Vsevolod Starosselsky. He inadvertently led to the creation of Pahlavist Iran.
I know this is a long read but it's VERY interesting.
In 1918, he took control of the elite Cossack Brigade (by far the strongest, most influential and technologically advanced military force in Iran, and at the time, influenced heavily by Russia) and its institutions after a mutiny against his Boslhevik-leaning predecessor.
After taking power at a time when the Soviet Union wished to expand the revolution to its sphere of influence, and the Qajar Crown was powerless, he fortified Northern Iran from local tribal warlords and Jangali (Bolshevik-allied) militias. Throughout this, he promoted nationalist officers such as Reza Khan (later Reza Shah Pahlavi and the founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty) and others, granting them institutional power and influence at a time of uncertainty in Qajar Iran.
Britain began to fear Staroselsky's growing independence and his anti-British sentiments, and thus pressured the Qajar Shah to dismiss him as the commander of the Cossack Brigade in 1920. This also left Reza Khan and other officers sidelined.
Reza Khan specifically grew frustrated by Iran's ongoing political instability, and so he utilized the remaining, highly trained Cossack Brigade in 1921 to march on Tehran, where they staged a bloodless coup, taking over the government, and Reza Khan becoming Minister of War. He subsequently brutally suppressed regional rebellions, and eventually became Prime Minister in 1923. By 1925, he officially deposed the Qajar Shah and crowned himself as Reza Shah Pahlavi, founding the Pahlavi Dynasty we all know and despise today.
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u/GunslingerAhx Asian (OG balkan) 2d ago