08/09/2026
Join us on Thursday 22 October for the Gholam Reza Nikpay Annual Lecture, hosted by the Iranian History Initiative.
This year we welcome Professor Abbas Amanat who delivers his talk “Anxious Onlookers: Qajar Iran and European Imperial Expansion (1797-1812)”.
In a short span of fifteen years the lands between Nile and Ganges were invaded by three European imperial armies: Britain, France and Russia. Caught between two rival powers, Qajar Iran had little choice but to try to strike a balance between Russia in the north and Britain in the south.
In this talk Professor Abbas Amanat will argue that even the idea of a regional alliance, as proposed by Tipu Soltan of Mysore at the very end of the 18th century, could not persuade Fath Ali Shah Qajar to change course. As an anxious observer, the tragic fall of Mysore convinced him not to entertain ambitions beyond his means. Two rounds of disastrous wars with Russia further proved the point. Strategically vulnerable and with limited economic and human resources, maintaining a fragile status quo seemed to be the safest, if not the only, option for preserving Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Visit the below link to register for this event:
https://www.lse.ac.uk/international-history/events/public-events/2026/anxious-onlookers-qajar-iran-and-european-imperial-expansion-1797-1812-the-gholam-reza-nikpay-annual-lecture
