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ON 26 MARCH 1909, around six thousand Russian soldiers entered the Azerbaijan province of Persia in order to support the country’s monarch, Mohammad Ali Qajar, during the Constitutional Revolution. Their mission was to relieve the siege of Tabriz, the provincial capital, where pro-democracy rebels—seen here preparing for the Russian onslaught—had been fighting royalist forces for almost a year.

Mohammad Ali, a former governor of Azerbaijan, had ascended to the throne in January 1907. He was opposed to the constitution granted the previous year by his father, Mozaffar ad-Din Qajar, in response to a series of protests and strikes. On 23 June 1908, royalist forces headed by the Persian Cossack Brigade, which was commanded by Russian officers, bombarded the majlis—parliament—building in Tehran. This began a period known as the Minor Tyranny, as Mohammad Ali reinstated absolutist rule and arrested constitutionalists throughout the country. The only major resistance came from Tabriz, where rebels defeated the royalist garrison and took control of the city by October.

Russia had suppressed its own constitutional revolution in 1905 and, two years later, reached an agreement with the British that carved out spheres of influence in Persia for both imperialist powers. It steadfastly supported Mohammad Ali, providing weapons and supplies to the royalist army besieging Tabriz. With reports of the rebels making contact with the Young Turks, who had recently deposed the Ottoman Empire, Russia feared a radical state being formed on its southern border. Despite the rebels seeking to mend fences with Mohammad Ali, the Russian and British governments agreed to an intervention, and Tabriz fell on 29 April 1909. Russia had stated that its only purpose was to provide food to the besieged residents and open up the roads, but it gradually increased its military presence in the city. Its occupation of Tabriz ended only in 1918.