The Qajar dynasty was a Turkic Azerbaijani dynasty that existed from 1789 until 1925 under the rule of a royal family. Although they initially expanded the country's borders, the dynasty lost many territories to Russian expansionism and later could not prevent them from being occupied by Russian, Ottoman, and British troops during World War I. A coup d'etat overthrew the ruling Shah, Ahmad Shah Qajar, in 1921 and the Qajar monarchy was officially abolished four years later.
Culture[]
In 1836, the majority of the Qajar's population was Persian (62%), with sizable minorities including the ruling Azerbaijanis (23%) and Kurds (7%), along with smaller groups of Turkmen, Baluchis, and Mashriqis. The official religion was Islam and the largest denomination was Shia (80%), while the other 20% was Sunni. As an Islamic nation the vast majority of the population held conservative views (92%), with 4% holding either reactionary or liberal views each. Being an agrarian society, more than half of the population were farmers, while a further 31% were laborers and 11% were artisans.