Ahmad Shah Qajar

Biography

Ahmad Shah Qajar was born in Tabriz in 1898, the son of Mohammad Ali Shah. When constitutionalist forces deposed his father in July 1909, the eleven-year-old was placed on the throne, with the elder statesman Azod al-Molk acting as regent. He was formally crowned in July 1914, on coming of age.

His reign coincided with the collapse of central authority in Persia. During the First World War Russian, British and Ottoman troops fought on Persian soil, and by 1920 the government had lost control outside the capital, and afterwards the government negotiated the Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919, which would have placed the country under heavy British influence and was never ratified. The young shah was described as weak and pleasure-loving.

In February 1921 the Cossack officer Reza Khan and the journalist Zia'eddin Tabatabaee seized Tehran. Ahmad Shah stayed on the throne, but real power passed to Reza Khan, who soon took the post of prime minister. The shah left for Europe in 1923 and did not return; in October 1925 the Majlis deposed him and ended the Qajar dynasty. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, in 1930 and was buried in Karbala.