meet the expenses of the government and the royal family with in-
adequate revenues. Nearly a century of turmoil had greatly disrupted
Iran's economy. Several epidemics of plague and cholera, as well as
droughts and earthquakes, had compounded Iran's troubles during
the war years. In addition to internal weaknesses, Iran suffered from
an unfavorable balance of trade. Its principal trading partners were
Russia and India. Trade with Russia was favorable to Iran and con-
tinued during the war years, albeit at a modest level subject to peri-
odic interruptions, as when the Russians burned Anzali after an un-
successful attack in 1805. However, the profits from this trade at its
most prosperous could not have compensated for the unfavorable
balance of trade with India. During the latter years of the war, the
deficit amounted to more than a quarter of a million pounds annually,
according to a very rough estimate. Karim Khan Zand reportedly left
a nearly empty treasury at his death in 1779, even though he was an
unusually beneficient ruler whose reign was noted for its comparative
security and prosperity. Aqa Mohammad managed to leave his nephew
a considerable treasury reserve, but that was not enough to solve the
country's financial problems. Fath'Ali's revenues came from a variety
of sources, notably the harvest tax paid by peasants on crown lands
and the annual contributions by provincial governors, tribal chiefs,
and government officials. However, most of the shah's revenues and
assets were in kind—cereals, animals, and jewels—and so were not
readily negotiable for financing the war or other governmental ex-
penses. Moreover, the amount of revenue derived from the provinces
was reduced because of the administrative system, according to
which provincial governorships were given to the shah's favored sons.
Except for their annual gifts to the shah, the sons sent no tax monies
to the central government. Instead, they used their revenues to pay
for the armies with which they might one day seize the throne and
to maintain lavish courts symbolic of the dignity to which they as-
pired. For example, 'All Mirza, the governor of the southwestern
province of Fars, spent approximately 75,000 pounds a year on the
upkeep of his court. All of these economic problems meant that the
revenue of the central government was not large enough to support
extremely expensive undertakings. The amount of the average annual
revenue can only be guessed at, considering the government's arcane
system of bookkeeping and the tenuousness of European estimates,
which ranged from IVa million pounds to 3 million, the former being
more plausible. Several British emissaries to Iran complained that the
government's expenditures were limited not only by the paucity of
revenues but also by Fath 'Ali's extreme avarice. However, this judg-
118 The War, 1804-1813