‘No doubt you are right. I was wrong to argue. I am going to tell the British Consul that I have not been able to convince you. Then I shall come back and stay with you until the end.’
Fazel took me by the shoulder to hold me back.
‘I have not accused you of anything. I have not even turned down your suggestion.’
‘My suggestion? I have only passed on a suggestion from the English, and made sure to tell you its provenance.’
‘Calm down and listen to me! I know very well that I do not have the means to prevent the Russians entering Tabriz. I also know that if I offer them the slightest resistance the whole world will condemn me, starting with my compatriots who want now to be rescued, no matter by whom. I am even aware of the fact that the end of the siege will constitute a defeat for the Shah.’
‘Was that not what you were fighting for?’
‘Not at all! You see, I may condemn the Shah, but it is not against him that I am fighting. To triumph over a despot cannot be one’s ultimate goal; I have been fighting so that Persians might be aware of being free, being sons of Adam as we say we are, so that they might have faith in themselves and their strength and be able to take their place in today’s world. That is what I wanted to see come to pass here. This city has thrown off the tutelage of the Shah and the religious chiefs, it has defied the Powers and aroused the support and admiration of well-intentioned men everywhere. The people of Tabriz are on the verge of winning, but they are not allowed to. It is feared that they would set a precedent and they must therefore be humiliated. The proud population of this city will have to bow to the Tsar’s soldiers for bread. You who were born free in a free country, ought to understand.’
I remained silent for a few strained seconds and then brought the matter to a conclusion:
‘So what do you want me to reply to the English Consul?’
Fazel forced his face to smile.
‘Tell him that I will be delighted to seek asylum once again in His Majesty’s Consulate.’
I needed some time in order to understand just how much Fazel’s bitterness was justified, for in the short term events seemed to contradict his fears. He only stayed a few days at the British Consulate before Mr Wratislaw drove him in his car across the Russian lines to the outskirts of Kazvin. There he could join the constitutionalist troops who, after a long wait, were preparing themselves to march toward Teheran.
In fact while Tabriz was in danger of being strangled, the Shah had a powerful means of dissuasion against his enemies and he could still manage to frighten and contain them. Once the siege was lifted, Fazel’s friends felt free to move and with no further delay they set off to march on to the capital which they did with two armies, one coming from Kazvin in the north and the other from Isfahan in the south. The latter, mostly made up of men from Bakhtiari tribes seized Qom on 23 June. A few days later a joint Anglo-Russian communiqué was broadcast demanding the Constitutionalists to cease their offensive immediately in order to come to an arrangement with the Shah. If not, the two Powers would find themselves obliged to intervene. However Fazel and his friends turned a deaf ear and hurried on: on 9 July their troops joined up below the walls of Teheran; on the 13th, two thousand men made their entrance into the capital by an unguarded gate in the north-west near the French legation, watched with astonishment by the correspondent of the Temps.
Only Liakhov tried to resist. With three hundred men, some old cannons and two Creusot machine guns he managed to keep control over several districts in the centre of the city. Heavy fighting went on unabated until 16 July.
On that day at eight-thirty in the morning, the Shah went to take refuge in the Russian Legation, formally accompanied by five hundred soldiers and courtiers. His action was tantamount to an act of abdication.
The commander of the Cossacks had no choice other than to lay down his arms. He swore henceforth to respect the Constitution and to place himself in the service of the victors on condition that his brigade was not dissolved, which reassurance he was duly given.
A new Shah was appointed: the youngest son of the fallen Shah, who was just twelve years old. According to Shireen, who had known him since the cradle, he was a gentle and sensitive adolescent, with neither cruelty nor perversity. When he crossed the capital the day after the fighting to go to the palace in the company of his tutor, Mr Smirnoff, he was greeted with shouts of ‘Long live the Shah!’, coming from the same people who a day earlier had been yelling, ‘Death to the Shah!’
CHAPTER 42
In public the young Shah cut a fine figure. He appeared royal, did not smile to excess and waved his pale hand in greeting to his subjects. However, once back at the palace he caused great concern to his courtiers. Having been brutally separated from his parents, he cried and cried. He even tried to run away that summer in order to join his father and mother. When he was caught he tried to hang himself from the palace ceiling, but when he started to choke he took fright, called for help and was rescued in time. That misadventure had a beneficial effect on him. He was now cured of his anxieties and would act his role of constitutional monarch in a dignified and good-natured manner.
Real power however was in the hands of Fazel and his friends. They inaugurated the new era with a purge: six supporters of the old régime were executed including the two main religious chiefs of Tabriz who had led the struggle against the sons of Adam, as well as Sheikh Fazlullah Nouri. He was accused of having given his backing to the massacres which followed the coup d’état the previous year; he therefore was convicted on a charge of collusion to murder and his death warrant was ratified by the Shiite hierarchy. However there was hardly any doubt that the sentence had symbolic value: Nouri had been responsible for decreeing that the constitution was a heresy. He was hanged in public in the Topkhaneh Square on 31 July 1909. Before he died he murmured: ‘I am not a reactionary!’ only to follow this by stating to his supporters who were dotted throughout the crowd that the constitution was contrary to their religion and that religion would have the last word.
The first task of the new leaders, however, was to rebuild the parliament: the building rose out of its ruins and elections were organized. On 15 November, the young Shah formally inaugurated the second Majlis in Persian history with these words:
In the name of God who has given us Freedom, and with the protection of his Holiness the hidden Imam, the National Consultative Assembly is hereby opened in joy and with the best omens.
Intellectual progress and the evolution of our way of thinking have rendered change inevitable. It has come about after a dreadful ordeal, but Persia has known, down the centuries, how to survive many crises, and today its people see their desires accomplished. We are happy to state that the new progressive government enjoys the support of the people, and that it is bringing peace and confidence back to the country.
In order to be able to carry out the necessary reform, it must be a priority of the government and the Parliament to bring the state, particularly its public finances, into line with the accepted norms for civilised nations.
We beseech God to guide the representatives of the nation and to assure honour, independence and happiness for Persia.
Teheran was jubilant that day. Everyone was out in the street, singing at the crossroads, reciting improvised poems whose words all either rhymed or were made to rhyme with ‘Constitution’, ‘Democracy,’ or ‘Liberty’. Merchants offered the passer-by drinks and sweetmeats, and dozens of newspapers which had been silenced after the coup d’état brought out special editions announcing their resurrection.