The French and the Idea of Republicanism in Qajar Iran

Abstract: From the earliest political contacts between Iran and France during the Napoleonic era—particularly through the mission of Amédée Jaubert, the first French envoy, and the subsequent Gardane military delegation—to the turbulent period following the death of Mohammad Shah Qajar, French political and cultural influence in Iran paved the way for the transmission of new Western concepts. Among the most significant of these was the idea of republicanism, which was promoted by several French diplomats—most notably Count Étienne de Sartiges, the French ambassador to Iran in the late years of Mohammad Shah’s reign—within the upper social classes and Qajar elite. Remarkably, despite France itself being under a monarchical regime at the time, some of its official representatives in Iran propagated republican ideas. The combined political and cultural influence of France was so profound that it persisted beyond the Qajar era into the Pahlavi period, when French became the second language of the political elite. On the eve of the 1979 Revolution, many Iranian political activists even conveyed their messages to international media in French. This article focuses on the Qajar period and aims to analyze and reinterpret the French role in the dissemination of republican thought in Iran.

کلیدواژه ها:

French Influence ، Qajar Dynasty ، Republicanism ، Monarchy ، Count Étienne de Sartiges ، Mohammad Shah Qajar.