The Image of Imperial Russia as an Enemy in the Iranians’ Collective Memory

Abstract

This research tried to uncover the historical factors that have instilled a deep-rooted distrust of Russia in the Iranians’ collective memory. The researcher employed a case study strategy to examine historical empirical data and analyzed the consequences of the conflicts between Persia/Iran and Imperial Russia through collective trauma theory. The research discovered that 1) the 9th–12th clashes and the Russo-Persian Wars in the 17th–19th centuries and their subsequent treaties of Gulistan, Turkmenchay, and later, Akhal, and 2) Imperial Russia’s interventions in Iran during Constitutional Revolution, including the shelling of the Iranian Parliament in 1911, threatening Iranian government by issuing two ultimatums in 1911, the occupation and atrocity against Iranians in Tabriz in 1909–1918, the shelling of the Holy Shrine in Mashhad in 1912, and occupying Iran during Persian Campaign in the First World War in 1914–1918, which later followed with Soviet occupation from 1941 to 1946 in World War II, were among the primary factors which led to distrust of Russia in Iranian collective memory to the present. The evidence for anti-Russian sentiments in Iranian collective memory was identified as contempt in historiographical and literary works, hatred in religious circles, and Russophobia and conspiracy theories among Iranian politicians. The author concluded that the image of Imperial Russia as an enemy in the collective memory of Iranians has been shaped by the transgenerational and lasting effects of the memory of historical events, making the feeling of victimization toward Russia an integral part of Iranian contemporary identity.

Keywords

War, Intervention, Distrust, History, Literature

Citation

Saeed Khavarinejad, “The Image of Imperial Russia as an Enemy in the Iranians’ Collective Memory”, Uluslararası İlişkiler, Advanced Online Publication, 22 August 2025, pp. 1-18. DOI: 10.33458/uidergisi.1760083

Affiliations

Saeed KHAVARINEJAD Ph.D. Student, Department of World Politics, National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk E-Mail: [email protected] Orcid: 0009-0009-7941-5551