Anglo-Iranian Relations since 1800
Royal Asiatic Society Books Series

With contributions from renowned experts in the field, this book provides an excellent background to the history of Anglo-Iranian relations. Focusing on the political and economic relationship of Britain and issues of strategic sensitivity, the book also illuminates British relations with society and the state and describes the interaction between various representatives and agents of both countries.

Anglo-Iranian relations have had a long and complex history, characterized on the one hand by mistrust and intrusion and on the other by mutual exchange and understanding. This book explores the intriguing history of this interactive relationship since 1800, looking at it from a variety of perspectives. Drawing on previously unavailable documents in English and Persian, the book argues that Iran in the nineteenth century had a national state, which strongly defended the national interests.

1. Introduction 2. 'Persia' in the Western Imagination 3. Major General Sir Robert Murdoch Smith KCMG and Anglo-Iranian Relations in Art and Culture 4. The Clergy and the British: Perceptions of Religion and the Ulama in Early Qajar Iran 5. The British in Bushehr: The Impact of the First Heart War on the Relations with State and Society 6. Ordinary People and the Reception of British Culture in Iran, 1906-41 7. The Relationship between the British and Abd Al-Husain Mirza Farman Farma during his Governorship of Fars 7. Britain, the Iranian Military and the Rise of Reza Khan 8. Oil in Iran between the Two World Wars 9. An Assessment of the Withdrawal of British Forces from the Persian Gulf (1971) within the Framework of Disputed Islands 10. Anglo Iranian Relations over the Disputed Islands in the Persian Gulf: Constraints on Rapprochement 11. The Restoration of Diplomatic Relations with Iran December 1953

Vanessa Martin is Reader in Middle Eastern History at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of Islam and Modernism: the Iranian Revolution of 1906 (1989), Creating an Islamic State (2000) and The Qajar Pact: Bargaining, Protest and the State in Nineteenth-Century Iran (2005). She is joint series editor of Routledge/BIPS Persian Studies series.