Study of The Political Situation of merv in the Period of Nasereddin Shah Qajar

Document Type : جغرافیای تاریخی خراسان بزرگ

Abstract

Investigating the political situation of Merv in the period of Nasreddin Shah Qajar is of specific significance. This research, using descriptive-analytical method and relying on first-hand resources, seeks to answer the following question: which factors contributed to the turmoil of the political situation of Marv in the period of Naser-al-Din Shah and the blurring of the relations between the Iranian government and Turkmens and eventually led to the separation of Marv from the mainland of Iran . The findings indicated that, on the one hand, the improper behavior of the rulers of Khorasan in relation to the Turkmens a frontier region of Iran and the failure to use a hard policy towards the interference of the Kheivehkhan- tarriance in the affairs of the region, and on the other hand, the Turkmen's inappropriate performance and frequent attacks on the cities and villages of the Khorasan borderlands and the plundering of the people here disturbed the political situation in the region, making the Qajar government take futile military attacks against Turkmen. With the continuation and intensification of such attacks, the political situation in the region was such that on the advent the Russians procession in Turkmenistan (1294), the Iranian government did not support the Turkmen despite the fact they pledge the support of Iranian government in several occasions. As a result, these factors resulted in the separation of a large part of the territory of the great Khorasan (Iran) and joining that separated part to Russia.

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