The most comprehensive treatment to date of the unique intellectual, political, and military role of an ethnic and religious minority-the Armenians-in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911), the bases of that participation, the causes of involvement, and the collaborative (and at times conflicting) relations among Armenian and Iranian constitutionalist elements. Drawing upon original sources, as well as memoirs and periodicals, this study provides the most comprehensive treatment to date of the issue of Armenian politicization and participation in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911). Houri Berberian begins The Love of Freedom Has No Father Landby tracing the political, economic, and social situation of Armenians in the nineteenth century with a special emphasis on the Armenian provinces of the Ottoman Empire, which became the focus of the Armenian revolutionary movement in the late nineteenth century, and the Russian-ruled Caucasus, which became the source of the nationalist and socialist revolutionary movement. By providing a detailed account of the Iranian Armenian community of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Berberian demonstrates the importance of the relationship between Caucasian Armenians and developments in the Iranian Armenian community. Discussion of the Iranian Armenian community includes, for the first time, a look into the roles and activism of Iranian Armenian women. Berberian explores the ideological, political, and pragmatic motivations of Armenians, and examines the collaboration of Armenian and Iranian constitutionalists, drawing attention to the ideological and military contributions of Armenians to the revolution as well as the internal and external conflicts among Armenian activists and between Armenian and Iranian constitutionalist elements. Berberian concludes with a discussion of the causes and consequences of the retreat of Armenians from Iranian politics.
