Qajar Empire Essay

As we are introduced to the Great Persian Empire, we find that Amy Chua’s thesis talks about how tolerance was critical in allowing the Persians to not only establish and prosper their world dominant empire, but to maintain it for over two centuries. The thesis of the book, Day of Empire by Amy Chua, is about the “study of colossal power and the conditions needed to maintain it”. Not only this, but it discusses “the contest between ethnic “purity” and ethnic pluralism”. Amy Chua argues that The Achaemenid Persian Empire was “one of the first hyper powers in world history, governing a territory larger than all the ancient empires, including even Rome’s.” (Day of Empire pg. 4) Along with this, she argues that the Persian Empire was “one of the most culturally diverse and religiously open empires in history.” (Day of Empire pg. 4) Therefore, the author argues that The Persian Empire is relevant when discussing large powerful world authorities with a large size, long period of ruling, and ethnic tolerance it

There are many reasons in which the Persian empire is considered one of the greatest civilizations ever in human history and this can mostly be attributed to the stupendous leadership of the one and only Cyrus the great. One of the best kings that the world has ever seen and was the most dominant man in his era. He was brilliant and extremely powerful as he was smart and strong enough to conquer almost every single land within his area and put them all together into one persian empire. The legacy that Cyrus left behind him was one that every king after him tried to follow. For example, emperor Darius I still continued the expansion of the persian empire and reigned control over it as well. After Cyrus died there was a time in which there was nothing but trash rulers and then Darius I came into power. As I stated earlier Darius wanted to follow in the steps of Cyrus and be even greater than him so Darius builded on what Cyrus achieved and split the persian empire into multiple provinces to control the government a little easier. Another thing that made persia so successful was the fact that they tolerated non-Persian folks to live in their empire. There were many different types of people all across persia and the government did not force anything upon these non-Persian residents and let them live their lives how they had before arriving and they only had to pay taxes. Due to this the

The second member of the middle generation Hassan also grew into an adult in Afghanistan. Although, his situation was completely different from the one that Assef had. All his life Hassan was pushed around and humiliated by others due to the fact that he is one of the Hazara descendants, who in Afghanistan are treated like none-humans. The constant fright helped him to become a strong man able to defend himself. However, in the end he was not able to defend himself and was killed

This type of suffering also occurred in 1722 with the Afghan tribesmen and yet again during the late eighteenth century and lasted until 1925. The Qajars, a Turkic tribe that was established near the Caspian Sea, conquered Iran this time. The kings who ruled under the Qajar Empire also were mainly responsible for the country’s poverty and resistance to modernity. The only difference between the Qajars and the Arabs is that now the people of Iran were not going to sit back and let these kings give foreigner powers the right to their country. The Qajars had “lost their right to rule, their farr. Armed with Shiite principle that endows the ordinary citizen with inherent power to overthrow despotism…Iranians rebelled in a way their forefathers never had” (28).

You may be confused by the voice here. It's actually not Amir – Rahim Khan gets one chapter in the book. Rahim Khan recounts his trip to Hazarajat to find Hassan and bring him back to the house in Kabul. When

The Safavid Empire began in Azerbaijan. The empire continued to expand during Shah Abbas's reign but after his death, the dynasty gradually lost its vigor. At first, Shah Ismail, the founder of the Safavid dynasty, tried to convert members of the Ottoman Empire into Shiites. This resulted in massacre of the Sunni Muslims in 1508. Alarmed, the Ottomans fought back and won a major battle. However, after a few years, Ismail regained the land. Many years later, the Ottomans attacked back and forced the new shah, Abbas, to sign a treaty. It was Abbas who led the Safavids to their highest point. The political and social structure was strong. Senior positions in the bureaucracy were by merit rather than by birth. Religious tolerance was practiced. Abbas hired foreigners from neighboring countries for positions in his government to avoid religious competition. The shahs also took a direct interest in the economy, playing an active part in trade and manufacturing. The artistic excellence was

Amirs father, Baba, is a strong man very set in his ways. He represents the independent culture of old Afghanistan. He instills his ideals of masculinity on Amir, and believes he should be stronger, more sports oriented, and able to stand up for himself. “Of

Furthermore, Amir forgives Baba for not telling him that Amir and Hassan are half-brothers. Hassan gets treated very well by Baba, considering he is a server at Baba’s house. Hassan gets great birthday presents, and he is always welcome to father-son activities with Amir and Baba. Sometimes Amir is jealous and doesn’t understand why Hassan gets treated the same as himself. Amir wants to be treated better, because he is Baba’s son, and Hassan is Baba’s servant. What Amir doesn’t know is that Hassan is his half-brother. Years later, Rahim Kahn tells him this when Amir visits him in Pakistan. Amir learns that a long time ago, Baba had an affair with a Hazara woman, which was socially unacceptable. Out of this affair, a child was born: Hassan. Hassan is not Ali’s son; Hassan is Baba’s son. Baba never tells Amir, and this makes Amir very angry and disappointed. For Amir, his father is a hero and not a liar. However, when Rahim Kahn explains Baba’s situation and why he acted this way, Amir starts to

