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    Markus

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    Posts posted by Markus

    1. Close up of the Queen Alexandra with medals. I am thinking the medal closest to the bottom of the picture is the Order of Aaftab. In researching Queen Alexandra's medals and orders I can confirm she received the order of Aaftab in 1902. Queen Victoria was one of the first recipients and the Order was later bestowed on Queen Alexandra in 1902 and the future Queen Mary in 1904. The badge from the latter is in the Royal Collection and was on display in the Windsor Castle exhibition of 1997. The other medal with the bow is the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert.

    2. Shah Mozaffar ad-Din (Reign 1896-1907) visit to England in 1902 with King Edward VII and the Princes of Wales Victoria. This is a photo postcard I found. Both King Edward VII and Shah Mozaffar ad-Din are wearing the first class Nishan-i-Agdas (Most Sacred). The first degree was worn by the Shah, and also conferred on fellow foreign sovereigns. I am not for sure but I think the Queen has on the order of Aaftab. I will have to zoom in and enhance he area of interest.

    3. I had a Saudi friend look at some Ottoman awarding documents for me.

      He could phonetically read the script (Arabic) but the "sounds" made no sense to him as it was Turkish although there were some common words.

      It took awhile for my mind to grasp, but it was no different to a French person reading a text in German. Unless he was also fluent in German, being able to read the text doesn't necessarily mean understanding the meaning of the words.

      Hey Gavin,

      I ran this issue past Babar and he agrees with your assessment. The same alphabet is used and it can be read, but it makes no sense to him unless he also knows Turkish language.

    4. Hi James,

      Thanks for all the additional information on Prinz Firuz. Now we have a Western perspective as well as an Iranian perspective on the history of this turbulent time. It does seem to me that Western powers were playing Persian tug-of-war with Britian, Turkey and Russia fighting for power and influence within Persia. Sort of ironic that the same game with different players is happening today with Western governments enforcing sanctions against Iran while Russian along with China take sides with iran. I suppose if we gathered history books from the West and from Iran they would tell two different stories on the history of Persia/Iran.

      Now the Civil uniform and civil awards of Arts and Science make sense now. I had assumed than being a Prince entitled him to wear a military uniform, but that is not the case. Thanks for that clarification. As always, your knowledgable contributions are always greatly appreciated!

      Markus

    5. This is a Godet Lion and Sun medal. The Godet Lion and Sun is very distinctive as seen in other Lion and Sun medals from this maker. The sun has a coppery glaze and the blue part of the enamel has some iridescence. I'm thinking that this was part of a 2nd class set and perhaps the sash badge that clipped directly to the sash, since there are seven green rays, same as a second class badge. The second possibility is that the medal is missing some components.

      Godet is a very old company founded in 1761 by Jean Godet and was one of the finest order makers in Germany. In addition to making virtually all the medals of every German court, they made many international medals.

    6. Ahmad Shah was the last Qajar ruler with whom the Qajar reign came to its end. Born one year after the assassination of Nasseraddin Shah, Ahmad Mirza was elected by Tehran conquerors as the shah of Iran and due to his young age, they chose a regent for him.

      Ahmad Mirza's fate to become the shah of Iran forced him to stay in Iran and part with his parents who were to leave Iran. Seven years later, he was crowned; but his coronation coincided with the beginning of First World War and some parts of Iran were invaded and occupied by Russian, British and Ottoman forces.

      The end of war did not give the promise of better days for Iran and Middle East. Keeping dominance in India, greed for domestic markets, seizing oil resources of the Middle East and fighting with the danger of bolshevism were the main pivot of imperialistic policies in the region.

      As Lord Curzon wished the conclusion of 1919 treaty would turn Iran to one of colonial countries of Britain. But Ahmad Shah did not sign it and the treaty was cancelled. So the British decided to work out another plan. Some people including Lloyd George, then the prime minister and Winston Churchill pondered over the idea of creating a dictatorial government supported by Intelligence service. Reza khan's coup of 1921 was the outcome of the new policy.

