Tabriz Uprising of 1908–09

a popular rebellion in Tabriz, the largest uprising during the Iranian Revolution (1905–11).

The rebellion erupted in June 1908. It was led by democratic revolutionaries—Sattar Khan, Bagir Khan, and Kh. Bagban, among others—and was joined by peasants, workers, and the city’s poor, as well as by petit bourgeois nationalists. By October, the insurgents (fidais) had succeeded in driving the shah’s troops and reactionary detachments out of Tabriz. A revolutionary council (anjoman) then took over the city’s administration. In its first acts it collected money and bread from the wealthy and distributed them to the poor; it also confiscated the property of the shah and his relatives. By mid-November the insurgents, reinforced with arms and volunteers sent by the Transcaucasian organizations of the RSDLP, brought a large segment of Azerbaijan under their control. Nevertheless, after the intervention of tsarist troops in April 1909, the Tabriz uprising was finally put down. However, it gave new force and direction to the popular democratic movement in Iran.