Jack Weatherford’s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World provides a refreshing and insightful perspective on the Mongol Empire and their impact on history. Weatherford ardently dispels stereotypes often associated with Genghis Khan and the Mongols while highlighting their significant achievements that immensely induced them and the modern world. As Weatherford explained the history of Temujin, I found myself admiring how he overcame various hardships and created a destiny for himself. He not only created an empire, “he built a new and unique system based on individual merit, loyalty, and achievement.” (Weatherford xix)

Temüjin, better known as Chinggis Khan, was a Mongolian born in 1160’s, who later became the leader of the one of the most successful armies in the history of a mankind. Mongols under his leadership Mongols first conquered China relatively easily and then moved towards west, partly simultaneously. This essay examines the reasons for his success in conquering Iran and especially the reasons why the Muslims of Iran were not able to resist his army’s invasion. First this essay discusses Chinggis Khan’s army’s strength and superiority in general level, then shifting focus to the particular case of Iran. It becomes evident that Chinggis Khan was an extraordinary military leader and that besides that the army was extremely successful due to its

Similar to the Roman Empire the Persian Empire stretched across vast lands without any serious rivalry. At the height of the empire it stretched across, not only, Asia, from the Aegean to the Indus River, but also included part of the continent of Africa. We get the word, Persia, from the Greek word Parsa meaning, “Above reproach”. The Persians unlike most other Empires would be ruled under a benevolent ruler. This would bring a large amount of cultural diffusion to the Empire. The empires history is separated into three historical periods: Old Persia (600-300 B.C.E), Middle Persia (300-800 B.C.E.) and modern Persia (800-Present). The height or the Empire was reached around 500 B.C.E. (Ancient and Medieval History

As Michael Axworthy states on the back cover of his book, A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind, Iran is a “land of contradictions”. As this is true these contradictions is what makes Iran, Iran. Iran today is looked as the pinnacle of the Islamic faith in the form of a Government structure. Since 1979, Iran has been known as the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran will continue being an Islamic Republic for centuries to come. Iran has a rich history of intellectuals and scholars. Iran is known for its vibrant culture that dates back longer than the Western Ideals were even conceived. However Axworthy asks a question about Iran and its impact on the world’s history and the current events that we see in Iran today, Axworthy asks “Is Iran an aggressive power, or a victim?” This statement is a true paradox, can Iran be the next Nazi Germany, the next Soviet Union or the next Great Islamic Caliphate or is Iran just fighting to keep its culture alive from a vast array of attacks from foreign entities and internal struggles.

As a political tactic, rulers often portray themselves in a certain way in order to stabilize their reign and rule more effectively. Some take the approach of uniqueness by setting themselves apart from their subject population while others take the approach of sameness by emphasizing the similarities in which they share with the people. Not exclusively limited to apartness or sameness, some rulers have shown to employ a mix of both ruling styles. It is these versatile rulers who have experienced more successes in their reign because they are not compelled to only one ruling style, allowing them to better adapt to the needs of their ruling population. The apartness ruling style is best seen in the Safavid Empire under the rule of Shah Ismail. Shah Ismail uses religion as a political tool to control his state and does so by declaring Shi’ism, a smaller branch of Islam, as the state religion (#). After separating himself & his people from those who are not willing to abide to his ideologies, Shah Ismail can now demand the absolute loyalties from his subjects and persecute those who are deviant. This radical act further creates a deep chasm between Shi’ite Muslims and nearby Sunni Muslims neighbors. As a result, cultural flow and the exchange of beliefs between Sunni & Shi’ite states are essentially hindered. Ismail’s apartness ruling approach is taken to the extreme with social, religious, and legal systems being strictly confined to Shi’ite doctrines (@). It is noted that

In this week’s chapter, it discusses a lot about the rise and fall of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. In many dynasties, it is critically important to have a well balanced society and economy. Anderson displays many of the reasons why these two empires were so great during their time, but evidently loss of power and control of government can be a major turning point and, eventually, led to the decline of these empires. This specific chapter focus on the systems of governance that was established in each empire.

Iran was included in the territory of what was then the ancient Persian Empire. For centuries Iran (land of the Aryans) was also referred to as Persia, which was the official name until 1935. Fourteen years had passed before the Iranian government allowed the use of both names. Few groups of people today have significant history like the Iranians, descending from the ancient Persians, who possess one of the world’s richest and oldest cultures. Historically, a variety of other cultures and groups had once occupied the ancient Iranian plateau as early as 4,000 B.C.E, with little importance. Beginning by the third millennium, Persia was ruled by some of the greatest kings of all time, from Cyrus the Great to Darius the III, who turned the