ABSTRACT
Reza Khan’s meteoric rise from obscurity to power, between February and May 1921, coincided with and was aided by the weakening of the British Legation’s powers to influence the course of events in Tehran.1 The Legation at first wrote him off as an “honest and capable officer without political aspiration.”2 The Minister pinned his hopes on the civilian leader of the coup, Sayyed Zia, who became Prime Minister. He re-employed British advisers and officers to reorganize and run the Persian finances and armed forces. Moreover his wide-ranging programme for social and economic reforms appeared to provide the necessary antidote to the revolutionary agitations.3
