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Bahram Aryana

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Arteshbod
Bahram Aryana
General Bahram Aryana
Born
Hossein Manoochehri (حسین معتمدی منوچهری تنکابنی)

(1906-03-17)17 March 1906
Tehran,Persia
Died21 June 1985(1985-06-21)(aged 79)
Paris,France
Burial placeMontparnasse Cemetery
NationalityIranian Georgian
Occupations
OrganizationAzadegan Organization
TitleMilitary attachéof Iran toFranceandBenelux[1]
Term1952–1953
Political party
Academic background
Fields
Alma mater
ThesisNapoleon et l'Orient(1955)
InstitutionsOfficers' Academy[2]
WorksPour une ethique iranienne(1981)
Military career
AllegianceIranIran
Service/branchGround Forces
Years of service1930–1979
RankField Marshal/5 Star General
CommandsImperial Iranian Ground Force
Imperial Guard
AwardsLegion of Honour / Legion d'Honneur

Field MarshalBahram Aryana(Persian:بهرام آریانا); also spelledBahram ArianabornHossein Manouchehri;[3]17 March 1906 – 21 June 1985)[4]was the most senior military commander of the Imperial Iranian Army during the reign ofMohammed Reza Pahlaviand anIranian nationalistandhumanist.Professor Monica M. Ringer described Aryana as probably the most famous “converted Zoroastrian” of the Pahlavi era.[5]

Biography

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He was born on 17 March 1906 inTehran[6]from a nobleGeorgianmother,[7]who was the great granddaughter of KingHeraclius II,and from a judge father, Sadr-ed-din.[6]His name wasHossein Manouchehri,which he would change to Bahram Aryana in 1950 and he was a descendant ofSepahsalar Khalatbari Tonekaboni,the noble Iranian statesman who was the leader of the constitutional revolutionary forces and four time former prime minister of Iran.[6]Professor Monica M. Ringer has described Aryana as probably the most notorious “convertedZoroastrian”of the Pahlavi era.[8]

Bahram Aryana (left of photo) at the coronation of theShah of Iran(center) October 26, 1967. The Shah is seen crowningEmpress Farah Pahlavi.

He was educated in France at the École Supérieur de Guerre and received his PhD in 1955 from the Faculty of Law of Paris with his thesis "Napoleon et l'Orient" (published in 1957). Aryana is known to have styled himself onNapoleonand dressed in theImperial Frenchstyle.[9]

After theAnglo-Soviet invasion of Iranin 1941 duringWorld War II,he went on with armed struggle and resisted the occupation before being arrested by the British forces. He was instrumental in many of the nationalist policies in the 1950-1960s. During the military campaign of 1964-65 he successfully pacified rebellious tribes in the south of Iran (Pars,IsfahanandKhuzestan) stirred-up byAyatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,without shedding blood.

General Bahram Aryana (center) with U.S. President Richard Nixon at the White House.
State visit by De Gaulle to Iran. From left to right;Charles de Gaulle,Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,and Bahram Aryana.

Following his military success in the south, General Aryana was named Chief of Staff of the Shah's Army, position he maintained from 1965 to 1969.

During his posting as Chief of Staff, he met with various head of states includingRichard Nixon,who received him at theWhite House,Yitzhak Rabin(then the Chief of Staff of theIsrael Defense Forces), who received him in Israel andGeneral de Gaulle,during his visit to Iran.

Aryana left Iran in 1969 on the order of the Shah.[6]This was due to theArvand Rud (Shatt al-Arab)crisis.

Unlike his fellowArteshbodand exiled leader,Gholam-Ali Oveissi.Aryana was 'beloved' by the Kurdish population of Iran from his time as the military governor of Kurdistan.

He died in exile inParisin June 1985[10]and is buried at theMontparnasse cemetery.General Aryana was aGrand Officierof the FrenchLegion of Honour.

