Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar (25 March 1853 – 3 January 1907), was the fifth Qajar shah (king) of Iran, reigning from 1896 until his death in 1907. He is often credited with the creation of the Persian Constitution of 1906, which he approved of as one of his final actions as shah. Mozaffar ad-Din was born on 25 March 1853 in the capital of Tehran. He was the fourth son of the Qajar shah (king) of Iran, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848–1896). His mother was Shokouh al-Saltaneh, a daughter of Fath-Ali Mirza and a granddaughter of the second Qajar shah Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834). Mozaffar al-Din was named crown prince and sent as governor to the northern province of Azerbaijan in 1861. He spent his 35 years as crown prince in the pursuit of pleasure; his relations with his father were frequently strained, and he was not consulted in important matters of state. Thus, when he ascended the throne in May 1896, he was unprepared for the burdens of office. At Mozaffar al-Din's accession Persia faced a financial crisis, with annual governmental expenditures far in excess of revenues as a result of the policies of his father. During his reign, Mozzafar ad-Din attempted some reforms of the central treasury; however, the previous debt incurred by the Qajar court, owed to both England and Russia, significantly undermined this effort. He furthered this debt by borrowing even more funds from Britain, France, and Russia. The income 

from these later loans was used to pay earlier loans rather than create new economic developments. In 1908, oil was discovered in Persia but Mozzaffar ad-Din had already awarded William Knox D'Arcy, a British subject, the rights to oil in most of the country in 1901. Additionally, in order to manage the costs of the state and his extravagant personal lifestyle Mozzafar ad-din Shah decided to sign many concessions, providing foreigners with monopolistic control of various Persian industries and markets. One example was the D'Arcy Oil Concession.

Persian Army.Under the Qajars, Persia was shaped into its modern form. Initially, under the reign of Agha Mohammad Khan Persia won back many of its lost territories, notably in the Caucasus, only to be lost again through a series of bitter wars with Russia. In the west the Qajars effectively stopped encroachment of their Ottoman arch-rival in the Ottoman–Persian War (1821–1823) and in the east the situation remained fluid. Foreign powers had an increasing influence over time including on the Qajar army. Nonetheless irregular forces, such as tribal cavalry, remained a major element into the late nineteenth century. In 1878, the arsenals in Tehran and Tabriz contained 10,000 Chassepot rifles, 40,000 Tabatière rifles and from 20,000 to 30,000 of other firearms. The Tabatières were captured by the Germans in 1870 and then sold to the Shah on his travel to Europe for 21 francs each. The artillery included around 500 smooth-bore and 60 rifled guns, all made of brass, the latter of which had been rifled in Iran on the Belgian system. Lord Curzon however, reports the number of Chassepot rifles at 20,000 and the Tabatière rifles at 30,000 in 1892. The Russian Empire established the Persian Cossack Brigade in 1879, a force which was led by Russian officers and served as a vehicle for influence in Iran. The brigade gave the Russian Empire influence over the modernization of the Qajar army. This was especially pronounced because the Persian monarchy's legitimacy was predicated on an image of military prowess, first Turkic and then European-influenced.