Amir Kabir (1807 - January 10 , 1852), also known as
Mirza Taqi Khan Amir-Nezam , also known by the titles of Atābak and Amīr-e Neẓām; chief minister to Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah for the first four years of his reign and one of the most capable and innovative figures to appear in the whole Qajar period.
Amir Kabir served as Prime Minister of Persia (Iran) under Nasereddin Shah (The emperor). Born in Hazaveh, a county of
ArakArāk, previously known as Soltan-abad, is the center of Markazi province, Iran. It had an estimated population of 511,127 in 2005.-History:...
, and murdered in 1852, is a controversial historical figure. He is considered by some to be "widely respected by liberal nationalist Iranians" as `Iran's first reformer`, a modernizer who was "unjustly struck down" attempted to bring "gradual reform" to Iran.
Background and Achievements
Amir Kabir was born into a lowly household at Hazāva in the Farāhān district. His father, Karbalāʾī Moḥammad Qorbān, entered the service of Mirza Abu'l-Qasim Farahani Qá'im Maqam of Farāhān as cook, and when Mīrzā Bozorg was appointed chief minister to ʿ
Abbas MirzaField-Marshal Abbas Mirza , was a Qajar crown prince of Persia. He developed a reputation as a military commander during wars with Russia and the Ottoman Empire, as an early modernizer of Persia's armed forces and institutions, and for his untimely death before his father, Fath Ali Shah...
, the crown prince, in
TabrīzTabriz is the fourth largest city of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former capitals and residence of the crown prince...
, Karbalāʾī Qorbān accompanied him there, taking his son with him. Amir Kabir first assisted his father in performing domestic duties in the household of Mīrzā Bozorg, who saw signs of unusual talent in him and had him study with his own children. After he had learned reading, writing, and some mathematics, Amīr Kabīr, still an adolescent, was appointed by Mīrzā Bozorg to supervise his stables, a function he performed with exemplary efficiency. Mīrzā Bozorg died in 1237/1822 and was succeeded in the post of minister to the crown prince by his son, Mīrzā Abu’l-Qāsem Qāʾem-maqām. Under his aegis Amīr Kabīr entered government service, being appointed first to the post of laškarnevīs “military registrar” for the army of Azerbaijan. In 1251/1835, he was promoted to the position of mostawfīe neẓām, becoming responsible for supervising the finances of the army of Azerbaijan; several years later he was put in charge of the same army’s provisions, financing, and organization with the title of wazīr-e neẓām.
During his tenure, Amir Kabir participated in many missions abroad, he spent almost four years in
ErzurumErzurum is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The name "Erzurum" derives from "Arz-u Rûm"...
, participating in the work of a commission to delineate the
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
-
IranianIranian is of, from, or related to Iran.* Iranians, persons from Iran, or of Iranian descent. For more information about the Iranian people, see Demographics of Iran and Culture of Iran....
frontier and settle certain other differences between the two states. He appears to have been the most forceful member of the Iranian negotiating team, resisting attempts to exclude Moḥammara (present-day Ḵorramšahr) from Iranian sovereignty and to make Iran pay compensation for its military incursions into the area of Solaymānīya. In this he acted almost independently of the central government in Tehran, which not only failed to formulate a consistent policy vis-à-vis the Ottomans but also opposed most of Amīr Kabīr’s initiatives. Although a form of treaty was concluded between Iran and the Ottoman state, the borders had still not been delineated when the
Crimean WarThe Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
erupted and the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n mediators found themselves at war and withdrew. Amīr Kabīr nonetheless acquired first-hand knowledge of the procedures of international diplomacy and of the aims and policies of Britain and Russia with respect to Iran. This helped him in the elaboration of his own distinct policies toward the two powers when he became chief minister.
Moreover, his years in Erzurum fell in the period of the Ottoman military and administrative reforms known as the
TanzimatThe Tanzimat , meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimat reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against...
. Some awareness of these reached Amīr Kabīr in Erzurum and inspired in him at least one aspect of his policy as chief minister: the elimination of clerical influence upon affairs of state. When explaining to the British consul at Tabrīz in 1265/1849 his own determination to make the authority of the state paramount, he said, “The Ottoman government was able to begin reviving its power only after breaking the power of the mullas”.
