Anglo-Persian War

The Anglo-Persian War, also known as the Anglo-Iranian War (Persian: جنگ ایران و انگلستان, romanized: Jange Irân o Engelestan), was a war fought between the United Kingdom and Iran, which was ruled by the Qajar dynasty. The war had the British oppose an attempt by Iran to press its claim on the city of Herat. Though Herat had been part of Iran under the Qajar dynasty when the war broke out, it had declared itself independent under its own rebellious emir and placed itself under the protection of the British in India and in alliance with the Emirate of Kabul, the predecessor of the modern state of Afghanistan. The British campaign was successfully conducted under the leadership of Major General Sir James Outram in two theatres: on the southern coast of Iran near Bushehr and in southern Mesopotamia.

The war resulted in the Iranians withdrawing from Herat and signing a new treaty to surrender their claims on the city and the British withdrawing from southern Iran.

In the context of The Great Game, the Anglo–Russian contest for influence in Central Asia, the British wished Afghanistan to remain an independent country with friendly relation as a buffer state against Russian expansion towards India. They opposed an extension of Iranian influence in Afghanistan because of the perception that Iran was unduly influenced by Russia. The Iranian influence on Central Asia had caused the creation of Greater Iran; although they knew of the influence, the British had never attacked Iran.^{[citation needed]} Iran had over 12 foreign provinces under its imperial control.^{[citation needed]} It made a fresh attempt in 1856 and succeeded in taking Herat on 25 October, in violation of an existing Anglo-Persian Treaty.^{[citation needed]} In response, the British governor-general in India, acting on orders from London, declared war on 1 November.

Separate from and preceding the dispute over Herat, was an incident concerning Mirza Hashem Khan, whom the British ambassador had hoped to appoint as a secretary to the mission in Tehran. The Iranians objected and created a dispute that escalated after rumours appeared that the British ambassador had improper relations with the man's wife, who was the sister of the Shah's main wife. The dispute escalated further when the Iranians arrested the woman; the British ambassador broke relations when they refused to release her. Indeed, the initial mobilisation of British forces began in response to the incident although it is unlikely that the British would have gone beyond the occupation of one or two islands in the Persian Gulf if the issue of Herat had not arisen.

The Qajar military listed a total of 86,700 personnel on paper. However, Tehran was unable to mobilise more than 20,000 of those soldiers for battle. A sizeable portion of the Iranian army was composed of regular regiments from Azerbaijan. That division of the Iranian artillery (Toop Khaneh) was the only one well-versed in long-range guns. Out of 120 guns in total, six were composed of 12-pounder guns, while the remainder were of lower quality. The army train relied on mules, horses and camels for transportation, with carriages being limited in availability. With the exception of several Imperial Guard regiments, the Iranian army's morale was extremely low. The annual salary of an average soldier was seven tomans, with a daily subsidy of one shahi for rations. However, soldiers were considered lucky if they were paid two out of the seven tomans due for their service.

The Iranian army that fought against the British expeditionary force at the Battle of Khoshab was commanded by General (Amir-Nuyan) Mehr Ali Khan Nuri Shoja ol-Molk. In 1855, Mehr Ali Khan was promoted to the command of the Fars Army, which he held for four years. When the British invasion force landed in Iran, Shoja ol-Molk was temporarily promoted to commander-in-chief of the entire southern Iranian army. Shoja ol-Molk was a grandson of Minister of the General Staff (Vazir-e Lashkar) Mirza Assadollah Khan and a nephew of the Chancellor (Sadr-e Azam) Mirza Nasrollah Khan Nuri E’temad ol-Dowleh. He was among the most revered Iranian officers of the Qajar military at the time, and was known among the British rank and file.

The British government found itself in peculiar circumstances in the case of the war with Iran. This was a unique war in which the ultimate objective was to defeat the enemy but to ensure that its government and military would remain strong enough so as to remain stable and deter prospective advances by Russia. As such, several restrictions had been placed by the British cabinet concerning the expeditionary force's conduct:

Two courses of action were available to the British: an overland expedition into Iran via Afghanistan, or an attack via the Persian Gulf, the aim being both punitive, and to force the Shah to ask for terms. In the aftermath of the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War, the British Government were reluctant to send a force overland to relieve Herat directly, and so decided instead to attack the Persian Gulf coast. They ordered the government in India to launch a maritime expeditionary force to attack the general area of Bushehr, the primary port of entry into Iran at the time.