PERSIA 



4592 



PERSIA 



companied General Kuroki's army to Manchu- 

 ria. On the conclusion of that conflict he was 

 transferred by the United States government 

 to the Philippines, and in 1906 he was promoted 

 to the rank of brigadier-general. Appointed 

 governor of the province of Moro, he won bril- 

 liant success as commander of the campaign 

 against the rebellious Moros, completely de- 

 feating them at Bagsag (1913). 



He was subsequently stationed at San Fran- 

 cisco, as commanding officer of the Eighth 

 Brigade, and in 1914, when relations between 

 Mexico and the United States became strained, 



he was ordered to the border. The raid on Co- 

 lumbus, N. M., by Villa's company of bandits, 

 in the spring of 1916, brought matters to a 

 crisis, and President Wilson then placed Gen- 

 eral Pershing in charge of the expeditionary 

 forces in Mexico (see MEXICO, subtitle Gov- 

 ernment and History). His services in this 

 campaign were fully appreciated by the coun- 

 try, and after America joined the entente allies 

 in the War of the Nations he was given chief 

 command of the American army in Europe. 

 There he won enduring fame. See WAR OF THE 

 NATIONS. 



One of the Thirteen Gates of Teheran 



Native Boa-ts 



.ERSIA, pur' sha, a country of Western 

 Asia, with a history reaching back to memora- 

 ble periods hundreds of years before the birth 

 of Christ. To-day, however, it is little known 

 by the peoples of the world except as a semi- 

 desert area and an unimportant factor in world 

 development. After the beginning of the 

 twentieth century it became a fighting ground 

 through the medium of diplomacy between two 

 of the great powers of Europe, with a third 

 viewing the situation with envious eyes. Its 

 geographical position renders it necessary to 

 Russia, Britain and Germany, in their far-flung 

 schemes of em- 

 pire. 



"Persia's light 

 is going out," is 

 the way the 

 world's politicians 

 phrase it. The 

 mightiest empire 

 of ancient days 

 is now actually 

 but a strip of ter- 

 ritory between 

 , ~ Showing the size of Persia 



tne Caspian oea in comparison with the entire 

 and the Persian continent of Asia. 



Gulf, for only here is the ruler's power yet 

 absolute, although on all maps Persia occupies 

 a great area of 628,000 square miles two-thirds 

 as large as the entire United States east of the 

 Mississippi River. 



LOCATION MAP 



Russia and Britain agreed between themselves 

 in 1907 to limit their respective "spheres of 

 influence" in Persia to the provinces adjoining 

 the Russian frontier, on the north, but extend- 

 ing below the capital city, and the provinces 

 on the south lying close to British India. The 

 map on page 4593 indicates roughly the prac- 

 tical division of this territory, and shows the 

 central territory over which the native ruler's 

 sway is yet absolute. It must be said that both 

 Russia and Britain agreed to respect the integ- 

 rity and independence of Persia throughout its 

 entire territory, with the exception of super- 

 vision of finances, which in an emergency they 

 should control. If Germany secures the same 

 privileges on Persian soil that the above two 

 European powers enjoy it must of necessity be 

 along the Turkish border, and German influ- 

 ence in Turkey points to that possibility. 



The People. The original inhabitants of Per- 

 sia, the ancient Iranians and founders of the 

 Aryan race, lived in the southwestern part of 

 the plateau, anciently known as Persis. The 

 modern Persians are of the Aryan stock, mixed 

 with the blood of the Mongol, Tartar, Arab and 

 Turkish settlers. They are of two elasses, the 

 dwellers in towns and the roaming herdsmen, 

 the nomadic dwellers in tents (see NOMAD 

 LIFE). This latter class includes tribes of 

 Arabs, gypsies, Turks and Kurds many of them 

 outlaws and brigands, serving their own par- 

 ticular chieftains. 



