Izvestiya of Saratov University.

History. International Relations

ISSN 1819-4907 (Print)
ISSN 2542-1913 (Online)


For citation:

Baranov A. V. The “Iranian Awakening” in the perception of the Western observer: Myths and reality. Izvestiya of Saratov University. History. International Relations, 2025, vol. 25, iss. 3, pp. 375-382. DOI: 10.18500/1819-4907-2025-25-3-375-382, EDN: PEZCZA

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0).
Full text:
(downloads: 71)
Language: 
Russian
Article type: 
Article
UDC: 
94(55)|1905/1911|:821.09-992
EDN: 
PEZCZA

The “Iranian Awakening” in the perception of the Western observer: Myths and reality

Autors: 
Baranov Alexey V., Saratov State University
Abstract: 

The article attempts to analyze the materials of Western travelogues concerning the events in Iran in 1905–1911, which became a powerful ideological factor in the domestic political life of the country, for the first time so powerfully and obviously faced with the influence of Western ideas, the central part of which were the representative form of government, the constitution and the institution of the Majlis. It is no coincidence that these events were called the “Iranian awakening” (рers. bidari-ye irani) in ideological terms and the “constitutional movement” (рers. jonbeshe mashruteh) in the political. Actively disseminated in the official Western media and in the works of well-known colonial figures of Great Britain, which played the role of the leading power of the Western world throughout the 19th century, the point of view regarding the Westernization of Persia during the “Iranian awakening” turned out to be clearly one-sided and simplified the main course of events. The involvement of numerous travel guides of Western travelers who visited the country during the study period, who were not biased by their professional affiliation to the British government institutions, as additional sources of materials, allowed us to look at what is happening more objectively and not biased.

Reference: 
  1. Keddie N. R. Religion and Rebellion in Iran: The Iranian Tobacco Protest of 1891–1982. New York : Routledge, 1966. 181 р.
  2. Algar H. Mirza Malkum Khan. A Study in the History of Iranian Modernism. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1973. 340 p.
  3. Moazami B. State, Religion, and Revolution in Iran, 1796 to the Present. London : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. 214 р.
  4. Kermani N. I. Tarikh-e Bidari-ye Iranian. Tehran : Amir Kabir antasharat, 1387. 634 s. (на перс. яз.).
  5. Kasravi A. Tarikh-e Mashruteh-ye Iran. Tehran : Negāh antasharat, 1381. 951 s. (на перс. яз.).
  6. Ansari A. M. The politics of nationalism in modern Iran. New York : Cambridge University Press, 2012. 344 р.
  7. Ḥaʼiri ʻA. H. Shi’ism and constitutionalism in Iran: A study of the role played by the Persian residents of Iraq in Iranian politics. Leiden : E. J. Brill, 1977. 296 р.
  8. Curzon G.N. Persia and the Persian question : in 2 vols. London : Longmans, Green and Co., 1892. Vol. 2. 706 р.
  9. Sykes P. M. A history of Persia : in 2 vols. London : Macmillan And Co., 1915. Vol. 2. 662 p.
  10. Sykes E. C. Persia and its people. New York : Macmillan, 1910. 422 р.
  11. Wishard J. G. Twenty years in Persia: A narrative of life under the last three shahs. New York : Fleming H. Revell Company, 1908. 345 р.
  12. Anet C. Through Persia in a motor-car. New York : D. Appleton аnd Company, 1908. 375 р.
  13. Cresson W. P. Persia, the awakening East. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott, 1908. 352 р.
  14. Fraser D. Persia and Turkey in Revolt. London : William Blackwood and Sons, 1910. 564 р.
  15. Hone J. M. Persia in revolution; with notes of travel in the Caucasus. London : T. F. Unwin, 1910. 312 р.
  16. Moore A. The Orient express. London : Constable & Company, 1914. 320 р.
  17. Moore B. B. From Moscow to the Persian Gulf, being the journal of a disenchanted traveler in Turkestan and Persia. New York : G. P. Putnam, 1915. 450 р.
Received: 
18.02.2025
Accepted: 
12.04.2025
Published: 
29.08.2025
Short text (in English):
(downloads: 56)