Amīr Kabīr returned to
TabrizTabriz is the fourth largest city of Iran and the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. Situated at an altitude of 1,350 meters at the junction of the Quri River and Aji River, it was the second largest city in Iran until the late 1960s, one of its former capitals and residence of the crown prince...
in 1263/1847. A year later, while retaining the post and title of wazīr-e neẓām he was appointed lala-bāšī or chief tutor to the crown prince Nāṣer-al-dīn, who was still only fifteen years of age. Soon after, in Šawwāl, 1264/September, 1848, Moḥammad Shah died, and Nāṣer-al-dīn had to proceed to Tehran and assume the throne. But his minister, Mīrzā Fatḥallāh Naṣīr-al-molk ʿAlīābādī, was unable to procure the necessary funds, so Nāṣer-al-dīn had recourse to Amīr Kabīr, who made the necessary arrangements. Nāṣer-al-dīn’s confidence in Amīr Kabīr increased, and shortly after leaving Tabrīz, he awarded him the rank of amīr-e neẓām, with full responsibility for the whole Iranian army. After arriving in Tehran, he also appointed him chief minister (šaḵṣ-e awwal-e Īrān), with the supplementary titles of amīr-e kabīr and atābak (Ḏu’l-qaʿda, 1264/October, 1848). The former title came to be his common designation; the latter, used for the first time since the Saljuq period, referred to the tutorial relationship between the minister and his young master, reflecting, perhaps, Amīr Kabīr’s view of himself as a semi-independent agent.
His appointment as the chief minister aroused resentment in various persons who thought themselves more deserving, particularly Mirza Agha Khan Noori, and also in the queen mother, who evidently resented Amīr Kabīr’s proud and self-confident bearing. The intrigues of his opponents resulted in a mutiny of a company of Azerbaijani troops garrisoned in Tehran, demanding his removal and execution; but with the cooperation of Mīrzā Abu’l-Qāsem Emam-e Jome of Tehran, who ordered the merchants of Tehran to close the bazaar and arm themselves, the mutiny was soon quelled, and Amīr Kabīr resumed his duties.
More severe disorder prevailed in a number of provincial cities, especially Mashad. Toward the end of the reign of Moḥammad Shah, Ḥamza Mīrzā Hešmat-al-dawla had been appointed governor of
KhorasanKhorasan currently names a region located in north eastern Iran, but historically referred to a much larger area east and north-east of the Persian Empire...
, but he found his authority disputed by Ḥasan Khan Sālār, who, with the help of some local chieftains, had rebelled against the central government (1262/1846). Ḥamza Mīrzā abandoned Mashad to Ḥasan Khan and fled to
HeratHerāt , classically called the Aria, is a major city in western Afghanistan, in the province also known as Herāt. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan,...
. Amīr Kabīr sent two armies against Ḥasan Khan, the second of which, commanded by Solṭān Morād Mīrzā, defeated his forces and captured him. Amīr Kabir had him executed (1266/1850), together with one of his sons and one of his brothers, a punishment of unprecedented severity for such provincial resistance to central authority, and a clear sign of Amir Kabir’s intention to assert the prerogatives of the state.
A task of equal importance that confronted him in the early days of his ministry was the repression of the
BabiBabi may refer to:*Babı, a municipality in Azerbaijan* Babi Dynasty, founded in 1735 by Muhammed Sher Khan Babi , Nawabs of this dynasty went on to rule over Junagadh in Gujarat, from the 18th to the 20th century....
insurrections that had coincided with the period of transition between Moḥammad Shah and Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah. Movements of rebellion were led in Māzandarān by Mollā Ḥosayn Bošrūyī and Mollā Moḥammad Bārforūšī, in
ZanǰānThe name Zanjan may mean one of the following subdivisions in the country of Iran:* Zanjan Province* Zanjan County, an area within Zanjan Province* Zanjan , the capital of Zanjan County and Zanjan Province...
by Mollā Moḥammad Zanǰānī, and in Nayrīz by Sayyed Yaḥyā Dārābī. After a series of bloody battles in 1266/1848, all three movements were defeated and their leaders executed. Wishing to prevent further outbreaks of Bābī insurrectionary fervor by doing away with the founder of
BabismBábism is a religious movement that flourished in Persia from 1844 to 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire as well as underground. Its founder was Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad of Shiraz, who took the title Báb – meaning "Gate" – from a Shi'a theological term...
, Amīr Kabīr gave orders for the execution of Sayyed ʿAlī-Moḥammad Bāb, which took place in Tabrīz on 27 Šaʿbān 1266/8 July 1850. It is probable that his motives were purely political, and that he acted for the preservation of the state, not Shiʿite Islam.
