WEBVTT - Part Two: The First Shah of Iran 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:03.800 As media. 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:10.280 Welcome back to Behind the Bastards, a podcast about the 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:15.239 worst history in all of people or people in all 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:20.119 of history, whichever is accurate. I don't know. I randomly 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:24.040 put words together based on a predictive text algorithm, much 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.720 like an LLM, except for I use this collection of 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.600 bones with runes inscribed on them, and that's how the 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.280 podcast comes to you every week. Thousands of bones with 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:39.280 runs inscribed on them that I pick at random. Kava, 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.120 how would you like me to read some random bones 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:43.920 that might be about the Shah or not. 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:46.599 Let's do it. Let's roll the bones. 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.040 But also welcome back to the show. 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.680 Here. Sorry, yes, thank you again for having me. My 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:58.200 name is Cave Joda. I am a physician. I'm a gastrointrologist, 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.440 and I'm also the host of a podcas ask called 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.080 The House of Pod. It is a humor adjacent little 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.000 medical podcast we look at well in the scrifter is 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.440 we look at what the MAHA community and the administration 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:13.479 is doing to our current healthcare and have a little 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.679 fun when we can with it. So you should check 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:19.520 it out anywhere you get your podcast after this, listen 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:23.479 to this. This is more important than afterwards listen to you. 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.280 You'll probably like it or your money back. 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:28.360 Have you done an episode about our mutual enemy yet? 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.319 Which one? I feel like we have a number rfk 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:32.520 jor I've done a number one? 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.399 No, no, no no. Our mutual enemy that we talk 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:37.160 about on the side often. 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:39.800 We did talk about can I say his name? Is that? Okay? 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:41.400 I don't like to give him more airtime than he 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.760 but Vine pissad Yeah, yeah, I like him. I like him. 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:48.600 He doesn't like me. I have no problem with him. 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:51.600 But he's been involved in a lot of aspects of 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.840 medical or medical care recently in the country that I've 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.360 disagreed with. And we actually did talk about him recently 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.720 in our of our more recent episode, So yes, you 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.320 could listen to the podcast and here are The episode 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:08.079 is influence versus Evidence, and we talk about kind of 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.200 what's happening out there right now in our current healthcare administration. 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:16.040 He's not a fan of his. It's mostly good, right, oh, 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:18.120 I mean ninety nine percent great. 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.079 Everything's fine, Everything is great. 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:25.160 Everything is really If you're really into communicable diseases things, 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:26.200 this is a good time. 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:31.720 Excellent. I love communicable diseases and my favorite communicable disease 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:33.680 is knowledge. 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:35.679 I was going to say it, I swear to God, 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:36.519 I was going to say. 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:47.280 It, let's spread some together. Yeah. So, in the four 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.720 years after the October Revolution in Russia, Persia had been 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.680 the site of bloody and constant conflict between Britain and Russia. Again, 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.000 there's this brief period in World War One where they're 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.640 kind of fighting together against the Ottomans in Persia as 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.880 opposed stuff fucking with each other, and then we've got 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.160 our revolution and the Bolsheviks are fighting the Whites, and 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.200 Britain goes right back to fight in Russia. Right now, 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:11.560 I guess it's a little different in that they also 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.200 have allies who are Russians in this case too, so 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.080 they're not fighting all of the Russians, just most of 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:21.680 the Russians. And basically the kind of broad strokes of 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:25.480 this conflict are the Brits see Persia because they've already 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:27.799 got a good base in the area, and they get 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.200 resources there, they have interests there, they have a lot 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:33.440 of forces that they can get there. It's a great springboard. 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.200 It also borders Russia, so it's a great springboard for 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:38.040 them to use as a base from which to support 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.080 the White Army and the Russian Civil War. 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:40.520 Right. 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.360 The Soviets meanwhile, don't want Britain doing that because it's 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:48.560 bad for them. Right, So the Soviet Union annexes chunks 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.960 of northern Persia and they create a the Persian Socialist 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.200 Soviet Republic. Right, there's like a I mean, it's more 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:58.960 complicated than that, right, there's and obviously there's local and 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:03.520 like within like Persians who are communists who are part 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.600 of this and like want to There's partisans and stuff. