to Iran to avoid Russian rule. They possessed special privileges as a hereditary military caste. Domantovich made rapid progress with their training and the Shah ordered the strength of the new brigade to be increased to 600 men drawn from the regular army. The rapid progress of the Cossack Brigade caused concern in Russia due to fear that it might become a true fighting force rather than a tool of the Russian government. Domantovich was dismissed as commander in 1881 and replaced by the less effective Colonel Charkovsij, over the protests of the Shah. Charkovsij added four artillery pieces to the arsenal of the brigade in 1883 but made no other improvements. In 1886 Colonel Karavaev became commander. During his time, the brigade was faced with budget cuts and thus had its numbers diminished. In 1890 Colonel Shneur took over and was unable to pay the men. After many desertions, combined with a cholera epidemic, the strength was reduced to 450 men, and eventually cut down to 200. Shneur left in 1893, leaving command to a junior officer. By this time the brigade was rapidly disintegrating and the Shah was under pressure to disband it and give control over army training to German military advisors. It was further cut to just 150 men with one Russian officer. At this point it seemed that the brigade would end as a failed experiment and become nothing more than a footnote in Persian history. The Persian Cossack Brigade was saved by the arrival of Colonel Kosagoskij who was to become the most effective commanding officer in its history. The immediate problem that he faced was the Muhajir aristocracy in the brigade, who considered themselves as an entitled elite. This privileged group often refused to work and reacted poorly to attempts at discipline. The Muhajir faction mutinied in 1895, dividing the brigade and seizing a large portion of its funds, encouraged by the Shah's son who was Minister of War. Under pressure from Russia the Cossack Brigade was reunified under Kosagoskij's command and the muhajirs were treated like other regular soldiers. The result was a great improvement in efficiency, resulting in a well-organized, well-trained, and obedient force. The first major event involving the brigade arose from the assassination of their founder, Nasir-ed-Din Shah on May 1, 1896. Chaos broke loose as different factions sought to take power, and mobs rampaged in the streets. The police were unable to control them and the regular army could not be relied upon to do so. Kosagovskij was given free rein by the Prime Minister Amin os-Soltan to "Act in accordance with your own understanding and wisdom." Kosagovskij quickly mobilized the brigade and had them occupy the whole of Tehran to keep order in the city. The brigade also became involved in intrigues between different factions of the Persian government. Nayeb os-Saltenah, the local commander of the forces in Tehran was likely to seize power from the legitimate heir, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah, who was in Tabriz. Kosagovski, backed by the brigade, the Russians and British, warned Saltenah that only Mozaffar ad-Din Shah would be recognized as the legitimate heir. On June 7, 1896, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah entered Tehran escorted by the Cossacks. The brigade on this date established themselves as kingmakers and in the future would serve as important tools for both the Russians and the Shah in maintaining control of Persia. Russian influence inside Persia expanded tremendously as the brigade was able to exert massive control in internal Persian politics and intrigues. As the brigade was numerically enlarging and drastically growing in military strength, eventually civilian volunteers were also accepted into its ranks, including members of ethnic and religious minorities. For example, from the mid-1890s until 1903, the highest-ranking Persian officer in the brigade was the chief of staff, Martiros Khan Davidkhanian, an Armenian from New Julfa, near Isfahan, who had been educated at the Lazarevskii Institute, a secondary school for Armenians founded in Moscow by an Armenian merchant. By 1903 the brigade was reported to have grown to 1,500 men, with 200 Russian officers. This proportion of officers to other ranks was far higher than the one to thirty ratio that was usual in armies of that period and was regarded with concern by contemporary British commentators, who noted that the brigade was effectively under the direct control of the Imperial Russian Legation in Tehran. The brigade itself now included cavalry, infantry and artillery elements. It was independent of the regular Persian Army and under the command of a colonel of the Russian General Staff with the local rank of Field Marshal. The Persian rank and file were paid regularly on a monthly basis, at a cost amounting to 40,000 roubles.