When Garibaldi went to Azerbaijan: A Study of British Perceptions of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, Part I, 1906–07

In the early years of the twentieth century, a wave of constitutional revolutions swept over the developing world, attracting the attention of European observers. One of these was the Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1906–11. British perceptions of this “brave new world” in Iran were more nuanced and diverse than one would expect for this era, commonly portrayed as a time of jingoism and rampant “Orientalist” racism. This study identifies four broad perspectives which shaped British perceptions: the imperialist, Europeanist, liberal idealist and local pragmatist. Within the context of these perspectives, British perceptions were further shaped by different understandings of Iran—influenced by a specifically Iranian-flavored literary Orientalism, Aryanism and history—and by understandings of what constituted an authentic reform or revolutionary movement.