ABSTRACT
Iranian nationalist historiography is divided as to the origins of the ‘Iranian awakening’. The consensus leans towards the narrative presented most eloquently by the British Persianist, Edward Browne, which sees its origins in the Tobacco Revolt at the end of the nineteenth century. 1 The noted nationalist ideologue and activist, Hasan Taqizadeh on the other hand, argued for 1828, and the Treaty of Turkmenchai. 2 But a better case may be made for 1857 and the Treaty of Paris, which marked the period of British ascendancy in political and certainly ideological terms. 3 Coinciding with the continuing fallout over the Babi Revolt, which had shaken the orthodoxies of Iranian political culture, along with a second significant military defeat in just over a generation, it confirmed to all but the most idealistic Iranian politicians that something had to be done. Even Nasir al Din Shah, like Fath Ali Shah, began to openly lament the loss of his great vizier.
