On 16 July 1909,
Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar was
overthrown by rebels seeking to restore the 1906 Constitution. The rebels then convened the
Grand Majles of 500 delegates from different backgrounds, which placed Ahmad Shah, Mohammad Ali's eleven-year-old son, on the
Sun Throne. The Grand Majlis enacted many reforms. They abolished class representation and created five new seats in the Majlis for minorities: two seats for
Armenians, and one seat each for
Jews,
Zoroastrians, and
Assyrians. The Majles also democratized the electoral system, diminished the electoral dominance of Tehran, and even lowered the voting age from twenty-five to twenty. Not much is known about Ahmad's early life before his succession to the throne. Due to his young age, his uncle,
Ali Reza Khan Azod al-Molk, governed as regent. Ahmad Shah was formally crowned on 21 July 1914, upon reaching his majority. He attempted to fix the damage done by his father by appointing the best ministers he could find. He was, however, an ineffective ruler who was faced with internal unrest and foreign intrusions, particularly by the
British Empire and
Russian Empire. Russian and British troops
fought against the
Ottoman Empire forces in Iran during
World War I. (right of the Shah) and
Alexander Khan Setkhanian (right of Liakhov), 1911. The Second Majlis convened in November 1910 and just like the First Majlis, did not lead to any relevant accomplishment. The Majlis was rendered ineffective because the central government was weak and did not have enough influence to rein in the changes that it had proposed. In 1917, Britain used Iran as the springboard for an attack into Russia in an
unsuccessful attempt to reverse the
Russian Revolution of 1917. The newly born
Soviet Union responded by annexing portions of northern Persia as buffer states much like its Tsarist predecessor. Marching on
Tehran, the Soviets extracted ever more humiliating concessions from the Iranian government – whose ministers Ahmad Shah was often unable to control. The weakness of the government in the face of such aggression by an atheist foreign power sparked seething anger among many traditional Iranians – including the young
Ruhollah Khomeini, who would later condemn both
Communism and monarchy as treason against Iran's sovereignty and the laws of Islam. By 1920, the government had virtually lost all power outside the capital and Ahmad Shah had lost control of the situation. Ahmad Shah has also been described as "pleasure-loving, effete, and incompetent". The
Anglo-Persian Agreement, along with new political parties, further immobilized the country. The Moderates and Democrats often clashed, particularly when it came to minority rights and
secularism. The debates between the two political parties led to violence and even assassinations. The weak economic state of Iran put Ahmad Shah and his government at the mercy of foreign influence; they had to obtain loans from the
Imperial Bank of Persia. Furthermore, under the Anglo-Persian Agreement, Iran received only a small fraction of the income generated by the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company. On the other hand, the Red Army along with rebels and warlords ruled much of the countryside. On 21 February 1921, Ahmad Shah was pushed aside in a
coup d'état by Colonel
Reza Khan, Minister of War and commander of the
Persian Cossack Brigade, who subsequently seized the post of Prime Minister. During the coup, Reza Khan used three thousand men and eighteen machine guns, a nearly bloodless coup that moved forward quickly. One of Khan's first actions was to rescind the unpopular Anglo-Persian Agreement. In addition, he signed the
Russo-Persian Treaty of Friendship. This agreement canceled all previous treaties between the two countries and also gave Persia full and equal shipping rights in the
Caspian Sea. was built at the end of the Qajar era as Ahmad Shah's dwelling in
Niavaran garden. Stripped of all his remaining powers, Ahmad Shah went into exile with his family in 1923. Ahmad Shah's apparent lack of interest in attending to the affairs of the state and poor health had prompted him to leave Iran on an extended trip to Europe. He was formally deposed on 31 October 1925, when Reza Khan was proclaimed Shah by the Majlis, as Reza Shah Pahlavi. This terminated the Qajar dynasty. == Exile and death ==