RAZMARA, Haj Ali. The Military Geography of the Central States of the Kingdom of Iran [in Farsi].

RAZMARA, Haj Ali. The Military Geography of the Central States of the Kingdom of Iran [in Farsi]. Tehran: Government Printing House. [1941].

4to. Original printed wrappers with cloth backstrip; pp. [ii], 117, binding a little darkened towards the edges, otherwise very good.

~b~Extremely rare first edition of this Iranian military intelligence handbook on the Iranian Central provinces, which presents "besides a thorough physical topography, an exhaustive and admirable fund of information on the economic, social and political peculiarities" (M. Reza Ghods, The Rise and Fall of General Razmara, in: Middle Eastern Studies~i~ Vol. 29, No.1, Jan., 1993, pp. 22-35).

The historical background is the Second World War, when Iran tried - successfully - to remain neutral. However, there was a real possibility to be sucked into the war or be invaded by the British Empire, German troops, or, despite the non aggression pact signed with Lenin, by the Soviet Union. Razmara (1901-1951) was born in Tehran and studied at the military academy of Saint-Cyr in France and after a successful military career, including head of Military Intelligence and three-times joint Chief-of-Staff, he eventually became Prime Minister in 1950.

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