Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar was the founder and first ruler of the Qajar dynasty of Iran.
Background
Agha Mohammad Khan was born in around 1742 in Astarabad. He belonged to the Qoyunlu (also spelled Qawanlu) branch of the Qajar tribe. The tribe had several other branches, one of the most prominent ones being the Develu, which often fought against the Qoyunlu. Agha Mohammad Khan was the eldest son of the chieftain of the Qoyunlu clan, Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar, and the grandson of Fath-Ali Khan Qajar, a prominent aristocrat executed by the orders of shah Tahmasp II (possibly at the urging of Nader Qoli Beg, who would become known as Nader Shah after usurping the throne of Iran in 1736, marking the foundation of the Afsharid dynasty). Agha Mohammad Khan had several half-brothers and full-brothers: Hossein Qoli Khan, Morteza Qoli Khan, Mostafa Qoli Khan, Reza Qoli Khan, Jafar Qoli Khan, Mehdi Qoli Khan, Abbas Qoli Khan and Ali Qoli Khan.
Career
Following the death of Nader Shah in 1747, many tribal chiefs rose in revolt in the hope of taking over the leadership of the country. In the melee Mohammad Hoseyn Khan, the head of the Qajar tribe, was killed, and his son Mohammad, 5 years old, was castrated by order of Adel Shah, the nephew of Nader Shah. Henceforth, the boy's name was prefixed by "Agha, " a title used in Persia for eunuchs.
After years of warfare among the rivals for the throne of Nader Shah, Karim Khan Zand became the undisputed ruler in 1750. He married Agha Mohammad's sister and ordered his young brother-in-law to live in Shiraz, his capital, as a hostage. Agha Mohammad was quite free in Shiraz and was even permitted to venture out of the city for hunting. But his hatred was so strong that whenever he was in Karim Khan's presence he would secretly cut the rug on which he was sitting.
In 1779, when Karim Khan was at the point of death, Agha Mohammad found excuses to remain out of the city. By prearrangement his sister notified him when Karim Khan had died. Agha Mohammad immediately galloped toward the north and reached Esfahan, a distance of 316 miles, in less than 3 days. From there he hurried to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea and was welcomed by his tribesmen. While he was busy uniting and strengthening the Qajars, the Zands were torn by fratricide and a bitter struggle for succession.
In the end, the two protagonists for the throne of Persia were Lotf-Ali Khan Zand, a grandnephew of Karim Khan, and Agha Mohammad Khan. These two were of opposite character. The cruelty and treachery of Agha Mohammad were matched against the nobility and gallantry of Lotf-Ali. Agha Mohammad won the contest in 1794, aided by the treachery of Haji Ebrahim, a counselor of Lotf-Ali Khan. The young prince was blinded and strangled, and the province of Kerman, which had aided Lotf-Ali, was devastated and its population savaged.
Agha Mohammad Khan chose Tehran as his capital and from there solidified his rule and expanded his domain. His main foreign foe was Catherine the Great of Russia, and their dispute was over Georgia, whose governor, Heraclius, had renounced his allegiance to Persia and had accepted Russia's protection. In the ensuing struggle Catherine, who had her hands full in Europe, did not come to her protégé's aid. As a result, Agha Mohammad captured Tiflis and put the population to the sword. On his return he was crowned shah of Persia in March 1796.
Catherine sent a punitive expedition which reached as far south as Baku, but she died and her son Paul reversed her orders. Agha Mohammad, delighted at the news, decided to go to the Caucasus and capture Shisha, the one city which had resisted him the previous year. The city surrendered without a struggle, but three days later in June 1797 three of his servants killed Agha Mohammad Shah.
Achievements
Agha Mohammad Khan's reign is noted for the reemergence of a centrally led and united Iran, and for moving the capital to Tehran, where it still stands as of today. He is also noted for his heavily cruel and rapacious behavior, particularly for his re-subjugation of Georgia, where he sacked the capital Tbilisi, massacred many of its inhabitants, and moved some 15, 000 Georgian captives back to mainland Iran.
Politics
During Agha Mohammad Shah's reign, provincial administration followed the same model of the Safavid one; beglerbegis were appointed to govern provinces. A city was under the rule of a kalantar and darugha, while its quarters was under the rule of the kadkhuda. Governorship of provinces went for the most part to tribal chieftains—this was later changed by Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, who appointed many of his relatives as governors.
Agha Mohammad Shah was more of a military leader than politician, and was known for his determined sovereignty, instead of a charismatic one. His military prowess was highly noticeable.
Views
Quotations:
According to the author of the Fārsnāma-ye Nāṣeri, Ḥasan-e Fasāʼi, a contemporary Qajar era historian, Agha Mohammad Khan had declared in the letter:
"Shah Ismail I Safavi ruled over the province of Georgia. When in the days of the deceased king we were engaged in conquering the provinces of Iran, we did not proceeed to this region. As most of the provinces of Iran have come into our possession now, you must, according to ancient law, consider Georgia (Gurjistan) part of the empire, and appear before our majesty. You have to conform your obedience; then you may remain in the possession of your governship (wali) of Georgia. If you do not do this, you will be treated as the others".
Personality
His castration was one of the chief causes of the evil in Agha Mohammad's character and behavior. He became a misanthrope and hostile to everyone.
Sir John Malcolm, a British representative at the time, in his History of Persia describes the eunuch shah's character: "The person of that monarch was so slender that at a distance he appeared like a youth of fourteen or fifteen. His beardless and shrivelled face resembled that of an aged and wrinkled woman; and the expression of his countenance, at no times pleasant, was horrible when clouded, as it very often was, with indignation. … The first passion of his mind was power; the second avarice; and the third revenge. In all these he indulged in excess, and they administered to each other. … His knowledge of the character and feelings of others was wonderful; and it is to this knowledge, and his talent of concealing from all the secret purpose of his soul, that we must refer his extraordinary success in subduing his enemies. "
Quotes from others about the person
Malcolm's evaluation, which was written some years after his death, says the following thing; "His army was inured to fatigue, and regularly paid; he had introduced excellent arrangement into all its Departments, and his known severity occasioned the utmost alacrity and promptness in the execution of orders, and had he lived a few more years, it is difficult to conjecture the progress of his arms. "
The Scottish traveller James Baillie Fraser also says the following thing about him; "Agha Mohammad had likewise the talent of forming good and brave troops. His active and ambitious disposition kept his army constantly engaged; and they acquired a veteran hardihood and expertness, that rendered them superior to any other Asiatic troops. "
Connections
Father
Mohammad Hasan Khan Qajar
(1722–1759)
He was the chief of the Qoyunlu branch of the Qajar tribe of Turkomans in the Caspian coastlands around Astarabad, was the son of Fath Ali Khan and the father of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, who founded the Qajar dynasty of Iran.