With order reestablished in the provinces, Amīr Kabīr turned to a wide variety of administrative, cultural, and economic reforms that were the major achievement of his brief ministry. His most immediate success was the vaccination of Iranians against
smallpoxSmallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, saving the lives of many thousands if not millions. Faced with an empty treasury on his arrival in Tehran, he first set about balancing the state budget by attempting to increase the sources of revenue and to decrease state expenditure. To aid him in the task, he set up a budgetary committee headed by Mīrzā Yūsof Mostawfī-al-mamālek that estimated the deficiency in the budget at one million tomans. Amir Kabir thereupon decided to reduce drastically the salaries of the civil service, often by half, and to eliminate a large number of stipends paid to pensioners who did little or no governmental work. This measure increased his unpopularity with many influential figures and thus contributed to his ultimate disgrace and death.
At the same time he strove to collect overdue taxes from provincial governors and tribal chieftains by dispatching assessors and collectors to every province of the country. The collection of customs duties, previously farmed out to individuals, was now made the direct responsibility of the central government, and the
CaspianThe Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres...
fisheries, an important source of revenue, were recovered from a Russian
monopolyIn economics, a monopoly exists when a specific individual or an enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it...
and contracted out to Iranians.
The administration of the royal lands (ḵāleṣaǰāt) came under review, and the income derived from them was more closely supervised than before. Yield and productivity, not area, were established as the basis of tax assessment for other lands, and previously dead lands were brought under cultivation. These various measures for the encouragement of agriculture and industry also benefited the treasury by raising the level of national prosperity and hence taxability.
Of particular interest is the care shown by Amīr Kabīr for the economic development of Khuzestan (then known as ʿArabestān), identified by him as an area of strategic importance, given its location at the head of the
Persian GulfThe Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the Arabian Gulf by most Arab states or simply The...
, and also of potential prosperity. He introduced the planting of sugarcane to the province, built the Nāṣerī dam on the river Karḵhe and a bridge at
ShushtarShûshtar is an ancient fortress city in the Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran. It is approximately 92 km away from Ahvaz, the centre of the province. It had an estimated population of 89,255 in 2005. -History:...
, and laid plans for the development of Moḥammara. He also took steps to promote the planting of American cotton near
TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
and
UrmiaUrmia or Orumieh , is a city in Northwestern Iran and the capital of West Azerbaijan Province. The city lies on an altitude of 1,330 m above sea level on the Shahar Chaye river...
.
Among the various measures enacted by Amīr Kabīr, the foundation of the Darolfonoon, in Tehran was possibly the most lasting in its effects. Decades later, many parts of this establishment were turned into the
University of TehranThe University of Tehran , also known as Tehran University and UT, is the best, oldest and largest university of Iran. Its library is the largest in the country...
, with the remaining becoming Darolfonoon Secondary School. The initial purpose of the institution was to train officers and civil servants to pursue the regeneration of the state that Amīr Kabīr had begun, but as the first educational institution giving instruction in modern learning, it had far wider impact. Among the subjects taught were medicine, surgery, pharmacology, natural history, mathematics, geology, and natural science. The instructors were for the most part Austrians, recruited in Vienna by Dāʾūd Khan, an
AssyrianAssyrian may refer to:in antiquity:*ancient Assyria**the Old Assyrian period **the Middle Assyrian period **the Neo-Assyrian period *Assyria , a province of the Achaemenid Empire...
who had become acquainted with Amīr Kabīr during the work of the Ottoman-Iranian border commission. By the time the instructors arrived in Tehran in Moḥarram, 1268/November, 1851, Amīr Kabīr had already been dismissed, and it fell to Dāʾūd Khan to receive them. Mīrzā qā Khan Nūrī, Amīr Kabīr’s successor, sought to persuade Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah to abrogate the whole project, but the Darolfonoon, soon became a posthumous monument to its founder. The Austrian instructors initially knew no Persian, so interpreters had to be employed to assist in the teaching; but some among them soon learned Persian well enough to compose textbooks in the language on various natural sciences. These were to influence the evolution of a more simple and effective prose style in Persian than had previously existed.