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.480 It's much more complicated than all that. But broadly speaking, 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.000 you've got the Brits and the area they control in 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:13.680 Persia that they want to use as a base to 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:15.840 support the White Army in Russia. And then you've got 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.600 this chunk of northern Persia that is aligned with the USSR, 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.600 that is itself at least nominally Bolshevik, that the Bolsheviks 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.320 are using as a base, right, and there's fighting betwixt 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:33.159 the two. Now. The Quajars are still like that shot them, 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:37.400 that line of Shaws is still in control technically at 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:39.600 the point at which all this is going on, but 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.560 they fail to exert They can't. They don't have any power, right, 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:46.080 Like the Shaws are useless in this conflict. They don't 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.920 really have any ability to influence what the Russians are 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.280 doing because the Bolsheviks had just killed their czar, so 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:53.680 they're sure as hell not going to listen to some 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:58.080 Shah in Persia that they never respected to begin with. Meanwhile, 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.200 the Shah like personally like the guy who was Shaw 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.800 now is that dude who was like twelve when he 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:08.080 came to power and has been ruled like a regent, 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:10.440 was running things And there's like a triumvirent of guys 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:12.919 who aren't the Shah who are mostly running things in 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.920 the Persian central government. And so during this period after 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.039 World War One, the central government's like bleeding provinces and 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.000 big chunks of the army just kind of disappear into 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.800 comical puffs of smoke because they didn't really want to 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.240 be in the army and when push came to shove, 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:33.640 they're like, nahhh, go back home, no, no thank you. 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.200 So the only meaningful force opposing the Soviets are the 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:42.919 Cossacks and the Cossack Brigade, and they're British backers. Again, 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:45.240 it's a little more complicated than that. But that's the 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:46.560 broad strokes now. 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.479 But the Cossacks at this point, the Cossacks are not 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:51.320 reporting back. 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:52.520 Yes and no. 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.680 So that's the part I don't understand here. 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:59.040 Well, it's weird again. Russia's not everyone in Russia is 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.080 a Bolshevik. There's a there's a civil war, right, So 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.160 you've got a bunch of Russians or white Russians who 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:08.120 support at least not the Soviet Union happening, right, generally 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.520 they support some sort of return to the monarchy or whatever. 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:11.800 Right. 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:17.760 So, and a lot of Cossacks support the white Russians. 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.760 Because the Cossacks had been the Tsar's shock troops, a 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.560 shitload of them wind up in the White forces, right, 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:28.239 and when during this period of time, the Persian Cossack 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.880 brigade is still led by a Russian officer, Like, it's 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.080 still a Russian colonel who's in charge of the brigade. 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.279 But that russian's a white, right, so he's siding with 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.360 the British in their efforts to help the whites against 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.679 the Bolsheviks. These are very messy wars. Does that make sense? 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.040 You know, as someone who is currently living through the 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:53.599 Iranian diaspora dealing with the Iran War, I think I 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:55.960 can understand a little bit of the complexity of this, 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.280 and this is all starting to make sense in a 0:06:58.520 --> 0:06:59.640 historical context. 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.880 To me, it's fucking messy this whole period, because it's 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.680 not just Britain that's intervening in the Russian Civil War, 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:07.440 like the United States has forces too, Like there's a 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.320 whole allied intervention force. This is number one, barely talked 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.160 about anymore, but really complicated everything that's going on in 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:20.440 this period of time. I'm really smoothing the edges down 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:23.559 just because we can't get into too much detail about 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.200 all of the shit that's going on. But right, that's 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:27.880 why the Cossacks are on the side of the Brits here, 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:33.000 you know. So this is not nineteen nineteen, nineteen twenty, 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.160 nineteen twenty one. This is not when like Domino theory 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.200 doesn't really exist in the form it's going to exist. 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.840 But conservative reactionaries have already started sessing out the basic tenets, right, 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:47.160 They're already telling people, well, look, if Persia falls to communism, 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:48.000 where all it stop? 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:48.840 Right now? 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.040 Obviously, Great Britain's real interest here is that if Persia 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.920 falls to communism, they're not going to get cheap oil 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.720 anymore for the Navy, And that's the real. 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.480 Problem, right, love that oil. 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.560 Their other problem is they have to keep troops in 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.119 Persia during this whole period of time, like their own guys, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:07.560 the Cossacks alone can't hold shit. If they want to 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:09.120 know that that oil is safe, they have to have 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.840 their own dudes there and that costs a lot of money. