Abbas Mirza (August 26, 1789 – October 25, 1833)[1] was a Qajar crown prince of Iran. He developed a reputation as a military commander during the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 and the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, as well as through the Ottoman–Persian War of 1821–1823. He helped modernize Persia's armed forces and institutions.
In October 1813, with Abbas Mirza as commander-in-chief, Persia was compelled to make a severely disadvantageous peace known as the Treaty of Gulistan, irrevocably ceding swaths of its territory in the Caucasus, comprising present-day Georgia, Dagestan, and most of Azerbaijan.
The drastic losses suffered by his forces made him realize that he needed to train Persia's military in the European style of war, and he started sending his students to Europe for military training. Influenced by Sultan Selim III's reforms, Abbas Mirza set out to create an Iranian version of the Ottoman Nizam-ı Cedid, and reduce the Qajar dependence on tribal and provincial forces. In 1811 and 1815, two groups were sent to Britain, and in 1812 a printing press was finished in Tabriz, as a means to reproduce European military handbooks, as well as a gunpowder factory and a munitions depot. The training continued with constant drilling by British advisers, with a focus on the infantry and artillery.
His newly reformed military was tested in the Ottoman–Persian War (1821–1823) began, and gained several victories resulting in a peace treaty signed in 1823 after the Battle of Erzurum.
In 1833, he sought to restore order in Khorasan province, which was nominally under Persian supremacy, and while engaged in the task died at Mashhad.
Arnold Talbot Wilson was born in 1884 and educated at Clifton College. He started his military career in 1903 and went to serve in India. From there he was posted to Iran. In 1907, Wilson was transferred to the Indian Political Department and sent to the Persian Gulf, where he served as a political officer. Wilson oversaw the discovery of the first oil site in the Middle East, Masjid-i-Suleiman, in 1908. He became Consul-General of Muhammerah (1909–11) and was put in charge of the Turko-Persian Frontier Commission. In January 1915 as the British were moving troops from India into Mesopotamia through the Persian Gulf and Basra, Wilson was designated as the assistant, and then deputy, to Sir Percy Cox, the British Political Officer for the region. Based in Baghdad, he then became the acting Civil Commissioner for Mesopotamia. He continued to serve in this role until 1920. He retired from service in 1921.
In 1933, Wilson was elected in a by-election as the Conservative MP for Hitchin. However, in October 1939 after the outbreak of the war, he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, serving as a pilot officer (air gunner) in 37 Squadron of RAF Bomber Command. Still an MP, he was killed in northern France, near Dunkirk, on 31 May 1940 when his bomber aircraft crashed. He is buried at Eringhem churchyard, half-way between Dunkirk and Saint-Omer.
John Wilson was a Scottish missionary, orientalist and educator. In 1829, he moved with his wife to Bombay and spent most of his life there. He founded Wilson College, Mumbai, and Bombay University. He was also the president of the Asiatic Society of Bombay from 1835 to 1842; and was elected Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland in 1870.