8-10 million Iranians died over Great Famine caused by the British in late 1910s, documents reveal
A document in the American Archives,
reporting the widespread famine and spread of epidemic disease in Iran,
estimates the number of the deceased due to the WWI famine to be about
8-10 million.
By Sadegh Abbasi | Khameini.ir | November 4, 2015
One of the little-known chapters of history was the
widespread famine in Iran during World War I, caused by the British
presence in Iran. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Britain became
the main foreign power in Iran and this famine or–more
accurately–‘genocide’ was committed by the British. The document in the
American Archives, reporting the widespread famine and spread of
epidemic disease in Iran, estimates the number of the deceased due to
the famine to be about 8-10 million during 1917-19 (1), making this the
greatest genocide of the 20th century and Iran the biggest victim of
World War I (2).
It should be noted that Iran had been one of the main
suppliers of food grains to the British forces stationed in the empire’s
South Asian colonies. Although bad harvests during these two years made
the situation worse, it was by no means the main reason why the Great
Famine occurred. Prof. Gholi Majd of Princeton University writes in his
book, The Great Famine and Genocide in Persia, that American documents
show that the British prevented imports of wheat and other food grains
into Iran from Mesopotamia, Asia, and also the USA, and that ships
loaded with wheat were not allowed to unload at the port of Bushehr in
the Persian Gulf. Professor Majd argues that Great Britain intentionally
created genocide conditions to destroy Iran, and to effectively control
the country for its own purposes. Major Donohoe describes Iran of that
time as a “land of desolation and death” (3). But this event soon became
the subject of a British cover up.
Britain has a long record of its several attempts to
conceal history and rewrite it in their own favor. The pages are filled
with conspiracies that were covered up by the British government to hide
its involvement in different episodes that would tarnish the country’s
image. One of the clear examples is the “Jameson Raid”; a failed coup
against Paul Kruger’s government in South Africa. This raid was planned
and executed directly by the British government of Joseph Chamberlain
under the orders of Queen Victoria (4) (5). In 2002, Sir Graham Bower’s
memoirs were published in South Africa, revealing these involvements
that had been covered up for more than a century, focusing attention on
Bower as a scapegoat for the incident (6).
The records that were destroyed to cover up British crimes
around the globe, or were kept in secret Foreign Office archives, so as
to, not only protect the United Kingdom’s reputation, but also to shield
the government from litigation, are indicative of the attempts made by
the British to evade the consequences of their crimes. The papers at
Hanslope Park also include the reports on the “elimination” of the
colonial authority’s enemies in 1950s Malaya; records that show
ministers in London knew of the torture and murder of Mau Mau insurgents
in Kenya and roasting them alive (7). These records may include those
related to Iran’s Great Famine. Why were these records that cover the
darkest secrets of the British Empire destroyed or kept secret? Simply
because they might ‘embarrass’ Her Majesty’s government (8).
A famine occurred in Ireland from 1845 until 1852 which
killed one fourth of the Irish population. This famine was caused by
British policies and faced a large cover up attempt by the British
government and crown to blame it on ‘potatoes’ (9). The famine, even
today, is famous in the world as the “potato famine” when, in reality,
it was a result of a planned food shortage and thus a deliberate
genocide by the British government (10).
The true face of this famine as a genocide has been proven
by historian Tim Pat Coogan in his book The Famine Plot: England’s Role
in Ireland’s Greatest Tragedy published by Palgrave MacMillan (11). A
ceremony was planned to take place in the US to unveil Coogan’s book in
America, but he was denied a visa by the American embassy in Dublin
(12).
Therefore it becomes obvious that Britain’s role in Iran’s
Great famine, which killed nearly half of Iran’s population, was not
unprecedented. The documents published by the British government
overlook the genocide, and consequently, the tragedy underwent an
attempted cover-up by the British government. The Foreign Office
“handbook on Iran” of 1919 mentioned nothing related to the Great
Famine.
Julian Bharier, a scholar who studied Iran’s population,
built his “backward projection” estimation of Iran’s population (13)
based on reports from this “handbook” and, as a result, ignored the
effect of the Great Famine on Iran’s population in 1917. Bharier’s
estimations were used by some authors to deny the occurrence of the
Great Famine or to underestimate its impacts.
By ignoring Iran’s Great Famine in his estimations,
Bharier’s work faces four scientific deficiencies. Bharier does not
consider the loss of population caused by the famine in his
calculations; he needs to ‘adjust’ the figure of the official census in
1956 from 18.97 million to 20.37 million, and this is despite the fact
that he uses the 1956 census as his primary building block for his
“backward projection” model. He also ignores the official growth rates
and uses his personal assumptions in this regard, which is far lower
than other estimates. Finally, although Bharier frequently cites Amani’s
estimates (14), in the end Bharier’s findings contradict those of
Amani; notably Bharier’s population estimate for 1911 is 12.19 million
while Amani put this figure at 10.94 million.
