Rezā Shāh - Early Life

Early Life

Reza was born in the village of Alasht in Savadkuh County, Māzandarān Province, in 1878.

His father Major Abbas Ali Khan (Dadash Beg) became commissioned in the 7th Savadkuh Regiment, and served in the Anglo-Persian War in 1856. He married more than once and his fifth marriage was in 1877, to Noushafarin Ayromlou. She was a second or third cousin of Sar-Lashkar Muhammad-Hussein Ayrom. The Ayrums were a prominent Azeri tribe from the Caucasus, who arrived in Iran sometime in the nineteenth century as result of the Russo-Persian War. Upon entering Iran, many Ayrums became Iranian generals, colonels, and some Ayrum women, namely Nimtaj and Noushafarin, became royalty. Although having once ruled much of the Caucasus from north to south, the Ayrums did not separate themselves from other social classes and one of the greatest Ayrum leaders, Budogh-Sultan Ayromlou, was known for his humble persona.

Reza's father died suddenly at Alasht on 26 November 1878, having had 10 children, of whom six sons and three daughters survived infancy. Upon Abbas Ali Khan's death, Reza's mother moved with Reza to her brother's house in Tehran. She remarried in 1879 and left Reza to the care of his uncle, who, in turn, sent Reza away to his friend Amir Tuman Kazim Khan, an army officer.

When Reza was sixteen years old, he joined the Persian Cossack Brigade, in which, years later, he would rise to the rank of Brigadier. In 1903, he is reported to have been guard and servant to the Dutch consul general Frits Knobel. A picture of him in Cossack uniform standing next to the mounted Dutch consul-general was published in De Hollandsche Revue. In 1925 Maurits Wagenvoort, a friend of Knobel, wrote:

Was the present autocrat the same person as the one I once spoke to in the Babi-circle of Hadsji Achont when he was gholam of his Respected Presence the Netherlands' ambassador in Tehran? He appeared to me most eager to learn about the Western political situation. And I shall never forget the expression of disillusion on his face when, in answer to his question, 'What? Aren't the elected people's representatives the most intelligent men of the nation?' I replied, 'Not a bit of it! Perhaps they are just a trifle above your average, everyday folk'. He continued, 'And the ministers then?' 'They are somewhat brighter. But not always.'

He also served in the Iranian Army, where he gained the rank of gunnery sergeant under Qajar Prince Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma's command. He rose through the ranks, eventually holding a commission as a Brigadier General in the Persian Cossack Brigade. He was the last, and only Iranian, commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade. He was also one of the last individuals to become an officer of the Neshan-e Aqdas prior to the collapse of the Qajar dynasty in 1925.