Constitutional Revolution of Gandhara

Constitutional Revolution of Gandhara
Part of the Revolutions of 1917–23
Demonstrators in Rhea, February 1918
Date 14 February – 22 June 1918 Location Gandhara Result Al-Mansur Government victory Revolutionaries defeated Rahimullah al-Mansur retains the throne Constitution enacted Establishment of a constitutional monarchy
Belligerents
Imperial Government Gandhari Army	Revolutionaries Supported by: Industrial workers Separatists
Commanders and leaders
Emir Rahimullah al-Mansur Fahad Muftah	Saeed al-Madinah Khalid Sharhili

The Constitutional Revolution of Gandhara (Arabic: ثورة الدستورية لل غانذارا) was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of Gandhara during the spring of 1918. Inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the abdication of Nicholas II, the unrest was directed against the autocratic rule of Emir Rahimullah al-Mansur.

Causes

After the establishment of the Russian Constitution and the Persian Constitution in 1906, a demand for modernization of the Gandhari political structure was born. Up to the beginning of the 20th century, Gandhara was an autocratic country. Emir Rahimullah al-Mansur held unrestricted political power over the sovereign state and its people. Despite a progressive and academic agitation for more political democracy, the Emir refused to enact fundamental reforms.

Industrial workers began to feel dissatisfied with the government. The workers had to work under harsh conditions and they had little to no rights. A third cause of the revolution was the fact that the Emir granted special privileges to the United Kingdom and France. The Al-Mansur family saw Western European powers as important allies, and therefore the Emir granted their ships free access to the main harbours and he gave several fiscal privileges to English and French companies. Resentment began to build over the fact that the Emir valued the relations with European "imperialists" higher than the relationships with neighbouring Muslim countries.

Rise of the opposition

Because of the conservative attitude of the Emir, the opposition started to increase across the country among authors, students and industrial workers. Among the early 1910s even the idea that it would be possible to overthrow the monarchy started to grow among young revolutionaries. This idea was reinforced after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II as a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917.

Start of the revolution

After a decade with several strikes and demonstrations, a group of workers organized a mass demonstration in Rhea in February 1918. The controversial imam Abdul Aziz al-Sami led the huge workers' procession to the Royal Palace to deliver a petition to the Emir. Due to miscommunication between the Emir and the guard of the palace, the guard opened the fire on the protesters, which resulted in more than 200 deaths. This event, known as Bloody Thursday, is considered the start of the active phase of the revolution.

Height of the revolution

The events at Bloody Thursday created a massive outrage throughout the country. Foreign diplomats reported that Gandhara was in a state of civil war. Civil unrest varied from strikes and demonstrations to massive riots, in which parts of cities were damaged, with several buildings set on fire. The government immediately sent in troops, and bitter street-by-street fights began in different cities.

A problem for the revolutionaries was a lack of unity between different groups. Some revolutionaries only strove for political modernization, while others wanted to overthrow the Emir. Ethnic Lettucians, Kurds and Balochs strove for more autonomy or even independence. The unrest in general was directed against the autocratic rule of the government, but often there was violence against random individuals. This led to distrust between citizens.

Despite early successes of the revolutionaries, the Gandhari army managed to stop the opposition. After a final spasm in Rhea, the uprisings ended in June 1918.

Results

Following the revolution, the Emir was afraid that uprisings would continue in the future. In order to keep his regime from being toppled, he promised and implemented reforms. The Gandhari Constitution of 1919 set up a multiparty system and a limited constitutional monarchy. The Emir would share his autocratic power with a bicameral parliament.

The revolutionaries knew that an overthrow of the Emir would be difficult, as the military remained loyal throughout the revolution, and they were satisfied with the reforms. However, the Emir retained an absolute veto over legislation, as well as the right to dismiss the parliament at any time, for any reason he found suitable. The political power of the Emir remained strong, which would become one of the causes of the Gandhari Revolution of 1956–57.