Despite deficiencies in the population estimates offered by
Bharier for the period of the Famine and its earlier period, his
article offers useful data for the post-Famine period; this is because
these figures are generated from 1956 backward. That is to say, numbers
generated from 1956 to 1919 are thus credible because they do not
include the period of famine. Moreover, this portion of Bharier’s data
is also true to that of the American Legation. For example, Caldwell and
Sykes estimate the 1919 population at 10 million, which is comparative
to Bharier’s figure of 11 million.
Gholi Majd was not the first author to refute Bharier’s
figures for this period. Gad G. Gilbar, in his 1976 article on
demographic developments during the second half of the 19th century and
the first decade of the 20th century, also considers Bharier’s estimates
inaccurate for the period.
In an apparently biased review of Majd’s work, Willem Floor
confirms Bharier’s model (15), despite its apparent deficiencies, and
takes a mocking tone toward the well- documented work of Gholi Majd to
undermine the devastation caused by the British-instigated famine in
Iran, to the point of total denial of the existence of such a genocide.
Floor also offers inaccurate or untrue information to oppose the fact
that the British deprived Iranians from honey and caviar in the north,
as he argues caviar was haram (religiously prohibited), while no such
fatwa has ever existed in Shia jurisprudence and all available decrees
assert that caviar is halal or permissible under the Islamic law. There
was a rumor made up by Russians at the time, saying that Caviar was
haram and Britain made full use of this rumor.
Another criticism made by Floor was to question why Majd’s
work does not use British archival sources. A more important question is
why Majd should have used these sources when they totally ignore the
occurrence of the famine in Iran. The fact that Majd used mainly US
sources seems to be reasonable on the grounds that the US was neutral
toward the state of affairs in Iran at the time, and made efforts to
help by feeding them (16).
*Sadegh Abbasi is a Junior M.A. student at Tehran
University. As a student in history he has also worked as a contributor
to different Iranian news agencies.
References
1. Majd, Mohammad Gholi. The Great Famine & Genocide in Iran: 1917-1919. Lanham : University Press of America, 2013. p.71: https://books.google.com/books?id=5WgSAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71&lpg.
2. Sniegoski, Stephen J. Iran as a Twentieth Century Victim: 1900 Through the Aftermath of World War II. mycatbirdseat.com. [Online] 11 10, 2013. [Cited: 10 12, 2015.] http://mycatbirdseat.com/2013/11/iran-twentieth-century-victim-1900-aftermath-world-war-ii/.
3. Donohoe, Major M. H. With The Persian Expedition. London : Edward Arnold, 1919. p. 76.
4. Nelson, Michael and Briggs, Asa. Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera. London : Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2007. p. 97: https://books.google.com/books?id=6ISE-ZEBfy4C&pg=PA97&lpg.
5. Bower, Graham. Sir Graham Bower’s Secret History of the Jameson Raid and the South African Crisis, 1895-1902. Cape Town : Van Riebeeck Society, 2002. p. xii: https://books.google.fr/books?id=VFYFZKRBXz0C&pg=PR23&lpg.
6. Ibid. p. xvii.
7. Cobain, Ian, Bowcott, Owen and Norton-Taylor, Richard. Britain destroyed records of colonial crimes . The Guardian. [Online] 03 17, 2012. [Cited: 10 10, 2015.] http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/18/britain-destroyed-records-colonial-crimes.
8. Walton, Calder. Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, the Cold War, and the Twilight of Empire. New York : The Overlook Press, 2013. p. 15: https://books.google.fr/books?id=f2cjCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT15&lpg.
9. Warfield, Brian. History Corner: The Great Irish Famine. wolfetonesofficialsite.com. [Online] [Cited: 10 12, 2015.] http://www.wolfetonesofficialsite.com/famine.htm.
10. Britain’s Cover Up. irishholocaust.org. [Online] [Cited: 10 12, 2015.] http://www.irishholocaust.org/britain’scoverup.
11. Coogan, Tim Pat. The Famine Plot: England’s Role in Ireland’s Greatest Tragedy. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
12. O’Dowd, Niall. Proving the Irish Famine was genocide by the British. IrishCentral. [Online] 08 06, 2015. [Cited: 10 12, 2015.] http://www.irishcentral.com/news/proving-the-irish-famine-was-genocide-by-the-british-tim-pat-coogan-moves-famine-history-unto-a-new-plane-181984471-238161151.html.
13. Bharier, Julien. A Note on the Population of Iran, 1900-1966 . Population Studies. 1968, Vol. 22, 2.
14. Amani, Mehdi. La population de l’Iran. Population (French Edition). 1972, Vol. 27, 3: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1529398.
15. Floor, Willem. Reviewed Work: The Great Famine and Genocide in Persia, 1917-1919 by Mohammad Gholi Majd . Iranian Studies. Iran Facing the New Century, 2005, Vol. 38, 1.
16. Fecitt, Harry. Other Theatres of War. westernfrontassociation.com. [Online] 09 29, 2013. [Cited: 10 12, 2015.] http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/the-great-war/great-war-on-land/other-war-theatres/3305-dunsterforce-part-1.html.
Related:
Iran as a Twentieth Century Victim: 1900 Through the Aftermath of World War II
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