      Ahmad Shah died in France, 1928, never recognizing the Pahlavi regime. His corpse was buried in Karbala as he wished.

    7. Please don't be so puritanical (learned this word today from our mutual friend :lol: )

      So he practiced old and sacred art of bribery.

      Just another good old sell out boy...

      'And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many'

      Regards,

      Nick

      Bribery, assassinations, corruption, payoffs, executions....sounds just like USA history! And we are a very puritanical nation!

      :speechless1:

    8. Prince Nossrat Al Doleh Firouz was executed by Reza Shah:

      "Minister of Foreign Affairs under Ahmad Shah Qajar (Kadjar); architect of the ill-fated 1919 Anglo-Persian agreement; candidate for accession to the Qajar (Kadjar) throne after Soltan Ahmad Shah's exile and removal; minister of finance under Reza Shah; and finally prisonner of Reza Shah, later to be excecuted as a dangerous rival, along with Seyyed Hassan Modaress and Abdol Hossein Teymourtash, the famed Minister of Court of Reza Shah."

      http://www.qajarpages.org/nosratdowleh.html

    9. Hey Nick, you are right! Same guy. He looks better with out the glasses. The site I grabbed his photo from doesn't have a very favorable review of him:

      "Prince Nossrat Al Doleh Firouz (Prince Farmanfarma's son) became foreign minister in 1919. He is the worst example of the corrupt Qajar nobility keen to serve a foreign master. There were many like him which made the Iranian situation so desparate. In December of 1919 in exchange for a bribe of £100,000 from the British Government, an enormous sum of money in those days, together with the Prime Minister Vosogh Al Doleh and the Minister of Finance agreed the shameful 1919 treaty with the British Government (see <a href="http://hakimi.50webs.com/references.htm">2). Three senior members of the government, the prime minister, the foreign minister , the finance minister and Sultan Ahmad Shah the king himself received bribes according to British Government records released 30 years later. The treaty was never ratified by the Iranian Parliments.

      The opposition to the treaty by the people of Iran and its parliments made the government of the country impossible in subsequent years. The treaty would have given the British total control of Iran as the treaty called for Iran to hand the control if its economy and military to the British. This treaty was the brain child of Lord Curzon who took the Iranian Parlimants' refusal to ratify the treaty and its subsequent abject failure personally, thus making life impossible for subsequent Iranian governments. The British used all methods to bring pressure and cripple the Iranian Government into submission. This main weapon used against Iran was the withdrawl of finance from the Iranian Governments (the British ran the banking system). One should also consider the world situation at that time, the Great War (First World War) had just ended and the Russian Revolution had removed any counter balance effect from the other main colonial power, leaving Iran totally exposed to the British. The misery of the Iranian situation was one of the main factors which brought the inevitable fall of the Qajar dynasty.

      For his services Nossrat Al Douleh received hounours and decorations from the British government such as the Star of India and St Michael (from George V) medals. Later he returned to Iran under instructions from Lord Curzon who was increasingly concerned about the threat of Bolshevism from Russia, the Prince drove his Rolls Royce all the way from England in 1923 in order to take over the government and arrange a coup in favour of the British. His plans did not succeed as Mir Panj [General] Reza Khan (later became Reza Shah) was given the means (mainly in the form of food, clothing and funds for the cossack troops under his command) by General Sir Edmond Ironside the British military commander in charge of withdrawl of British troops from [Northern] Iran who was acting on his own and against the plans of Curzon, to make a coup-de-tat. After the coup Prince Nossrat Al Douleh was arrested by the military government of Reza Khan who angrily dismissed the pleas by Mr. Norman the British representative in Iran who had interceded on the Prince's behalf. In answer to Reza Khan's question as to why the Prince should be released, Norman suggested that since the Prince was decorated by the British monarch, implying he was under the protection of the British and Reza Khan ought to release him. The latter retorted angrily that perhaps it was better for the British Government to take back its honours from an Iranian subject. This was completely unprecendented and the British were not used to being treated in such a manner. One must bear in mind that Iranians were used to having to defer to the British and Russians."

      http://hakimi.50webs.com/gloassry.html

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