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.440 So in nineteen twenty one, Great Britain's two main interests 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.560 in Persia are stop it from falling to the Communists 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:22.040 and if we didn't have to keep our soldiers here 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.480 to do that, it would sure be great. Right, those 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:28.360 are their primary concerns. Now, I want to take you 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:30.000 back in time. I know, I just was talking about 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.160 the Russian Civil War era to talk a little bit 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.960 about how things within like the oil company working in 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.560 Persia evolved over like the early nineteen hundreds up to 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:41.640 nineteen twenty one, right, because we didn't really talk about 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.600 that so much in the last episode, and it does matter. 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.240 So in nineteen oh nine that entrepreneur Darcy and the 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:52.120 company that he partnered with had transferred their rights basically 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.679 had gotten in bed with another company because they needed 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:57.720 more money to do the infrastructure necessary to get oil 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.800 out of Persia. And this new company is called Anglo 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:06.640 Persian Oil or APOC APOC. Remember these names, you're it's 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.480 gonna be real interesting what happens to Anglo Persian Oil 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:12.440 in the modern era. Now, The way in which APOC 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.640 functioned from nineteen oh nine to nineteen twenty one does 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.199 a good job of showing how dysfunctional the central government 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.080 of Persia was by this point, how bad the Quajar 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:27.120 monarchy is at actually like governing the country because APOC 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.680 doesn't deal with Tehran at all. They don't talk to 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:34.120 the Shah, They ignore the capital completely because their oil 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.160 wells and shit aren't near the capital, and the royal 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:38.760 wells are in the territory of a bunch of like 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:42.640 there's a mix of like sheikhs and baktari cons which 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:46.240 are like different like basically tribal level leaders who actually 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:50.400 control the territory where they're drilling for oil and transporting oil. 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:52.520 And so the oil company is like, why would we 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.280 talk to Tehran. They don't have any power here. They 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.000 can barely keep the capital. I'm gonna make deals with 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.600 these local guys. They have the guns and the labor force. Right, 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.520 the capitol is not gonna do anything but take bribes 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:06.480 for me buck them. Yeah, so that shows you how 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.520 weak the government is at this point in time. As 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:11.440 a matter of fact, when the deal between Apok and 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.280 these different tribal groups was concluded in nineteen ten, the 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:18.199 company illegally imported a thousand laborers from India without talking 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:20.280 to anyone in the Persian government. They take a thousand 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.880 Indians and make them work in Persia and they don't 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.000 ask anybody in the fucking government. It's like they don't 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.320 talk to the first there's no visas for these motherfuckers. 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:34.640 They just don't look. They don't they never do. They 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:40.360 never look at Persians as real people. It kid this 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:45.160 colonial mindset and it doesn't it so never goes away. 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:47.200 I mean, I mean maybe now it's gone away, but 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.760 like it was so intrinsic to who they rte intrinsic 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.800 to who they were as people that they just couldn't 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:58.800 see the people living there as being worthy a warranting 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:00.679 even that kind of dis. 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.800 Yeah, it's fucking nuts. And it's it's really like it 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.280 as an idea for like how messed up their attitude 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:13.080 towards like Persians is period they part of the agreement 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:16.040 with these like local shakes and cons is will hire 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.920 a thousand locals to work in the oil plants. Right, 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.280 but they legally start bringing in a bunch of Indian 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.240 workers to do most of the work, Like they aren't 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.439 going to hire any more than the minimum they have 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:30.000 agreed of local people. Right. I want to quote again 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.880 from that piece Sharen Brysac wrote for the World Policy Journal, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:36.120 and what became a chronic grievance. APOK gave Britains and 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.840 Indians the best jobs, relegating Persians to menial roles. Foreigners 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.360 occupied the best houses, claimed to membership in the exclusive 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.600 Persian Club, and sent their children to schools and segregated cantonments. 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.720 There were even fountains marked not for Iranians. Feeding the 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:52.960 cycle of and during resentment that was to characterize subsequent relations. Wow, 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.840 Basically they're not giving like they they'll let you like 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.800 transport shit, but they don't give you anything. They're not 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:00.960 getting like the most dangerous jobs. But they're not getting 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.360 good jobs either. They're not getting anything that pays well. 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:06.720 And in the areas where the company is activated, there's 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:11.360 segregation against the indigenous people who live there, like. 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.040 And they're they're so smart, they're never gonna let the 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:17.640 Iranians that are there, yea, get to higher positions where 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.400 they can actually learn the oil industry, where they can 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.680 actually learn how to do this, because heaven forbid if 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.040 they were, yeah, they would run it themselves, so purposely 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:28.160 keeping them in the dark. 