Tabarestan
National Republic of Tabarestan Табарeстӑн Ҹумури Mиллй \ جمهوری ملی تبرستون | |
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| 1963 - 1981 | |
 Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Capital | Rasht |
| Official languages | Tabari |
| Recognised regional languages | Persian Georgian Talysh Russian Armenian Azerbaijani Several others |
| Demonym | Tabari |
| Establishment | 1963 |
• Treaty of Saratov | 1963 |
• Black Years | 1975 - 1979 |
• Russo-Tabari War | 1980 - 1981 |
| Today part of | Persia, Talyshstan (claimed by Persia), Russia |
Tabarestan (Tabari:Табарeстӑн \ تبرستون \ Tabarestun), officially the National Republic of Tabarestan (Tabari: Табарeстӑн Ҹумури Mиллй \ جمهوری ملی تبرستون \ Tabarestun Dzumhuri Milli) was a nation in western Asia, bordered by Persia to the east, south, and west, and by Russia to the north. Established in 1963 following the Russo-Persian War, the republic controlled most Persian lands north of the Alborz mountains, encompassing the eponymous historical region of Tabarestan. Its capital and largest city was Rasht. A remnant government claiming the former area of the state persists in the partially recognised national republic of Talyshstan.
Etymology
The region of Tabarestan was named after the Tapurians, a tribe of the ancient Medes, but might also refer to the tribe of the Tapurei, who lived in Scythia, as recorded by Ptolemy. According to the account of the historian Strabo, the Tapurians migrated to the southern coast of the Caspian Sea from the ancient region of Parthia during the reign of the Parthian king Frahat I.
History
Tabarestan under Persia
Human habitation in Tabarestan dates back at least 75,000 years. First arising as subsistence hunters and cattle farmers, the people of Tabarestan would come under the control of a variety of dynasties, most notably the Parthian and Sassanid Empires, though the rough terrain and hardy nature of its inhabitants assured the region significant autonomy. Following the Muslim conquest of Persia, the region was home to a host of Zoroastrian petty kingdoms, and eventually became a frontier region to the Samanid Empire, the first native Persian dynasty since the fall of the Sassanids. The autonomy the region enjoyed made it a nucleus of pre-Islamic traditions, with native dynasties frequently commemorating their ancient Iranian heritage through the celebration of holidays such as Nowruz.
Tabarestan was the site of frequent raids by Rus’ pirates during the middle ages, marking the first interaction between the Tabari and Russian people. A large-scale expedition in 913 saw over 500 ships attacking the coast, pillaging the region and taking many slaves and goods.
Settlement in the region of Tabarestan was heavily encouraged during the reign of the Azerbaijani-descended Safavid Dynasty, with many Caucasian peoples, most prominently the Georgians, Armenians and Adyghe, settling the region and mixing with the locals.
The conquest of Persia by the Dareshurids would see the continued fortification of the region as tensions escalated with the Russian Empire, which had embarked on an ambitious campaign of southern expansion through the Caucasus. By the end of the 19th century, the regions of Gilan and Golestan would become contested battlefields, all while the superior technology of the Russians allowed them to capture vast portions of the formerly Persian Caucasus. During the Russian Civil War, Persia would tacitly support the Transcaucasian Federation, with aims at restoring their previously lost territory, but the victory of the National Republicans, as well as the prospect of being encircled on two fronts, would lead to the abandonment of claims and staunch neutrality throughout the following Great War.
Tabari National Awakening: 1932-1963
Following the Great War, neutral Persia had become a port of call for a variety of ideological refugees, who found in the country a fertile ground for proselytization, as the aftershocks of the European Economic Crisis would see the creation of a variety of political organizations calling for government reformation. In Tabarestan, by gaining the support of individuals ranging from disenchanted communards to northward-looking businessmen to reform-minded ulema, the ideology of National Republicanism would find a firm grip in the region by the 1930s. These sentiments would find themselves bolstered by the discovery of oil in the vassal Emirate of Muhammara, seeing vast economic growth in Persia’s south. This discontent would eventually lead to the formation of the Tabari National Society in 1947, which focused on the liberation of Tabarestan as a necessity for the reformation and promotion of a uniquely Tabari culture. The discovery of oil off the region’s northern shore would see this sentiment reinforced, with the slogan “Tabari toil, Tabari oil” becoming a common refrain during this period.
