Napoleon and Persia

France's relations with Persia at the time of the Directorate, and Napoleon's plans for an alliance with Fath Ali Shah Qajar (Kadjar) against both the Russians and the British, have been known to historians and certain specialists for a long time. For the general public, however, these facts, like many other intricate details about Persian history, were not so clear, and perhaps not known at all. In his path breaking book, Ambassador Iradj Amini, son of the late prime-minister Dr. Ali Amini, who himself was Mozaffar-ed-Din Shah's grandson through his mother, Princess Fakhr-e Dowleh, opened this chapter of Persian history in a lucid and fascinating manner to the general public for the first time.

His book, Napoleon et la Perse, was first published to wide acclaim in France in 1995. Now this book is available in English from Mage Publishers under the title Napoleon and Persia . For students of Persian and Qajar (Kadjar) history as well as for the genral public with an interest in Persia, this book is a must read.

Below are several links to sites featuring both the French and English versions of Ambassador Amini's book:

For a review of the French version, click here. For a review of the English version, click here. For interesting excerpts from the English version including translations of the original letters exchanged between Napoleon, Abbas Mirza Nayeb-Saltaneh and Fath Ali Shah, click here. For a lecture given by Ambassador Amini, in London, on the subject of Napoleon and Persia, click here.

Ambassador Amini himself can be reached by clicking here.

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Note: We are particularly grateful to Ambassador Farhad Sepahbody (Qajar) for his tireles efforts in collecting this information on his "Greater Qajar Site" prior to our efforts above.The references to links to Ambassador Iradj Amini's book above, with the exception of Mage Publishers' Site, are linked to Ambassador Sepahbody's site.

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