Rais Ali Delvari

Rais Ali Delvari was an independence fighter and anti-British colonialism activist now remembered as the national hero of Iran, who organized popular resistance against the British troops, which had invaded Iran in 1915.

Rais Ali, son of Rais Mohammad, was born in 1882 in the suburb of Bushehr. In the age of constitutionalism he was 24, chivalrous, brave, unparallel in sincerity and famous for patriotism and reliance upon God. Subsequent to British occupation of Bushehr, Rais Ali courageously resisted the aggressors and imposed heavy defeats on them. After occupation of Bushehr, British forces decided to take over Delvar, a place they had earlier experienced heavy defeats. Rais Ali and his companions fought the occupiers and routed them who were nearly 5000 people. The uprising of people of Tangestan prolonged nearly for 7 years in which Daliran Tangestan (the brave of Tangestan) pursued two goals: guarding Bushehr, Dashtestan and Tangestan as their habitat and preventing the foreign forces from infiltrating the country and securing the independence of the country. The noble Rais Ali Delvari eventually was attacked from behind by a traitor and martyred on September 2, 1915, when he was 33

His house, located in Delvar, near Bushehr, has been transformed into ethnological museum. Some of Rais Ali Delvari's personal items, as well as historic documents of his time, various types of guns and horse caparisoning are exhibited in this museum.

In World War I, Iran was neutral . In reality, Persian forces were affected by the rivalry between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers and took sides based on the conditions. Western interest in Persia was based on its significant oil reserve and its strategic situation between Afghanistan and the warring Ottoman, Russian, and British Empires. Persia was divided into northern and southern spheres of influence under the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1907. The treaty defined their respective spheres of influence in Iran and Afghanistan and provided a counterweight to German influence. This treaty was widely viewed by Iranians as having made the nation into nothing more than a British and Russian protectorate, so during the World War I, many local rebellions occurred in Iran against the British and Russian forces participating in war against Central powers of World War I. In Northern Iran, Jangal movement of Gilan, was the main operating local force against the British and Russians forces, and in Southern Iran, Qashqai, Tangistani and Laristani tribes were the main resisting power against the British empire. In both Southern and Northern movements, Persian Central Government Gendarmerie supported the rebels (See Persian Campaign ).

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