Introduction
Abdolhossein Khan Teymourtash (Sardar Moazam Khorasani), a distinguished and influential Iranian politician of the twentieth century, was born in Bojnord, Khorasan, to a prominent family, and received his formal education in Tsarist Russia, at the exclusive Imperial Nikolaev Military Academy in Saint Petersburg. He spoke fluent Persian, French, Russian and German and had a strong command of English and Turkish.
Abdolhossein Teymourtash is considered one of the most significant personalities in modern Iranian political history. Given his significant role in the transition of power from the Qajar to Pahlavi dynasties, he is identified closely with the Pahlavi for which he served as the first Minister of Court from 1925 to 1933. Nonetheless, Teymourtash's rise to prominence on the Iranian political scene predated the rise of Reza Shah to the throne in 1925, and his elevation to the second most powerful political position in the early Pahlavi era was preceded by a number of significant political appointments. Apart from having been elected to serve as a Member of Parliament to the 2nd (1909–1911); 3rd (1914–1915); 4th (1921–1923); 5th (1924–1926); and 6th (1926–1928) Majles of Iran, Teymourtash served in the following capacities: Governor of Gilan (1919–1920); Minister of Justice (1922); Governor of Kerman (1923–1924); and Minister of Public Works (1924–1925).
As one of the earliest historians to have extensively examined Teymourtash's life has noted, "possessing a pronounced western outlook on life, he is said to have been by far one of the most cultivated and educated Persians of his day”. As such, apart from his significant accomplishments as one of the masterminds of the early Pahlavi era where he devised a number of fundamental bureaucratic reforms and navigated his country's foreign relations, Teymourtash has been credited with playing a significant role in shaping the intellectual and cultural currents that transformed Iran in the first half of the Twentieth Century.
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