When in 1829 an infuriated mob in Tehran murdered the Russian dramatist and diplomat Alexander Griboyedov, along with most of his country's embassy, the shah sent Nicholas I one of his largest diamonds by way of an apology. The 89-carat stone, known as the Shah Nadir, can still be admired in the Kremlin Armory's diamond collection. Today, when such incidents prompt little more than bland expressions of regret, the Shah Nadir has reminded many an ambassador that diplomacy is no longer what it used to be.
Like a fine diamond, the subject of "Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran" is brilliant and multifaceted, and as Laurence Kelly shows in this first English biography of Griboyedov, both his life and death make for an extraordinary tale.
Born probably in Moscow around 1795 (the date and place are not certain), Griboyedov was a man on the run. He first had to flee St. Petersburg, then Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi) on account of two embarrassing duels before becoming a major player in the Great Game for domination of Central Asia, writing a play that enraged the Russian censors and finally being murdered by a mob in Tehran.
Griboyedov came from a family of the minor nobility. He was steeped in the ideas of the Enlightenment, and despite the excesses of the French Revolution, he had also begun to question his own country's institutions. He was at the same time an ardent Russian patriot, fiercely interested in Russia's defeats and victories in the Napoleonic campaigns.
Like most young aristocrats of his vintage, Griboyedov responded to Tsar Alexander I's appeal for volunteers, obtaining a commission as a cornet in the newly formed Moscow Hussars. Within months, he was offered the more interesting post of private secretary to General Kologrivov, the head of the regiment that had been renamed the Irkutsk Hussars. By this time, he had been recognized as a young man clever with a pen, and this was to be the first of his several posts as private secretary to decision makers.
By the end of l8l5, the war was won and over. For a young man of Griboyedov's background, without sufficient means to survive independently, the civil service was the only alternative to a career in the army. He left Moscow for St. Petersburg, which offered wider social and intellectual horizons. He hoped eventually to join the Foreign Ministry but first wanted to try his chances at a literary career. During his two years in St. Petersburg, Griboyedov became a significant figure on the literary scene.
In the summer of l817, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and began to study Arabic and Persian. In November he was involved in a duel and had to leave the capital. He was posted to Persia and thus began his involvement in the Great Game.
Kelly skillfully describes Griboyedov's diplomatic career in Georgia, Armenia and Persia, where he carried out Russia's imperial policies and was a leading player in defining the tsar's relations with the Persians and the British in the region. In l827, Griboyedov drafted the Treaty of Turkmanchai, which concluded the Russo-Persian war and was as important to the area as the Congress of Vienna was to Europe. Unlike the Congress of Vienna, however, it established borders that still hold today.
Meanwhile, Griboyedov was sending his friends brilliant letters relating his travels and adventures in the Caucasus and writing criticism, poetry and the various drafts of his verse comedy "Gore ot Uma," translated as "Woe from Wit" or "The Misfortune of Being Clever," it is a masterpiece of Russian theater. Kelly shows how the people and events of Griboyedov's life were reflected in his play. "Woe from Wit" has been taken as a manifesto of the Decembrists. Because of censors, Griboyedov's play couldn't be published and didn't receive a stage performance until l83l, two years after his death.
On Aug. 28, l828, Griboyedov, by then Russian Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia, married the beautiful 16-year-old Georgian princess, Nina Chavchavadze, in Tiflis. Three weeks later, Griboyedov, Nina and his embassy left for Tabriz. Upon arrival, he formally handed over the ratified copy of the Treaty of Turkmanchai with the tsar's signature.
In early December, Griboyedov left for Tehran for a purely ceremonial visit. Because of the icy roads and snowstorms he left his pregnant wife behind. He reached Tehran on Dec. 30. His arrival was marred by two ominous coincidences involving an unpropitious astrological sign and the annual re-enactment of a Shiite mystery play. This, combined with various other incidents involving the mission's servants and the townspeople, excited a latent fanaticism on the streets and bazaars of Tehran.
A mob, urged on by the mullahs, attacked the embassy and killed all the Europeans of the mission with the exception of one they didn't find.
Griboyedov's mutilated body was found and eventually returned to Georgia where he is buried on a hillside above Tiflis, facing the distant mountains of the Caucasus.
While Russian historians have accused Britain of masterminding the massacre in revenge for humiliations inflicted on them in Persia by the Treaty of Turkmanchai, Kelly cites correspondence between the Duke of Wellington, then British prime minister, and Lord Ellenborough, president of the Board of Control (which was in charge of India), and draws on the diplomatic and political archives of several countries to prove that this theory does not hold water.
In Laurence Kelly -- a diplomat's son, writer and fine linguist who has lived and traveled in Russia and the Caucasus for half a century -- Griboyedov has found the biographer he deserves. This groundbreaking book has resulted from extensive research in Britain, Russia and the Caucasus as well as in British, Russian and Persian source materials and British, French and Ottoman political archives. It contains three maps and a wealth of illustrations, most of them in color. The three appendices, the admirable notes on the text and the bibliography will provide a treasure trove for future historians and literary scholars on this subject and period.
"Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran: Alexander Griboyedov and Imperial Russia's Mission to the Shah of Persia," by Laurence Kelly. Published by I.B. Tauris, 315 pages. ?25.
Nina Lobanov-Rostovsky is a freelance writer and lecturer living in London.
Like a fine diamond, the subject of "Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran" is brilliant and multifaceted, and as Laurence Kelly shows in this first English biography of Griboyedov, both his life and death make for an extraordinary tale.
Born probably in Moscow around 1795 (the date and place are not certain), Griboyedov was a man on the run. He first had to flee St. Petersburg, then Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi) on account of two embarrassing duels before becoming a major player in the Great Game for domination of Central Asia, writing a play that enraged the Russian censors and finally being murdered by a mob in Tehran.
Griboyedov came from a family of the minor nobility. He was steeped in the ideas of the Enlightenment, and despite the excesses of the French Revolution, he had also begun to question his own country's institutions. He was at the same time an ardent Russian patriot, fiercely interested in Russia's defeats and victories in the Napoleonic campaigns.
Like most young aristocrats of his vintage, Griboyedov responded to Tsar Alexander I's appeal for volunteers, obtaining a commission as a cornet in the newly formed Moscow Hussars. Within months, he was offered the more interesting post of private secretary to General Kologrivov, the head of the regiment that had been renamed the Irkutsk Hussars. By this time, he had been recognized as a young man clever with a pen, and this was to be the first of his several posts as private secretary to decision makers.
By the end of l8l5, the war was won and over. For a young man of Griboyedov's background, without sufficient means to survive independently, the civil service was the only alternative to a career in the army. He left Moscow for St. Petersburg, which offered wider social and intellectual horizons. He hoped eventually to join the Foreign Ministry but first wanted to try his chances at a literary career. During his two years in St. Petersburg, Griboyedov became a significant figure on the literary scene.
In the summer of l817, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and began to study Arabic and Persian. In November he was involved in a duel and had to leave the capital. He was posted to Persia and thus began his involvement in the Great Game.
Kelly skillfully describes Griboyedov's diplomatic career in Georgia, Armenia and Persia, where he carried out Russia's imperial policies and was a leading player in defining the tsar's relations with the Persians and the British in the region. In l827, Griboyedov drafted the Treaty of Turkmanchai, which concluded the Russo-Persian war and was as important to the area as the Congress of Vienna was to Europe. Unlike the Congress of Vienna, however, it established borders that still hold today.
Meanwhile, Griboyedov was sending his friends brilliant letters relating his travels and adventures in the Caucasus and writing criticism, poetry and the various drafts of his verse comedy "Gore ot Uma," translated as "Woe from Wit" or "The Misfortune of Being Clever," it is a masterpiece of Russian theater. Kelly shows how the people and events of Griboyedov's life were reflected in his play. "Woe from Wit" has been taken as a manifesto of the Decembrists. Because of censors, Griboyedov's play couldn't be published and didn't receive a stage performance until l83l, two years after his death.
On Aug. 28, l828, Griboyedov, by then Russian Minister Plenipotentiary to Persia, married the beautiful 16-year-old Georgian princess, Nina Chavchavadze, in Tiflis. Three weeks later, Griboyedov, Nina and his embassy left for Tabriz. Upon arrival, he formally handed over the ratified copy of the Treaty of Turkmanchai with the tsar's signature.
In early December, Griboyedov left for Tehran for a purely ceremonial visit. Because of the icy roads and snowstorms he left his pregnant wife behind. He reached Tehran on Dec. 30. His arrival was marred by two ominous coincidences involving an unpropitious astrological sign and the annual re-enactment of a Shiite mystery play. This, combined with various other incidents involving the mission's servants and the townspeople, excited a latent fanaticism on the streets and bazaars of Tehran.
A mob, urged on by the mullahs, attacked the embassy and killed all the Europeans of the mission with the exception of one they didn't find.
Griboyedov's mutilated body was found and eventually returned to Georgia where he is buried on a hillside above Tiflis, facing the distant mountains of the Caucasus.
While Russian historians have accused Britain of masterminding the massacre in revenge for humiliations inflicted on them in Persia by the Treaty of Turkmanchai, Kelly cites correspondence between the Duke of Wellington, then British prime minister, and Lord Ellenborough, president of the Board of Control (which was in charge of India), and draws on the diplomatic and political archives of several countries to prove that this theory does not hold water.
In Laurence Kelly -- a diplomat's son, writer and fine linguist who has lived and traveled in Russia and the Caucasus for half a century -- Griboyedov has found the biographer he deserves. This groundbreaking book has resulted from extensive research in Britain, Russia and the Caucasus as well as in British, Russian and Persian source materials and British, French and Ottoman political archives. It contains three maps and a wealth of illustrations, most of them in color. The three appendices, the admirable notes on the text and the bibliography will provide a treasure trove for future historians and literary scholars on this subject and period.
"Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran: Alexander Griboyedov and Imperial Russia's Mission to the Shah of Persia," by Laurence Kelly. Published by I.B. Tauris, 315 pages. ?25.
Nina Lobanov-Rostovsky is a freelance writer and lecturer living in London.
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