British Institute of Persian Studies

After a difficult century of civil wars and foreign intervention, population loss and economic contraction, Iran was finally reunified under the Qajar and the unique leadership of Aqa Muhammad Shah in 1796.  This presentation discusses the road to Qajar reunification and the brief reign of Aqa Muhammad and his legacy, leading to his assassination in Shusha-Qarabagh in 1797.

About the Speaker
Maziar Behrooz was born in Tehran-Iran. He received his B.A degree in History-Government from Saint Mary College of California (1982), his M.A. in Modern History of Europe from San Francisco State University (1986), and his Ph.D. in Modern History of the Near East from University of California, Los Angeles (1993). He is an associate professor at the History Department of San Francisco State University. He has authored numerous articles and book chapters on Iran and has authored two books on the history of the left movement in Iran. His first book, Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran (1999), has been translated into Persian (2001) and Turkish (2006). His second book, Perspectives on the History of Rebels with a Cause in Iran (2006), is a collection of articles and interviews on the left movement in Iran, translated and published in Iran. His current research project is about the late 18th century-early 19th century encounters between Iran and the Western world and is titled Iran at War: Interactions with the Modern World and the Struggle with Imperial Russia (2023).