'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎266v] (537/610)

486
Persia
Eiza Khan’s
operations in
Caspian Pro-
Red army in Gilan, wlio would advance on Tehran,
lay open to him ; the British troops had gone, the British Govern
ment, pledged to economy and disgusted with its heavy and
unproductive expenditure in the country, would take no counter
measures, while the threat of Russian aggression and their own
impotence to check it were a constant menace to the Persian
Cabinet. The unstable and fickle Persian populace too, forgetful
of their hatred of Russia and weary of two and a half years of
British tutelage, were ready to welcome the Russian and to re
turn to the old game of playing off the two powers against each
other. • iniQ
The internal situation was more critical than in 19
before the British Military occupation. The financial question
was unsolved, the British source of supply was drained dry,
except for some advances from the Imperial Bank of Persia,
and the sympathy of the British Government alienated. The
whole country was in confusion with the exception of the South
where the South Persia Rifles were still keeping order, but they
too were soon to be disbanded unless taken over by the Persian
Government. The Bolsheviks had not indeed, as had been
feared, followed the British withdrawal by advancing to Kazvin
and Tehran, but the Persian revolutionaries in Gilan had the
benefit of Russian arms and money, and were increasingly active.
They had re-occupied Tunakabun and Amir Mu’aiyld, the most
influential chief of Western Mazandaran, was allied with Kuchik
Khan. The Caspian Provinces were again (as in 1918) removed
from Persian Government control, and the centre of a formidable
Communist rebellion, which aimed at the capture of Tehran.
In June negotiations were held with Kuchik Khan, but with the
ill success that had attended the many previous attempts to
come to terms with this rebel.
Azarbaijan was in complete disorder. Simko, an insurgent
Kurdish chief in the Urumieh region, who had defeated attempts
of gendarmerie and Cossacks under the preceding Cabinets
to crush him, was becoming more powerful and aggressive.
The Shahsavan tribesmen were raiding far and wide. They had
looted Sarab (in June) and entered the outskirts of Ardabil
and were holding up traffic on the Mianeh-Tabriz road. In the
city of Tabriz the authority of the Governor-General, which
had been restored in 1920 by Mukhblr-us-Sultaneh and the
Cossacks (see footnote to page 260) was weakening.
In Khorasan Colonel Muhammad TaqI Khan had usurped
authority in Meshed.
The challenge from Gilan was the most immediate. On
12th July Ihsanullah Khan and Khalu Qurban had advanced
ibex 1921 . fr° m Tunakabun and occupied the Salambar pass on the road
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