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.640 And then imagine there's segregation in your country because a 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:35.360 guy came in last week and is like, nah, you 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.440 don't get to use the same like water fountains because 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:39.440 we're getting oil out of here now. Like if it's 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:41.480 just if it's just a thing that happened a week ago, 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:44.560 like how that would like like piss you off? Like 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:46.840 what you guys just got here? 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:51.120 Like we are so easily offended. So people, I have 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:52.600 to tell you this. 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.679 Is like anyone would be in this auriating. 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.400 I've seen Iranians get pretty offended for much less then 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.199 having a segregated water fountain. 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.920 So this is nuts, okay, because some fucker just comes 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:07.840 in a week ago and is like, oh, no, this 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:14.080 isn't your place anymore. There's oil here. This is British property. So, 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.960 as I noted in the first episode. In nineteen fourteen, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.360 the British Parliament had had voted for a proposal pushed 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.800 by Churchill to fuel the Royal Navy with Persian oil. 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:24.360 As part of this deal, the British government purchased fifty 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.480 one percent of Anglo Persian Oil, ensuring it would remain 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:30.720 an all British company, which is again them saying We're 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.079 not gonna let the locals run anything. We won't even 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.560 let them know how to run anything. This is always 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.400 going to be our shit. So by nineteen twenty one, 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:43.160 Northern Persia is a Soviet satellite and guerrilla fighters are 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:47.439 advancing on Tehran, which basically can't defend itself without foreign help. 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.880 There are the Cossacks, which are primarily made up of 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.720 Persian soldiers and they are functional, but the government can't 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.880 even pay them right like, the Cossacks are being paid 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.000 entirely by Great Britain by this point in time, and 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.160 Great Britain has to send her own soldiers to occupy 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.240 large tracks of Persian territory in nineteen eighteen just to 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.600 stop a total Bolshevik victory in the area. Now one 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.120 of these Cossacks getting paid by the British in nineteen 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.280 twenty one is our friend Resa Khan, who at that 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.120 point has been promoted to colonel. Right, this is machine 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.400 gun Resa. So there is Khan. 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.960 From stable boy to machine gun Reza. That's right. 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.760 Still can't read, but he could shoot people. 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:30.560 You shoot that gun. Good. 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.360 Khan and his men and about fifty five hundred British 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.600 colonial troops are holding the line against the communists. Right, 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:41.560 while British Foreign Secretary Kurzon drafts what becomes known as 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:46.440 the Anglo Persian Treaty. This authorizes the stationing of British 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.400 veterans to build a functional army for the central government. Basically, 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.960 Britain's going to send experts so that the central government 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.840 can build an army that actually works. Right, that's not 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:57.440 just the Cossacks. We want there to be a functional 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:59.200 army here so we don't have to keep ours here. 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.080 So we're going to send experts in and we're also 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:04.280 going to put a bunch of investment money into Persia 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.960 to build railroads and reorganize the economy. All of this 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:09.920 is to keep the oil flowing. None of this is 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.640 for the benefit of regular Persians. The army and the 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.040 railroads and the economy are also that this is a 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.920 stable place for the Royal Navy to get its fuel from. 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:21.320 Right now, this plan is to be paid for by 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.320 a two million pound loan issued by Great Britain, who 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:27.520 would collect customs duties to pay the loan back directly 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:32.800 from Persians. In effect, British tax collectors are now directly 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:37.560 taxing Persian citizens to pay for the things that they're 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.960 doing in order to make sure Great Britain has continued 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.640 access to basically cheap oil. Right the tax. 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:53.320 So angry the more I learn about this history, it's 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.040 a it's a good thing. I love your colleague James 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.600 Stout so much because sometimes I learn about the things 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.920 of Britain and get so mad. But he's so lovable. 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:06.479 It's okay, it's okay. 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:11.040 We are Americans. It's not like we can get We 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:12.720 don't have that much of a leg to stand on 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:13.360 these days. 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:17.760 True, I'm so confused. I'm torn between two groups of 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:18.640 terrible things. 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:22.120 That's right, that's right, it's the it's the team Jacob, 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:27.280 a Team Edward of colonialism. So yeah, Great Great Britain's 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:31.200 taxing Persia directly. And if it's not, if the British 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.800 aren't directly running the government. Most Persians sure as hell 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.840 think they are. At this point in time. Right at 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:40.160 the end of World War One, the Bolsheviks had published 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.520 a bunch of documents that they'd seized from the Tsar's 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.840 palace revealing secret wartime pacts. And one of these secret 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:50.120 wartime pacts was Britain offering Russia the Dardanels in exchange 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:54.240 for giving Britain Persia. Right, so this comes out and 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.400 people in Tehran, educated Persians are obviously like, oh so, 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.680 like they they just bought us. Basically, they bribed the 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.560 Czar for us, and they think they own our entire 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.840 ass country now. And this helps spawn massive resistance to 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:13.360 this treaty that Secretary Curzon has put together. Initially, Curzon 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.320 is not all that concerned. He states the case will 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.200 be settled by cash, and then he proceeds to organize 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.080 one hundred and thirty one thousand pound bribe to the 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:26.119 three man triumvirate governing Persia on behalf of the Shah. 