By 1960, collaboration between members of the Society and Russian agents in northern Persia was rampant, and these vital links provided the backbone for the rapid formation of Tabari militias during the months preceding the Russo-Persian War. In the early months of the war, these forces would quickly seize critical passes in the Alborz mountains, cutting off an easy path of invasions to the Persians. In addition, the Tabari National Society would support concurrent uprisings in Persia proper with the support of Russian forces. These putative attempts at spreading the revolution would be stomped out by early 1961, but the Tabari forces would swell with new recruits as the veterans of those uprisings would head north. By late 1962, the rebels and Russian forces had captured several key Persian cities and established a foothold in the region, and would successfully exhaust the persian forces in the winter months.
The Peace of Saratov, signed on May 18, 1963, would mark the end of the Russo-Persian war, and would see Persia formally recognize the secession of the Tabari National Republic, provide reparations to the newly-independent nation, and cede all rights to the Caspian Sea’s petroleum and gas reserves. Reza Bagher Tonekaboni, a graduate of the Saint Petersburg National University with close ties to the Kiselev family, would be proclaimed the first Chairman of the nascent national republic. The country would join the International Republican Coalition on June 27th, 1963.
The newly-independent Tabarestan would be ravaged by the consequences of war, with the regions bordering the Persian border seeing scorched-earth policies implemented by both sides, leading to local famines throughout the winter to come. In addition, cross-border travel would be heavily restricted, engendering an economic recession. To combat this, heavy investment by Russian companies would follow, with the government embarking on an ambitious five-year project to reorient the country’s railways to the north. This period is commonly said to have concluded by the opening of the Rasht-Baku railway in 1968, and consequently the resulting “Miracle of 68”, where living standards rose by a third across the country.
Chairman Tonekaboni would prioritize the development and expansion of Tabarestan’s emerging oil industry, with large-scale exploitation of the Caspian Sea’s rich reserves of petroleum and natural gas driving continued industrialisation of cities, as well as further inter-Caspian cooperation with the neighboring nations of Turkestan and Russia. Mosneft would be heavily involved in the nascent oil industry as a consequence of the Treaty of Saratov, with the Tabarestan Oil Company, created in 1964, acting as a de-facto subsidiary.
In addition, the nation would see an attempt at the inclusion of religion in Tabari national edification, with the ministry of Religion leading attempts to catalog and adopt ideas from the extinct Jariri school of fiqh, as founded by the polymath and jurist Al-Tabari, the efforts of which would eventually result in the founding of “Neo-Jariri” institutions. Proselytism during the state’s existence was primarily concentrated among rural workers arriving to the rapidly-industrializing cities, though the controversy of the school’s creation, as well as the resistance of rural Shia hardliners due to the Jariri school's origins in Sunni Islam, would make the revival see only limited success, though enduring populations did come to be in cities such as Rasht, Anzalazh, and Asalem.
The Black Years: 1975-1979
While the country saw consistent economic growth after the Miracle of 68, the 1970s Global Oil Crisis would lead to widespread regional turmoil, with countries such as Equatoria or the neighbouring United Gulf States seeing striking economic growth that the autarkic country struggled to match. In addition, several noteworthy oil spills would endanger the coastal fisheries, leading to mass unemployment among the coastal villages. Migrating to the cities, these former fishermen became a discontented underclass, with their frustrations clearly being demonstrated in the form of massive protests in the capital, most notably in the summers of 1978 and 1979. Large swathes of the population would see their struggle reflected in this destruction of traditional livelihoods, and decried the pollution of the coasts as well as the large presence of Russian oil workers in an ostensibly Tabari enterprise.
This period also coincided with the Russian Lustrum, a five-year period of turmoil in the Russian National Republic, which saw the deposition of Chairman Ilya Kiselev, and presaged a period of detente between Russia and the British rivals. Tonekaboni, resolutely allied to the deposed Kyselev family, would resist the imposition of the democratizing reforms, while the new Russian government would gradually disengage from Tabarestan, seeing the country as an active hurdle in their efforts at rapprochement with the Organisation of Democratic Nations.
