In 1801 Georgia was declared to be a Russian province. \Var with Russia was recommenced by Persia, at the instigation of France, and, after two years of disaster, Futteb All by the Treaty of Gulistan (Oct. 12, 1813) ceded to Russia Daghestan, Shirvan, Baku, etc., and granted her the right of navigation in the Caspian Sea. In 1826 a third Russian war broke out, equally unfortunate for Persia, which in the Treaty of Turkmanteh a i (1828) had to surrender the bulk of Persian Armenia and pay a war indemnity of 18,000,000 rubles. The severe taxation neces sary to pay this sum so exasperated the people that they rose in insurrection (Ilet. 12, 1829), and murdered the Russian Ambassador, his wife, and almost all the Russian legation. The most humiliating concessions, and the mutilation of 1500 of the rioters, alone averted war. The death of the Crown Prince, Abbas Mirza, in 1833, seemed to give the final blow to the declining fortunes of Persia, for he was the only man who seriously attempted to raise his country from its abasement. By the assistance of Russia and Great Britain, Mohammed Shah ( 1534-48 ) , the son of Abbas Alirza, obtained the crown. He resolved to extend the Persian dominions to the Afghan, Balueh, and Khivan boundaries. but an attempt which lie made to reannex Herat was resisted by England. The war was terminated in 1838 by the landing of a small Sepoy force on the shores of the Persian Gulf.
Nasr-ed-Din succeeded to the throne on his father's death in 1818. and the new Government announced energetic reforms, but failed complete ly in carrying them out. Followin” his father's example. the new Shah resolved to reassert his claims in Afghanistan and Baluchistan. The ruler of Ilerat having recognized the claims of Persia, the English Government remonstrated with the Shah, and he was compelled to sign an agree ment on Jan. 25, 1853, by which lie bound not to interfere further in the internal affairs of Herat. In October, 1856, however, on the pre text that Host Mohammed, the Ameer of Kabul, was about to invade Herat, the Persians again took the city of Herat. In consequence of this violation of the terms of the treaty with Great Britain, war was declared against Persia, and a British army was landed on the coast of the Persian Gulf, which, under generals Out ram and Havelock, repeatedly defeated the Persians and compelled them to restore Herat (July, 1857).
1868 the Persians occupied Seistan, a province claimed by the Afghans, and extended their jurisdiction over the western third of Baluchi stan. To put an end to this incessant strife, the Persians at length agreed with the Ameer of Afghanistan and the Khan of Khelat to refer the questions in dispute to an English commissioner.
Sir Frederick Goldsmid accordingly visited the eastern frontier of Persia, and in 1872 delivered his award. It carried the Balueh frontier from 58° to 63° east longitude, so as to include in Persia. the inland town of Jalk, and Guadar on the Indian Ocean. In 1870 the Russians granted the extension of the jurisdiction of Persia over the whole basin of the Atrek. In 1873 Nasr ed-Din visited several of the European courts; in 1878 he visited Russia; and in 1889 he again made a tour of Europe. Asa ruler he was ener getic and severe. Ills policy was largely under the influence of the Russian Court, though for a time after the failure of his attempt to restore the Persian dominion over Herat he maintained a somewhat friendly attitude toward Great Britain. He sternly repressed revolts and conspiracies, lint, through the sale of the tobacco monopoly to Eng HAI speculators, he offended many of his subjects, and his unpopularity was increased by the scarci ty of food in several of the provinces in subse quent years. In 1896 a wollah, an adherent of a seditious sect, had been banished from Per sia in 1891, shot and killed the Shah while the latter was entering a shrine near Teheran. His son, Nuzaffer-ed-Din, was proclaimed Shah in the following month.
The new Shah reduced the taxes on food, pro claimed that public ollice should henceforth he awarded on merit and without consideration of money, and declared that he would rule without a Grand Vizier, assuming himself the presidency of the Cabinet of twelve ministers. In 1900 he made a visit to Europe and was entertained in nearly all of the Continental capitals, although the death of the Duke of Coburg prevented him from going to England. While driving from Paris to Sevres on the 2d of August he narrowly escaped assassination at the blinds of an anarch ist by the name of Salson. The chief feature of his reign has been the attempt of Russia to ex tend her influence over the country. Very much the same tactics have been employed as in churia. Russian consuls have been appointed in nearly all of the larger towns. railroad franchises have been seized, extensive loans have been made to the Government, and the number of Russian troops on the frontier has been increased. In the face of these efforts the British have been playing a losing game. The Russian Govern ment is especially anxious to secure a post on the Persian Gulf. With this end in Alew, a subsi dized line of steamships was established in February, 1901, between Odessa and the Persian Gulf.