Iran at War: 1500-1988

Iran at War: 1500-1988. Osprey Hardcover 480 pages, released May 24, 2011 • ISBN: 978-1-84603-491-6. Contact: John Tintera, Marketing Director @ 718/433-4402, john.tintera@ospreypublishing.com.

To order consult Chapters-Indigo or Amazon.

Review: Wall Street Journal and Reuters

The Wall Street Journal and the Reuters News Service recently published a review which has also appeared on ,The New York Herald, ABC News (ABC 13, ABC 18, ABC 40), NBC News (NBC 6, NBC 10, NBC 12, NBC 38), CBS News (CBS  9), Fox News (Fox 19, Fox 26, Fox 28, Fox 42, Fox 54) and The Nashvile News. See also Payvand News of Iran report. The University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Arts has also announced this book on Twitter.

Below are portions of the review on the Wall Street Journal – kindly note that the pictures inserted in the text below have not appeared in the Wall Street journal:

Kaveh Farrokh is an expert on Persian languages and Iranian history whose new book, Iran at War: 1500-1988, provides a full examination of modern Iranian military history… His previous title Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War (Osprey, 2007) was named “Best History Book” by the World Academy of Arts Literature and Media in 2008. Dr. Patrick Hunt at Stanford University, said this about it,  ”… a book for all who have ever been curious about the ‘other’ view on Persia, not from the Western standpoint rooted in Greece, but from the traditions of the Persians themselves… Meticulously researched and documented….

Cover jacket of Iran at War: 1500-1988. [CLICK TO ENLARGE] A photo taken in 1926 of a military assembly in Tehran. The troops are about to pose for a military review. Standing at far left with hand resting on sword is Colonel Haji Khan Pirbastami (of Northern Iranian origin). Note the diverse nature of Iranian troops, reminiscent of the armies of Iran since antiquity. Kurds, Azaris, Lurs, Baluchis, Qashqais, Persians, all partake as one in the assembly.  Colonel Haji Khan and the officer to the right are members of the Gendarmerie para-military forces. Haji Khan died just a year later when fighting as a colonel with the Iranian army against Bolshevik/Communist and Russian troops attempting to overrun northern Iran after World War One.    

 

[CLICK TO ENLARGE] The above assembly area as it appears today in Tehran 2011. As noted in the above 1926 photo, the assembly area seen in the previous photo was the Iranian Army headquarters -ستاد ارتش- at the time which today is the Iranian University of the Fine Arts -دانشکده هنر-. This is a very large building – the southern and western angles of this building are connected to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs- وزارتخارجه -. A beautfiul building known as the “Hakhamaneshi” [Achaemenid] -هخامنشی- which has been built in the Persepolis style is now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - وزارتخارجه-and is located to the south of the former Iranian Army Headquarters. The above photos were taken in 2011 from the southern angle of the assembly area.  -دو عکس از نمای جنوبی همان ساختمان است -محوطه ساختمانی که قبلا ستاد ارتش بوده و الان دانشکده هنر است ساختمان بسیار بزرگی است ضلع جنوبی و غربی آن به ساختمانهای وزارتخارجه وصل است. ساختمان بسیار زیبای معروف به هخامنشی که به سبک تخت جمشید ساخته شده و الان متعلق به وزارتخارجه است در ضلع جنوبی آن است-

As further noted by The Wall Street Journal: 

“…Iran at War begins where Shadows in the Desert ended, with the Arab conquest of Persia and the rise of Islam in the mid-7th century. Farrokh then describes the pivotal 16th century which saw the rise of a powerful family, the Safavids, which ruled Iran for 200 years. During the Safavid period, a strong, secular-minded central government fielded an army that was able to stare down threats from the Turks, Arabs, and Russians in the west and the Uzbeks and Afghans in the east. According to Farrokh, the push south, east, and west from Iran’s hostile neighbors during this era foreshadowed security threats it has faced down to the current day …For readers interested in geopolitics, Iran at War provides much needed insight into “the state of mind” of the Iranian people…that set the Iranians apart from their neighbors. His analysis of the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war provides important background information…”

A European copper engraving of Shah Abbas made by Dominicus Custos citing him as“Schach Abas Persarum Rex” or “Shah Abbas the Great monarch of Persia”. Shah Abbas’ victories over the Ottomans weakened them against the Europeans to the West, and especially in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Note how Custos makes a particular emphasis on linking Shah Abbas to the “Mnemona Cyrus” (the Memory of Cyrus the Great of Persia).

-دلیران تنگستان در کنار رئیس علی دلواری -The warriors of Tangestan in the early 20th century. These proved to be highly resilient and determined fighters and often fought hard against imperial British troops inside Iran, especially in 1856 and during World War One (picture forwarded to Kavehfarrokh.com by Parviz Khoupai).

Colonel Taghi-Khan Pesyan (1891-1921) in Imperial Germany (note German officer to the left) during World War One (Picture from page 143, Mehdi Farrokh, “Khaterate Siyasiye Farrokh” [Political memoirs of Farrokh], Tehran: Amir Kabir Publications, 1968). Mehdi Farrokh noted that Pesyan was”Motehaver” [ultra-courageous]. Pesyan had in fact flown several combat missions for the German air force during World War One, reputedly shooting down up to 25 British aircraft. It is believed that Pesyan was decorated with the “Eisernes Kreuz” [Iron Cross] by the Germans for his daring exploits in air to air combat.

