466.
Gvosdev, Nikolas K.: Imperial policies and perspectives towards Georgia: 1760–1819, Macmillan, Basingstoke 2000, ISBN0-312-22990-9
Lang, David M.: The last years of the Georgian Monarchy: 1658–1832, Columbia University Press, New York 1957
Paidar, Parvin (1997). Women and the Political Process in Twentieth-Century Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN9780521595728.
Perry, John (1991). "The Zand dynasty". The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 7: From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.63–104. ISBN9780521200950.
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