His last published book,Pour une Éthique Iraniennewas a call for unity against the obscurantist forces driving Khomeini and the mullahs' fundamentalist revolution.[11]

Party affiliation

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Aryana described himself as being an Iranian nationalist and moderate socialist, not a monarchist. Although he received a great deal of support from monarchists who considered him to be a supporter.[10]Aryana held dual membership ofAria PartyandSUMKA.[12]

He foundedAzadegan,[13]a nationalist opposition group which had "developed a full command staff structure and support from all nationalist elements from the moderate left to the monarchists".[14]while in exile in Paris.

Aryana combined his forces with not just Gholam Ali Oveissi but alsoShapour Bakhtiar,Ahmad MadaniandAli Amini.[15]Azadegan, meaning Born Free, was an anti-Khomeini movement which claimed as many as 12,000 followers in Iran, many of them in the armed forces.[10]The daring seizing by Azadegan's officers ofTabarzin,an Iranian Navy'sCombattante IIclass fast attack craft just built by France and en route to Iran while in the Mediterranean in August 1981, attracted media attention to Azadegan and its members' armed resistance against the clerical regime of Iran.[16][17]

References

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  1. ^Naṣr Allāh Tavakkulī Nīshābūrī (2014).Memoirs of Nasrollah Tavakoli, The First Chief of Staff of the Iranian Army after the Islamic Revolution(in Persian). Ibex Pub. pp. 351–352.ISBN978-1588140982.
  2. ^ab"Who was Aryana"(in Persian). Political Studies and Research Institute.Retrieved5 November2017.
  3. ^Ali Akbar Dareini (1998).The Rise and Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty: Memoirs of Former General Hussein Fardust.Motilal Banarsidass Publ. pp. 15–16.ISBN8120816420.
  4. ^"Biographie du Général Bahram ARYANA"(in French). Aryana2500.fr.Retrieved13 April2017.
  5. ^Monica M. Ringer (2012). "Iranian Nationalism and Zoroastrian Identity". In Abbas Amanat; Farzin Vejdan (eds.).Iran Facing Others.Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 267–277.ISBN978-1-137-01340-8.{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)
  6. ^abcd"Iranian Personalities. General Bahram Ariana".Iran Chamber Society.Retrieved4 January2016.
  7. ^Babak Rezvani (Winter 2009). "The Fereydani Georgian Representation".Anthropology of the Middle East.4(2): 57.doi:10.3167/ame.2009.040205.
  8. ^Monica M. Ringer (2012). "Iranian Nationalism and Zoroastrian Identity". In Abbas Amanat; Farzin Vejdan (eds.).Iran Facing Others.Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 267–277.doi:10.1057/9781137013408_13.ISBN978-1-137-01340-8.{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)
  9. ^Brian Murphy (4 August 2006).The Root of Wild Madder: Chasing the History, Mystery, and Lore of the Persian Carpet.Simon and Schuster.ISBN978-0-7432-6421-1.
  10. ^abcBahram Aryana Dies; Ex-Iran Chief of StaffNew York Times.(Paris). 27 June 1985. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  11. ^"Pour une Ethique Iranienne".Amazon UK.Archived fromthe originalon 25 September 2013.Retrieved30 August2017.
  12. ^Ali Rahnema (24 November 2014).Behind the 1953 Coup in Iran: Thugs, Turncoats, Soldiers, and Spooks.Cambridge University Press. p. 55.ISBN978-1107076068.
  13. ^Anoushiravan Ehteshami (1995).After Khomeini: the Iranian Second Republic.Psychology Press. p. 15.ISBN978-0-415-10879-9.
  14. ^Defense & Foreign Affairs,February 1981
  15. ^India Today.Thomson Living Media India Limited. 1982.
  16. ^Frank J. Prial (19 August 1981)."Iranian Hijackers Sail To Marseilles".The New York Times.Marseilles.Retrieved13 April2017.
  17. ^"Iran Exiles Plan New Military Acts".The New York Times.Reuters. 22 August 1981.Retrieved13 April2017.
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