Russians in Iran

Russians in Iran seeks to challenge the traditional narrative regarding Russian involvement Iran and to show that whilst Russia's historical involvement in Iran is longstanding it is nonetheless much misunderstood. Russia's influence in Iran between 1800 and the middle of the twentieth century is not simply a story of inexorable intrusion and domination: rather, it is a complex and interactive process of mostly indirect control and constructive engagement. Drawing on fresh archival material, the contributors provide a window into the power and influence wielded in Iran not just by the Russian government through it traditional representatives but by Russian nationals operating in Iran in a variety of capacities, including individuals, bankers, and entrepreneurs. Russians in Iran reveals the multifaceted role that Russians have played in Iranian history and provides an original and important contribution to the history and international relations of Iran, Russia and the Middle East.

Rudi Matthee is John and Dorothy Munroe Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Delaware. He is the recipient of a number of awards, including the 2006 Albert Hourani Book Prize, the Saidi Sirjani Award 2004-5, the British-Kuwaiti Friendship Book Prize 2012, and has twice received the prize for best foreign language book on Iran from the Iranian Ministry of Culture. He is a past President of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, and currently serves as President of the Persian Heritage Foundation. His books include The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History (Princeton University Press, 2005), Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan (I.B. Tauris, 2012) and (with Willem Floor and Patrick Clawson) The Monetary History of Iran, (I.B. Tauris, 2013).
Elena Andreeva is Associate Professor of History at Virginia Military Institute, USA. Her research interests include Iranian history and culture in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and colonialism and imperialism in the Middle East and Asia. She is the author of Russia and Iran in the Great Game (2007).

Introduction Rudi Matthee
Part I: War and Diplomacy: The Nineteenth Century
1. The Early Stages of Russo-Iranian Relations
Muriel Atkin
2. The Khan, the Shah and the Tsar: The Khanate of Talesh between Iran and Russia
Soli Shahvar and Emil Abramoff
3. Alexander Sergeevich Griboedov: Russian Imperial James Bond malgre lui
Firuza Melville
4. Russian Government Actions against Russian Deserters in Iran in the Nineteenth Century
Elena Andreeva
Part II: Intelligence and Intrusion: The Turn of the Twentieth Century
5. Nest of Revolution: The Caucasus, Iran and Armenians
Houri Berberian
6. The Discount-and-Loan Bank as an Agent of Russian Interests in Iran
Irina Pavlova
7. Infidel Aggression: The Russian Assault on the Holy Shrine of Mashhad, 1912
Rudi Matthee
Part III: Officers and Orientalists: The First Half of the Twentieth Century
8. K. N. Smirnov's Letters Sent from the Caucasian Front as a Source for the Study of Iran's
Military and Political Conditions in 1915-1916
N. K. Ter-Oganov
9. Vladimir Minorsky and the Iran-Iraq War, or the Centenary of 'Minorsky's Frontier'
Denis Volkov
10. Nikolai L. Markov (1882-1957), Architect, Captain of the Russian Military Corps of
Engineers, General in the Iranian Army
Lana Ravandi-Fadai
Part IV: Ideology and Occupation: The 1930s and 1940s
11. Soviet Officials in Tehran during the 1930s: From Origins in the USSR's Periphery to
Foreign Service in Iran
Mary Yoshinari
12. Convenient Comrades: Re-assessing the Relationship between the Soviet Union and the
Tudeh Party during the British-Soviet Occupation of Iran, 1941-1946
Rowena Abdul Razak
13. The USSR and the Allied Occupation of Iran in August 1941: The Untold Story of a
Difficult Decision
Nikolay Kozhanov
Index