Amīr Kabīr made a second indirect contribution to the elaboration of Persian as a modern medium with his foundation of the newspaper Rūz-nāma-ye waqāyeʿ-e ettefāqīya, which survived under different titles until the reign of Moẓaffar-al-dīn Shah. A minimum circulation was ensured by requiring every official earning more than 2000 rials a year to subscribe. In founding the journal Amīr Kabīr hoped to give greater effect to government decrees by bringing them to the attention of the public; thus the text of the decree forbidding the levying of soyūrsāt was published in the third tissue of the paper. He also wished to educate its readers in the world’s political and scientific developments; among the items reported in the first year of publication were the struggles of Mazzini against the Habsburg Empire, the drawing up of the
Suez CanalThe Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened on November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa...
project, the invention of the
balloonA balloon is an inflatable flexible bag filled with a type of gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide or air. Modern balloons can be made from materials such as rubber, latex, polychloroprene, or a nylon fabric, while some early balloons were sometimes made of dried animal bladders...
, a census of England, and the doings of cannibals in Borneo.
All of the measures enumerated so far had as their purpose the creation of a well ordered and prosperous country, with undisputed authority exercised by the central government. This purpose was in part frustrated by the
UlemaUlema refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
, who throughout the Qajar period disputed the legitimacy of the state and often sought to exercise an independent and rival authority. Amīr Kabīr took a variety of steps designed to curb their influence, above all in the sphere of law. He sought initially to supersede the šaṛʿ courts in the capital by sitting in judgment himself on cases brought before him; he abandoned the attempt when he realized that the inadequacy of his juridical knowledge had caused him to pronounce incorrect verdicts. Then he established indirect control over the šaṛʿ courts by giving prominence to one of them that enjoyed his special favor and by assigning the dīvān-ḵāna, the highest instance of ʿorf jurisdiction, a more prominent role. All cases were to be referred to it before being passed on to a šaṛʿ court of the state’s choosing, and any verdict the šaṛʿ court then reached was valid only if endorsed by the dīvān-ḵāna. In addition, any case involving a member of the non- Muslim minorities belonged exclusively to the jurisdiction of the dīvān-ḵāna. Not content with thus circumscribing the prerogatives of the šaṛʿ courts, Amīr Kabīr took stringent measures against šaṛʿ judges found guilty of bribery or dishonesty; thus Mollā ʿAbd-al-Raḥīm Borūǰerdī was expelled from Tehran when he offered to settle a case involving one of Amīr Kabīr’s servants to the liking of the minister.
Amīr Kabīr also sought to reduce clerical power by restricting the ability of the ulema to grant refuge (bast), in their residences and the mosques under their control, to criminals and others pursued by the state. In 1266/1850, bast was abolished, for example, at the Masjed-e Shah in Tehran, although it was restored after the downfall of Amīr Kabīr. In Tabrīz, prolonged efforts were made to preserve bast at various mosques in the city, and recourse was even had to the alleged miracle of a cow that twice escaped the slaughterhouse by running into the shrine known as Boqʿa-ye Ṣāḥeb-al-amr. The immediate instigators of the “miracle” were brought to Tehran, and soon after the emām-e ǰomʿa and šayḵ-al-eslām of Tabrīz, who had reduced civil government in the city to virtual impotence, were expelled. Less capable of fulfillment was Amīr Kabīr’s desire to prohibit the tazieh, the Shiʿite “passion play” enacted in Moḥarram, as well as the public self-flagellation that took place during the mourning season. He obtained the support of several ulema in his attempt to prohibit these rites, but was obliged to relent in the face of strong opposition, particularly from Isfahan and Azerbaijan.
Amīr Kabīr took a benevolent interest in the non-Muslim minorities of Iran, largely to further his desire of strengthening the state. While in
ErzurumErzurum is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The name "Erzurum" derives from "Arz-u Rûm"...
he had learned of the fashion in which the European powers intervened in Ottoman affairs on the pretext of “protecting” the Christian minorities, and there were indications that Britain, Russia, and France hoped for similar benefits from the Assyrians and Armenians of Iran. He moved therefore to remove any possible grievances and hence any need for a foreign “protector.” He exempted the priests of all denominations from taxation, and gave material support to Christian schools in Azerbaijan and Isfahan. In addition, he established a close relationship with the Zoroastrians of Yazd, and gave strict orders to the governor of the city that they not be molested or subjected to arbitrary taxes. He also forbade attempts made in Shushtar to convert forcibly the Sabean community to Islam.
The foreign policy of Amīr Kabīr was as strikingly innovative as his internal policies. He has been credited with originating the policy of “negative equilibrium,” i.e., refusing concessions to both of the rival powers pressing on Iran, Britain and Russia, and avoiding alignment with either of them. He abrogated the agreement whereby the Russians were to operate a trade center and hospital in Astarabad, and attempted to put an end to the Russian occupation of šūrādā, an island in the southeastern corner of the
Caspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres...
