Iranian Gendarmerie

Persian Central Government Gendarmerie Jhāndārmeri-ye Dowlati
General Harald Hjalmarson in Persia, 1911
Active	1911–1920
Country	Sublime State of Persia
Allegiance	Shah of Persia
Size	7,200
Garrison/HQ	Shiraz, Kazerun, Boroujerd, Soltanabad
Patron	Ahmad Shah Qajar
Colors	light blue, grey and gold
Engagements	World War I
Commanders
General	Harald Hjalmarson
Officer	Eric Carlberg
Colonel of the Regiment	Mohammad Taqi Pessian
Notable commanders	Gen Jarl Hjalmarson

Throughout the nineteenth century military modernization was a constant preoccupation of Iranian reformers and the history of the Qajar period is peppered with attempts to create a standing army on the European model. In an attempt to develop sufficient military strength to defend itself against its external enemies, the Persians chose Sweden to be given the task to secure their trade routes and unify the country. The Persians choose the Swedish police force as a neutral choice between Britain and Russia. Due to European nations running much of Iranian services, many Iranians believed that their rulers were beholden to foreign interests.

Due to a lack of reform to Iranian Government services in the Qajar period in the late 19th century, Iranian military and police had insufficient modernization.[3] The American Treasurer-General, William Morgan Shuster proposed the creation of a Treasury Gendarmerie. The proposal was passed by the Majlis on 6 July 1911, along with the launching of the Government Gendarmerie. On 15 August 1911, the Swedish Major Harald Hjalmarson was given the rank of General and put in command of the Persian Gendarmerie. Many other officers, often recruited from the Swedish nobility, would come to follow in Hjalmarson's footsteps.

During the Persian Campaign of the First World War the officers of the Swedish Gendarmerie, who like most of the Iranian intelligentsia and constitutionalists were sympathetic towards Germany, helped the Central Powers. At one point in autumn 1915 they seized control of Shiraz with the connivance of the German-trained provincial governor Mehdi-Qoli Mokhber'ol Saltaneh Hedayat.[4] After the 1921 coup d'état the War Minister Reza Khan merged the two viable military forces which existed in Iran at that point i.e. the Cossack division and the Gendarmerie; to create the modern Iranian national army. A rural police, amnieh, was created and the nazmieh or the police force was also revamped and placed under Iranian officers.[5]

The disbanding of the Swedish Gendarmerie would greatly weaken the Qajar monarchy and with the Persian Cossack Brigade being the only remaining army unit, it greatly facilitated Reza Shah’s coup in 1921. Hjalmarson would return to Sweden and take command of the volunteer Swedish Brigade serving on the White side in the Finnish Civil War. Another officer, Eric Carlberg, later become Sweden’s ambassador to Iran, and a confidant of Mohammed Mosaddeq.

General Harald Hjalmarson's uniform on display at the Swedish Army Museum

Commanders

Name	Period
General Harald Hjalmarson	August 1911 – February 1915
Colonel Per Nyström	March 1915 – end of 1916
Colonel Tage Fredrik Gleerup	August 1918 – end of 1921

• Shahrbani
• Persian Cossack Brigade
• Austro-Hungarian military mission in Persia

English

• Fazlhashemi, Mohammad (2006). SWEDEN ii. SWEDISH OFFICERS IN PERSIA, 1911-15.
• Cronin, Stephanie (15 December 2000). Gendarmerie. Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Cronin, Stephanie (1996). "An experiment in military modernization: constitutionalism, political reform and the Iranian Gendarmerie, 1910–21". Middle Eastern Studies. 32 (3): 106–138. doi:10.1080/00263209608701121.
• The Times; "Policing Persia–The Work of the Swedish Gendarmerie", 27 December 1913
• The Army and the Creation of the Pahlavi State in Iran 1910-1926, by Stephanie Cronin

Swedish

• Carlberg, Eric; "På uppdrag i Persien. Glimtar från en trettioårig vistelse under solens och lejonets tecken" Stockholm; Natur & Kultur, 1962.