The Great Constitutional Period and End of Qajars

Mohammad Ali Shah's 10 year old son, Ahmad Shah, was chosen to become the new king. Because he was a minor, the parliament found him a regent, Ali Reza Khan Qajar, an old man who was neither absolutist nor constitutionalist, he was just old!

This second constitutional period proved to be less pure than the first one. A lot of foreign influence enetered the thoughts of the people, mainly through the new leaders of the revolution who were mainly western educted and not always very patriotic. Many popular poets and intellectaulls started talking about the British hand in the whole second revolution and how they are getting closer to swallow the whole country. This thought was empowered by the election of openely "Anglophile" Vosoogh Al-Doleh to the prime ministership. Vosoogh made a treaty with the British, a treaty which was considered by many to be the official document of selling the country to the British. A series of oppoisitions started, and the ended by the rise of a new, obvious British trick.

Being disappointed in attracting now adult Ahmad Shah's attention toward working with them, and seeing no opposition from the Russians after the revolution of 1917, the British decided to act fast. Using the skills of their ambassador in Iran, general Ironside, they designed a Coup d'Etat. For acting the parts of the leaders of the Coup, they chose the Journalist Seyyed Zia and the former Kaczak troops liutenant, Reza Khan Maxim.

The Coup was successful, Seyyed Zia became the new Prime Minister and Reza Khan occupied the position of Ministery of War. Seyyed Zia ordered the arrest of a large group of countries rich and famous. He kept them in jail for ransom, asked in the form of unpaid taxes. But there was one problem, Seyyed Zia did not follow the guidelines correctly, so after 100 days in power, he and his "Black Cabinet" were fired from the job! This time, the British chose the better person, Reza Khan.

Reza Khan was an illiterate soldier from Savad Kuh area of Mazandaran province in the north of Iran. He joined the Kaczak troops when he was young in search of money and respect. Before participating in the Coup, he served many of the rich and famous that Seyyed Zia sent to jail. Reza Khan was perfect for the role, he was obediant and without any plans of his own.

Reza Khan occupied the position of Prime Minister after over powering 5 cabinets that came after Seyyed Zia from his position of Minister of War. Sradar Sepah, as he was now called, was a pretty brutal and not-very-pleasant man. He did not really understand the etiquettes of the court, and used insult as a very strong weapon against the people he did not agree with! Thus during his reign, words like "Pedar sookhte" or "J...sh" were very common!(sorry, untranslateble, but use your immagination). He was also unable to read, which lead to a lot of Jokes, still being told, after 70 years!

Anyway, Reza Khan's Prime Ministership was the death blow to the old and corrupt Qajar Dynasty. In a Parliament whose memebers were chosen for the purpose, Reza Khan Maxim was declaired king as Reza Shah Pahlavi, and that was the end of Qajars, whose last king, Ahmad Shah, was living in Monte Carlo for the past two years, leaving the power to Sardar Sepah. Many say that Ahmad Shah was not a weak or indifferent king as evidence suggest, but that he was rather powerless infront of the Reza Khan and the English support. Whatever he was, he was for sure the last king of Qajars. Soon after overthrow, his heir to the throne and brother, Prince Mohammad Hassan and all his family were also sent exile. They moved to England, when Prince Mohammad Hassan's son grew up and joined the Royal British Navy!

Reza Khan was now the absolute ruler of a constitutional monarchy. With his rule, the great Constitutional Era did not end in a violant act as the first one did, it was just slowly put to rest, so slow that nobody felt its absence for a long time!