With contributions from renowned experts in the field, this book provides an excellent background to the history of Anglo-Iranian relations. Focusing on the political and economic relationship of Britain and issues of strategic sensitivity, the book also illuminates British relations with society and the state and describes the interaction between various representatives and agents of both countries.

Anglo-Iranian relations have had a long and complex history, characterized on the one hand by mistrust and intrusion and on the other by mutual exchange and understanding. This book explores the intriguing history of this interactive relationship since 1800, looking at it from a variety of perspectives. Drawing on previously unavailable documents in English and Persian, the book argues that Iran in the nineteenth century had a national state, which strongly defended the national interests.

Vanessa Martin is Reader in Middle Eastern History at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of Islam and Modernism: the Iranian Revolution of 1906 (1989), Creating an Islamic State (2000) and The Qajar Pact: Bargaining, Protest and the State in Nineteenth-Century Iran (2005). She is joint series editor of Routledge/BIPS Persian Studies series.