Review: Robert Terpstra of Business Today (Egypt)

Robert Terpstra has written a review for Iran at War: 1500-1988 in The Business Daily Egypt (dated September 12, 2011).

“Documenting nearly five centuries of history is no small feat, and Kaveh Farrokh does it well in Iran at War: 1500–1988. Maybe not quite at the reading level of the titans of the seminal authors of history in Toynbee and Gibbon, but Farrokh is still able to hold his own even if it mimics Gibbon is in his incredibly uncanny gift for storytelling and the often laborious, but detailed account of key figures and dates on history’s battle grounds.

[CLICK TO ENLARGE] A painting of the Battle of Karnal (February 22, 1739) made by Mosavar ol-Mamalek.The battle ended in an overwhelming victory for Nader Shah (see his statue in the inset photo). The Iranians then occupied Delhi and captured India’s royal jewels. Some Indian historians (i.e. Sarkar) have argued that India was severely weakened by Nader Shah; this allowed the British Empire to easily spread its dominance over the entire Indian subcontinent just decades after the battle of Karnal (picture source: R. Tarverdi (Editor) & A. Massoudi (Art editor), The land of Kings, Tehran: Rahnama Publications, 1971, p.228).

 Terpstra further notes:

What is refreshing, however, is that the book discusses the Islamic Republic of Iran without painstakingly rehashing the Islamic Revolution, which appears in just about every book on the country. This is apparent when one visits the country, as I did in 2010. When traveling to Rasht in the north, as well as Tehran, Khorramshahr, Isfahan and Mashhad…a country obsessed with the past …And Farrokh truly takes advantage of this by writing this narrative.”

 Armenian wounded fighters who fought alongside the Iranians to establish democracy in Iran in the early twentieth century.  Known as the Constitutional Movement, this was the first democracy movement in the History of Western Asia. This movement was militarily suppressed by Czarist Russian troops  before World War One with the tacit approval of British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey (in office 1905-1916) (photo forwarded to Kavehfarrokh.com by Parviz Khopai). 

 Terpstra further avers:

As the title rightly indicates, the subject matter is simply that: war. And through six separate, yet interrelated, chapters, Farrokh interweaves his way through the Safavid Dynasty, the rise of Nader Khan in the mid-18th century, the all-important Qajar Dynasty that ruled until the close of World War I before Reza Khan and his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi…the downfall of the shah …return of Ayatollah Khomeini; and the rest is history.

Tayyara! Tayyara! (Arabic: Airplane! Airplane!). Iraqi crew of a BMP invading Iran in 1980 (at left) abandon their vehicle in haste at the sound of the roaring engines of two US-made Iranian F-4E Phantoms. Iranian Phantoms (at right) were also reported to be flying just meters above ground level to fire their 20mm cannon at Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles (Picture Source at left: www.Acig.org; Picture Source at right: Farrokh, 2011).

Citation by Union University’s Department of History

The Union University’s Department of History cited the following report below on Nov.17, 2011-

“Union’s Delta-Psi Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society presented a Best Chapter Award check to the Summar Library on November 16, 2011 to pay for several history books that the library purchased at the request of the chapter. Chapter President Caitlin Roach gave the check to Library Director Anna Beth Morgan, while Delta-Psi Vice President Savannah German and faculty advisor Dr. Stephen Carls participated in the ceremony by holding some of the requested books…The purchased books included…Iran at War: 1500-1988 by Kaveh Farrokh…” (for full report click here…)

Select history books cited by Union University in November 2011 – note Union University History Department Chair, Professor Stephen Carls  (at right) displaying a copy of Farrokh’s Iran at War.

TV Interviews

Farrokh has been interviewed regarding iran at war in Voice of America, (August 14, 2011) and Pars TV (August 27, 2011). 

-ایران در جنگ اثری از کاوه فرخ – Farrokh being interviewed by the Voice of America in New York on August 14, 2011,

 

[CLICK TO ENLARGE] -Elements of the Iraqi 12th Armored Division assemble at Fakkeh (in the Dezful area) on March 23rd 1982 to rescue remnants of the Iraqi 4th Army Corps crushed by a powerful Iranian offensive (Left – Steven J. Zaloga, Modern Soviet Combat Tanks, Osprey Vanguard  37, pp.32).  As these units deployed to attack, they were bombed and strafed by up to 95 Iranian F-4 and F-5 combat aircraft.  The Iraqi 12th Armored Division was virtually eliminated. At right are Iranian regular army troops atop an overturned Iraqi tank of the 12th armoured division (source: www.shahed.isaar.ir). Note that the vehicle has been overturned as a result of aerial bombardment by Iranian F-4 and F-5 combat aircraft.  For more see Pars TV (August 27, 2011).

 Radio Interviews

  • WFLA-AM, Tampa Florida (June 17, 2011)
  • WHFS-AM Washington DC (July 1, 2011)
  • KCMN-AM, Colorado Springs (July 5, 2011)
  • Money Matters Network – Stu Taylor on Business, National Syndicated (July 7, 2011)
  • WGTD-FM Milwaukee WI (July 12, 2011)
  • Mark Johnson Show, WDEV, Burlington VT (July 19, 2011)