Abbas Mirza

Abbas Mirza (Persian: عباس میرزا; 26 August 1789 – 25 October 1833) was the Qajar crown prince of Iran during the reign of his father Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834). As governor of the vulnerable Azerbaijan province, he played a crucial part in the two wars against the Russian Empire (1804–1813 and 1826–1828), as well as the war of 1821–1823 against the Ottoman Empire. He is also recognized for leading Iran's first reform and modernization attempts with the help of his ministers Mirza Bozorg Qa'em-Maqam and Abol-Qasem Qa'em-Maqam.

The conflict in the Azerbaijan and Caucasus regions between Iran and the Russian Empire was prevalent throughout the time that Abbas Mirza was growing up. On March 20, 1799, he was made the crown prince and given the title of Nayeb-al-saltana (viceregent). Around the same time, he was appointed the governor of Azerbaijan, with Soleyman Khan Qajar and Mirza Bozorg Qa'em-Maqam as his adjutants. Following Russia's takeover of Ganja in 1804, Abbas Mirza was in command of the Iranian military counterattack during the first and second Russo-Iranian wars. Throughout the two wars, he fought against numerous Russian commanders in various engagements, victorious and unsuccessful alike. The Iranians ultimately lost both wars, agreeing to sign the treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay, in which they ceded all of their holdings in the Caucasus, corresponding to present-day Armenia, Republic of Azerbaijan, and Dagestan.

In 1821, during interlude between the first and second Russo-Iranian war, increased Iranian-Ottoman tensions led to a new war. Abbas Mirza and his elder brother and rival Mohammad-Ali Mirza Dowlatshah made a joint assault on the Ottoman Empire, the latter penetrating into Ottoman Iraq as far as the walls of Baghdad. Peace was made in 1823, in which both parties signed the Treaty of Erzurum that recognized the previous borders established by the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639.

In an effort to make up for his losses by winning over less powerful foes and bolster his claim to the throne, Abbas Mirza invaded the areas east and northeast of Mashhad in the summer and fall of 1832, taking control of Khabushan, Sarakhs, and Torbat-e Heydarieh. Under continuous medical care by both Western and Iranian physicians, Abbas Mirza ultimately died of illness on 25 October 1833 in Mashhad. Fath-Ali Shah died the following year, being succeeded by Abbas Mirza's son Mohammad Mirza, who assumed the regnal name of Mohammad Shah Qajar (r. 1834–1848).

Abbas Mirza was born on 26 August 1789 in the village of Nava in Mazandaran, northern Iran. He was the fourth son of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834), the second Qajar shah (king) of Iran and part of the Qovanlu branch of the Qajar tribe. His mother was Asiya Khanom Devellu, a daughter of Fath-Ali Khan Davalu and part of the Davalu branch of the Qajars. This union was arranged by Abbas Mirza's grand-uncle Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (r. 1789–1797) in an effort to unite the Qovanlu and Davalu.

Thus, the line of Abbas Mirza and his offspring served as the foundation for all of Agha Mohammad Khan's expectations for the continuation of his dynasty. During Fath-Ali Shah's rule in Iran, a European traveler heard a rumor that Agha Mohammad Khan would have chosen Abbas Mirza instead of Fath-Ali Shah as shah if he had lived longer. Fath-Ali Shah's eldest son, Mohammad-Ali Mirza Dowlatshah, whose mother was a Georgian concubine, was excluded from the succession due to this obsession with settling tribal disputes amongst the Qajars. A fierce hostility would grow between Abbas Mirza and Dowlatshah, something some people speculated that Fath-Ali Shah welcomed. Besides Dowlatshah, intense competition would emerge with other brothers; Mohammad Vali Mirza, a ferocious and uncontrollable person who would hold the governorship of Khorasan and then Yazd, and Hossein Ali Mirza, a persistent schemer would hold the governorship of Fars. Like Fath-Ali Shah had been given the royal title of Jahanbani by Agha Mohammad Khan, he also gave his own sons and daughters a royal title. The title of dorr-e darya-e khosravy ("The Pearl of the Sea of Royalty") was given to Abbas Mirza.

The conflict in the Azerbaijan and Caucasus regions between Iran and the Russian Empire was prevalent throughout the time that Abbas Mirza was growing up. In 1797, at the age of eight, he was taken by Agha Mohammad Khan on a campaign against the Karabakh Khanate. He and the other princes stayed at Adina Bazar near Ardabil, and after Agha Mohammad Khan's murder that June, he was taken back to the capital of Tehran. The death of Agha Mohammad Khan gave rise to a number of pretenders to the throne.

After making sure that his competitors did not constitute a threat, Fath-Ali Shah ascended to the kingdom on Nowruz (Iranian new year) on 21 March 1798. On March 20, 1799, he chose Abbas Mirza as the crown prince and gave him the title of Nayeb-al-saltana (viceregent). Iranian sources report that the title was in line with Agha Mohammad Khan's wishes. Abbas Mirza was given Soleyman Khan Qajar and Mirza Bozorg Qa'em-Maqam as his adjutants. Mirza Bozorg, one of the most skilled statesmen of the early Qajar era, served as the tutor and minister of Abbas Mirza.