Amir Kabir Travels Abroad

When the head of a Russian mission to Iran was murdered in 1829, the distraught Fath Ali Shah, fearing war, sent his grandson Khosro Mirza to St. Petersburg. Mirza Taqi Khan went as the prince's secretary and had an opportunity to observe the life and institutions of Russia. Ten years later he accompanied young Naser al-Din, the crown prince, to Russia. At this time Mirza Taqi Khan was the chief secretary and tutor of the prince, with the title of Amir-e Nezam (commander of the army). He impressed the Czar with his knowledge of Russian and arranged to see schools, factories, hospitals, and other establishments in the country.

His performance there was so outstanding that the British representative, Robert Curzon, wrote that Mirza Taqi Khan was "beyond all comparison the most interesting person among the commissioners of Turkey, Persia, Russia, and Great Britain who were there assembled at Erzerum." This was the period of Tanzimat reforms in the Ottoman Empire, and the significance of these reforms did not escape the discerning eyes of the young commander.