These crises would be further intensified by Chairman Tonekaboni’s declining health, as an addiction to opium, resulting from treatment of a wartime injury, would lead to the Chairman appearing persistently drowsy and growing increasingly unresponsive. Eventually, Tonekaboni was found dead in his office, apparently suffering the effects of a serious overdose, and was declared medically deceased on the 14th of August 1979. Announced to the public a week later, this news coincided with a massive march on Rasht by striking oil workers, who demanded pay raises to match those found by neighboring countries, as well as the elevation of Tabari individuals to administrative positions, which were still dominated by Russian transplants. The government, wracked by confusion following Tonekaboni’s death, would clamp down on the striking protesters, which only led to further resistance. The subsequent months would see a surge in terrorism, banditry, and persecution against the Russian population.
Modern historiography places the end of the Black Years with the rise of reformist Chairman Komeil Baboli, who leveraged his history as a defender of worker’s rights and rural upbringing to unite the quarrelling interim government. Marshalling the army, he would spend his first months in power clearing out guerrilla groups in the south of the country, which would be accompanied by a push for the enrichment of the south, with the following years seeing the construction of new houses, schools, and hospitals. In addition, in the course of these campaigns, several resource-rich mines were discovered, further bolstering the rural region’s industry. The nation’s economy would see a steady increase by way of the mass repossession of Russian assets, and the new government heavily encouraged increased cross-border trade with Persia, which would see the first detailed Persian accounts of the country since the Russo-Persian War.
Perso-Tabari War: 1980-1981
In spite of commercial rapprochement, tensions along the Tabari-Persian border would soon be inflamed anew. The newly modernized Persian army would grow to dominate national discussion, with their successes in the Muhammaran War and the establishment of the Emirate of Turan inflaming nationalist sentiments within both governments.
Paired with the continued turmoil in Russia, still recovering from the Lustrum, the proposal of a full invasion of Tabarestan became a regularly discussed topic in Persia, with a primary focus on the utility of regaining access to their significant natural reserves, as well as the restoration of “integral Persian” territory. By the spring of 1980, scouting forces were sent across the Alborz mountains to ascertain the nation’s infrastructure, and found the frontier regions ripe for the conquest, as bureaucratic delays saw many of Baboli’s rural projects held up or canceled, further incensing the barely-pacified villagers. Persian intelligence would link up with discontented conservatives and stoke a belief that their culture and traditions would be better protected by their brothers to the south than by the sclerotic and exploitative grasp of Russia. After a few months of debate, Persia would declare war on Tabarestan on the 20th of October, 1980.
The war would be short-fought, with Tabarestan’s meager army struggling to cope with the Persian’s rapid advance into the country, where they would be further bolstered by mass defections of Tabari personnel. Offensives from the east would retake Bandar Torkman by the 18th of November, and the key city of Amol would fall by early December. In response, a general strategic retreat was called, with the nation’s forces regrouping around the capital of Rasht. Following a six-week siege, the fall of the city would lead to the capture of much of the republic’s leading figures, including Chairman Baboli. After the widely-reported trial of the former nation’s highest leaders, the erstwhile Chairman would be forced into house arrest in Duzdab, while others, such as the charismatic army commander Jawad Kasma’i, would be summarily executed on the 15th of March 1981.
Remaining national republicans, led by the Talysh general Inaq Khan Muzaffar, would retreat past the Talysh mountains to the city of Astrahan-Bazar. On the 5th of April 1981, the ‘’Independent Provisional Government of the Tabari National Republic in Talyshstan” would be declared, whose armed forces, bolstered by Russian aid, would lead a rout of the Persians at the battle of Massali. Recognition of the quasi-state was unevenly declared across the International Republican Coalition, and many neutral countries also opted to formally recognize Persia’s claims over the region. The conflict is thus widely used as an example for a frozen conflict, and the demarcation line in the Talysh mountains remains heavily militarized.
