Losing Confidence: Iranian Revolutionaries and Italy from the Lesser Despotism to the Italo-Ottoman War (1908–1911)

This article explores the evolution of the relationship between Iranian revolutionaries and Italy from the repression of the Iranian constitutional revolution in June 1908 to the outbreak of the Italo-Ottoman war in autumn 1911. Drawing upon largely untapped appeals and articles by the Iranian revolutionaries and the Italian dispatches commenting on them and the revolutionary events, this article shows that while Italy was initially considered a reliable partner, the relationship between the revolutionaries and Italy became strained after the Italian attack on Tripoli in September 1911, as Italy was accused of a behaviour comparable to that of Russia in Iran. Beyond their bilateral relations, the changing stance of Iranian revolutionaries towards Italy led to an understanding of both the ‘diplomatic’ strategies adopted by the revolutionaries towards foreign governments and the growing parallels between the constitutional revolution and other contemporary events in the Muslim world.