The Shahs of Persia: The struggle for an Empire
Persia could hardly be called an Empire in 1836, but still Mohammed Shah of the Qajar dynasty saw that creating a Persian Empire was a difficult but an achievable goal. Various foreigners, mostly British and Russians, had visited the Shah to gain treaties, but since the betrayal of the British in 1813, the Shah had become really distrusting of foreigners wishing him to sign some sort of treaty.
Persia in 1836
The question was whether the Shah would accept the advisors or throw them out. If the Englishmen would be thrown out, then the Shah couldn’t count on future British envoys, but if he would allow them to stay, then things could escalate. The Shah had remembered how the Russian ambassador Alexander Griboyedov was murdered in 1829. More over, accepting the British would certainly mean that Persia would become dependent of Britain for a long time to come.
Mohammad Shah of the Qajar Dynaty
Compared to Russia and Britain, Persia was weak. But in the region it was a power to be reckoned with. The lawless lands of Central Asia and Afghanistan would pose no threat to Persia, the only possible way they would pose a threat was if Russia or Britain supported them. The Baluchi states between Persia and India, were laughable at best. Their own ruler couldn’t even control his own lands, let alone that he was able to pull off an invasion of Persia. To the west lay Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, of which both were stronger as Persia.
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Hello all!
Although I was tempted to play as Spain and do an AAR about them, I thought that Spain would be a bit easy. So I decided to do a Persian AAR, for multiple reasons, as it’s a more difficult country to play as and we’ve got an unpleasant neighbour we all know from my last AAR
I’m playing on Revolutions now with the latest patch and OHgamers hot fix. I’ve made one small adjustment to the Persian start up, they now have a claim on Herat. I don't have any specific goals at this time, just to civilize and become a power able to withstand British and Russian pressure.
I hope you'll enjoy this AAR!