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.760 These three guys agree to the bribe, and Kurzon, being 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.239 a genius, is said to have declared the treaty a 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:35.080 great triumph, and I have done it all alone, like. 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:37.200 Great Brandy. 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.159 He's like, so we're gonna we're gonna tax these people 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.919 to build an army to protect our oil basically and 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:44.840 to keep them oppressed. And the people are like, we 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.840 don't like that, and he's like, but I bribed three men, 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:52.720 solving the problem forever all on my own. But unfortunately 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.880 for Kurzon, that damned free press I mentioned earlier got 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.480 to work and they reported on the fact that Persia's 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.000 growing try It had sold the country for a song. 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.439 Next per Brysex article, the treaty was broocked by the 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:09.600 Mosleys and three successive Persian prime ministers fell. So basically, 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:12.840 three successive governments failed to gain whatever they need to 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:14.920 do in the parliament to be able to govern as 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.520 a result of resistance to this treaty, which gets it 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:22.080 blocked in Tehran. Now this causes chaos because the British 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.440 are this is fucked up of them, But also British 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.000 money and guns is the only thing propping this government 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.760 up at the time, right, so when the treaty gets blocked, 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:32.920 things aren't just like good. 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:39.120 You know that could from that peacock throne they could 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:41.240 sell then it looks like. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:46.600 It's worth the money. Yeah yeah, so chaos envelops the 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.159 capital city and back home in London, the lords of 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:51.679 the Admiralty are really have real reason to fear that 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.520 they might lose their hookup to cheap gas. Now, Curzon 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.280 had basically been like, the fuck around and pretend we 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.800 care about international log Like he's bribing these dudes, but 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.400 he's trying to frame it as like a legal treaty 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:08.200 in an agreement between states. And since Operation Bride three 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:11.400 Guys failed, all eyes turned to one of the top 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:17.040 ranking generals in the Royal Army Field, Marshal William Edmund Ironside, 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.920 who was referred to as the Lord Ironside, a name 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:23.560 George Lucas would laugh at you for giving to a 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:25.480 character in a fictional story. 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:30.760 Like the Lord. Okay, we get it much. 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:36.560 It's he was also nicknamed Tiny William Tiny Ironside. 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:39.879 Ironside. That's pretty amazing. 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.400 It's gonna suck to being born with that cooler name 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:44.800 and like knowing you're going to be a military leader, 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.119 but also being a little guy, like because people are 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.280 gonna call you tiny, Like Tiny Ironside is just less 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:53.440 cool than the Lord iron Side. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.639 With that name, your options are limited. You're like, if 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:57.520 you're an iron. 0:19:57.280 --> 0:19:59.639 Size, you can only be in the military. He doesn't 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.480 care for joining the army. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.280 Or you could be an actor from Starship Troopers and 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.040 that's it. Those are your two editions. 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.919 That's it. That's right. And unfortunately Starship Troopers had not 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:14.560 quite been invented yet. We we we had barely harnessed 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:17.719 the technology to create Paul Verhoven at that point, you know, 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:20.080 he was he was still just stating, I believe. 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:22.040 So. 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.960 The best way I can describe the Lord Ironside physically, 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:28.520 if you're not looking at you know, the video version 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.680 of this because most people listen to it because it's 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:32.760 a podcast, the best way I can describe him is 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:34.800 that he had the face of a man who didn't 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:39.520 understand why other nations beside England should exist, Like like, 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:44.800 look at this guy's face, Like that is a face 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.120 of confusion that there are other countries. 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.520 What are they doing? Look at them with the brown 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:59.360 the country smells coming off their food food. 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:03.080 It's not all was there My British rib was going 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.359 everywhere there. I think you're more consistent than me. 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:09.720 He's got Lord mount Batton energy. 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.359 Yeah, yeah, he does. He has strong the iration have 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:15.520 blown up a both. This guy was on energy. That's 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:17.920 what I'll say about this fucker, although he has bad 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:21.480