, as well as the anchorage rights enjoyed by Russian ships in the lagoon of Anzalī.
In the south of Iran he made similar efforts to restrict British influence in the Persian Gulf, and denied Britain the right to stop Iranian ships in the Gulf on the pretext of looking for slaves. It is not surprising that he frequently clashed with Dolgorukiy and Sheil, the representatives of Russia and Britain in Tehran. In order to counteract British and Russian influence, he sought to establish relations with powers without direct interests in Iran, notably Austria and the United States. It may finally be noted that he set up a counter-espionage organization that had agents in the Russian and British embassies .
Demise
The fruitful career of Amīr Kabīr came to a sudden end on 20 Moḥarram 1268/16 November 1851, when Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah dismissed him from the position of chief minister. Five days later, he was stripped of all his other titles and functions. Soon after he was sent under armed escort to
KashanKashan is a city in the province of Isfahan, Iran. It had an estimated population of 272,359 in 2005.The etymology of the city name comes from Kasian, the original inhabitants of the city, whose remains are found at Tapeh Sialk dating back 9,000 years; later this changed to Kashian, whence the...
, and after a period of forty days’ confinement was put to death in the bathhouse at Fin, outside Kashan, by the slashing of his wrists (17 Rabīʿ I 1268/10 January 1852). The executioner, ʿAlī Khan Moqaddam, had entered government service as a protégé of Amīr Kabīr.
It is rumored that the Shah's mother and her aides asked the Shah for an order to execute Amir Kabir while the Shah was drunk. Once the order was given, it was executed extremely quickly, before the Shah could rescind the order.
The downfall and death of Amīr Kabīr are to be attributed primarily to the continuing intrigues of the same persons who had opposed him when he was first appointed chief minister: Mirza Agha Khan Noori and the queen mother. It appears that they persuaded Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar that Amīr Kabīr was planning to depose him and mount the throne himself. The young shah may have been inclined to believe these accusations because of a certain arrogance and disdain for protocol that Amīr Kabīr had shown since the beginning of his government career in Tabrīz. Contemporary and near-contemporary European observers all formed favorable impressions of Amīr Kabīr, seeing in him a unique embodiment of honesty, patriotism, and efficiency.
Among his Iranian contemporaries Amīr Kabīr received praise from several poets of the age, notably Sorūš and Qāʾānī, but his services to Iran remained generally unappreciated in the Qajar period. Modern Iranian historiography has done him more justice, depicting him as one of the few capable and honest statesmen to emerge in the Qajar period and the progenitor of various political and social changes that came about half a century later.
Amīr Kabīr should be seen primarily, however, as an unusually loyal and effective servant of the traditional state whose primary objective was the strengthening of the central government. He was only incidentally an agent of modernization and westernization, themes that were elaborated later by men of an ideological disposition alien to the great administrator and man of affairs that was Amīr Kabīr.
Contemporary Legacy
- Tehran
Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
Polytechnic was established during Pahlavi Dynasty in 1958, which was renamed Amirkabir University of TechnologyAmirkabir University of Technology , formerly named Tehran Polytechnic is a public, coeducational research university located in Tehran, Iran. AUT is the first established technical university in Iran and known as the best science, engineering and technology school in the country...
after him in 1979.
In fiction
- Amir Kabir Farahani is portrayed by Dariush Arjmand in movie Nassereddin Shah, Actor-e Cinema
Once Upon a Time, Cinema is a 1992 Iranian comedic film written and directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.-Plot summary:Set in the Qajar era, the film follows the character known as the cinematographer as he shows films to the Shah . The film shows clips from older Iranian films from the silent age onwards...
.
- He is also portrayed by Saeed Nikpour in the Iranian television series Amir Kabir.
See also
- Prime Minister of Iran
Prime Minister of Iran was a political post in Iran that had existed during several different periods of time starting with the Qajar era until its most recent revival from 1979 to 1989 following the Iranian Revolution.-Prime Ministers of Qajar era:In the Qajar era, prime ministers were known by...
- List of Prime Ministers of Iran
- Military history of Iran
With thousands of years of recorded history, and due to an unchanging geographic condition , Iran has had a long, varied, and checkered military culture and history, ranging from triumphant and unchallenged ancient military supremacy affording effective superpower status in its day, to a series...