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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [429r] (860/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
THE ARMY
607
*
it is only because of the organised peculation of his superiors that
it percolates in such attenuated driblets, after long periods of time
to the miserable private. Small wonder if, when the occasion arises 5 ,
he wreaks a sweet revenge upon his own commanding officers by
showing the white feather. Though in the Russian campaigns in
the first quarter of the century the Persian infantry sometimes
fought well, cases of amazing cowardice were frequently forthcoming.
Upon one occasion a corps of the Hamadan regiment ran awav at
the sound of their own signal gun. It was from no mean experi
ence of similar incidents that a Russian officer once ventured on
the paradox: 4 Persia can be conquered with a single company
without firing a shot; with a battalion it would be more difficult;
with a whole regiment it would be impossible, for the entire force
would perish of hunger.' In the various fights that have taken
place since the second Russian war, the Persian army has covered
itself with singularly uniform disgrace. The siege of Herat by
Mohammed Shah, in 1837-38, owed its miserable failure at once to
the gallantry of Eldred Pottinger and to the astounding incapacity
of the beleaguering force. In the short Anglo-Persian campaign
of 1857, 10,000 Persian soldiers fled before 300 English red-coats
on the Karun. In 1860 the Persian army sustained an ignomini
ous defeat at the hands of the Merv Turkomans; and a well-disci
plined European force of about 15,000 to 20,000 men could
probably overrun and conquer the whole country, so far as actual
fighting was concerned, without difficulty.
At Teheran I witnessed, by the kind invitation of the Com-
mander-in-Chief, a special parade of the city garrison, nominally
Parade of 7,000 men, but not at that time more than 4,000 strong,
the Tehe- pp Meidan-i-Mashk or Champ de Mars, on the west
son side of the Meidan-i-Tupkhaneh. In addition to the
infantry two batteries of artillery, including a mule battery, 400
of the Persian Cossacks, and a corps of cadets from the Military
College, were on the ground. A riderless horse, furiously
galloping about, reminded me of a precisely similar incident at
the great review held before the Shah in Windsor Park in 1873,
when a Persian officer was deposited upon mother earth in sight of
the whole field. The infantry battalions marched past in four
companies of 120 each, or a total for the regiment of 480 men. Three
Azerbaijan regiments, two of Turkish nationality, which have always
supplied the best fighting substance to the Persian ranks, made by
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [429r] (860/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000043> [accessed 6 April 2025]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain