Dowlatshah

Dowlatshah
Portrait of Dowlatshah by Princess Mahin Dowlatshahi-Firouz
Born	1 January 1789 Nava, Mazandaran
Died	22 November 1821(1821-11-22) (aged 32) Mada'in, Ottoman Iraq (now Iraq)
House	Qajar
Father	Fath-Ali Shah Qajar
Mother	Ziba Chehr Khanoum
Religion	Shia Islam

Mohammad Ali Mirza Dowlatshah (4 January 1789 – 22 November 1821, Al-Mada'in, Ottoman Iraq) was a famous Persian Prince of the Qajar Dynasty. He is also the progenitor of the Dowlatshahi Family of Persia. He was born at Nava, in Mazandaran, a Caspian province in the north of Iran. He was the first son of Fath-Ali Shah, the second Qajar king of Persia, and Ziba Chehr Khanoum, a Georgian slave girl of the Tsikarashvili family. He was also the elder brother (by seven months) of Abbas Mirza. Dowlatshah was the governor of Fars at age 9, Qazvin and Gilan at age 11, Khuzestan and Lorestan at age 16, and Kermanshah at age 19.

In the battles with Russia and Persia's archrival, the Ottoman Empire, he defeated the Ottomans in Baghdad and Basra, and crushed the Russians in Yerevan and Tbilisi. Dowlatshah developed and improved the city of Kermanshah and established the city of Dowlat-Abad which was renamed Malayer.

Dowlatshah had 10 sons. His descendants live in different countries in the world and carry the last names دولتشاهی (Persian spelling), Dowlatshahi (English spelling), Dolatshahi (Latin spelling) and Doulatshahi (French spelling).

Though older than his brother Abbas Mirza, Mohammad Ali Mirza Dowlatash was never heir to the Persian throne, because his mother was not of the royal dynasty. However, his father Fath-Ali Shah appointed Dowlatshah to rule and protect the boundaries of the two Iraqs (a name given to western states of Iran) and also adjoined Khuzestan province to his territories. In fact, during Dowlatshah's time, Kermanshah had become a citadel against the Ottomans.

Dowlatshah carried the last, and initially very successful, attack on the Ottoman Iraq in 1821. Persia was resentful of the inability of the Ottoman government to protect the Shia population of Iraq against the Saudi-Wahhabi attacks that had begun in 1801. Many of the Shias killed in the raids were Iranians, some of whom closely related to the ruling Qajar dynasty of Persia. His forces quickly occupied Shahrazur and Kirkuk, and laid siege to Baghdad.