'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎589] (656/714)

THE ARMY
689
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toria l elements lr #| | (; j
but no Vrew ei ,
on of the Austrian elei fr
>>ia at Teheran was hi;' .
:lie scene of Rnssiaiole
ill. Colonel DnmaitoTitf
'al Tergnkasoffintb;
missioned and five mo «.
rganise a regimeit i it
lively did tlieEDw p.
I Berdan rifles, costi!
'0 light field ktteriesit-
Tv good friend tie Eup:
at Teheran on tie Eh
)iece; the men were te;
iation from the modelft
ongratnlate himself fi)
Caucasian article, ii it
? Persian Cossacl KPQ
600 each-ie., 1,8(1 w
two regiments of
r, as three report
full complement of te ;£
, one lieotenant. d t
las inTeherantte 11
jjn^ne lieutenant.^ 3
lV e something more t« 3 !
oration of ieco^
Surviving
foreign
element
mrts of the existing army. In tlie present year it lias been
decided to raise a fourth and similar regiment of Persian Cossacks
among the Kurds, Timuris, and other tribes of the north-eastern
frontier. .
In addition to the Kussian officers, relics ot the successive
waves of foreign military importation which I have described sti
survive in Persia in 1891 in the person of seven Austrian
officers, six of whom are generals, and one a major, a
French bandmaster dignified with the rank of a general,^
an Italian and a Bulgarian chief of instructors, an Italian head ot
police, and two Prussian officers, acting as professors m the Koyal
College This is the flotsam and jetsam that the receding ice
of polyglot military influence has left stranded upon the dubious
shore-line of Teheran. . . ,
From this brief historical retrospect of the Persian army m the
past, and particularly during the nineteenth century the information
Modern contained in which I have derived from a great number
army 0 f sources that have nowhere else been collated I turn
to an account of the Persian forces as they now are Konghly
speaking, the army in Persia may be said to consist ot nee con-
stituent parts :— „ .
1. A large number of irregular cavalry furnished by the trontiei.
or nomad, or warlike tribes, and commanded by their chieftains 01
khans. These must by no means be confused with the irregular
horse, as the term is employed in the military annals ot Lngland
or India. In Persia they are in no sense a drilled organised, o
disciplined body of men. but consist of rude tribal levies raised
without fixed method from such districts or clans as possess tig i mg
material, horses, and a frontier to guard; and while the staple o
which they are formed is masculine and robust, yet, in the absence
of discipline, and still more often of pay, they are apt to consti
a greater danger than protection.
2. A semi-regular army of infantry, cavalry, and arti ,
equipped, clothed, and drilled on more or less European lines, an
constituting the balk of the defensive forces of the kingdom
3. An irregular infantry militia (tufangchis, or matchlock e ,
shamkhalchis, and jezailchis), raised and supportec y oca i -
tricts and cities for the protection of life and proper y wi im
own borders. Nominally, this is a large force, only called out m
cases of dire emergency. In reality, it is an msigm can