Azerbaijan Autonomous Republic Currency & Banknote Values

The Pick cross-references in this chapter are from the Iranian Azerbaijan chapter of the SCWPM. The Azerbaijan Autonomous Republic (sometimes referred to as the Azerbaijan National Government, Azerbaijan People’s Government, or Iranian Azerbaijan) was a short-lived unrecognized secessionist state in northern Iran which existed from 2 November 1945 to 11 December 1946 and had its capital at Tabriz. To supply the Soviet forces with materiel during World War II, British and Soviet troops jointly occupied Iran in August 1941. On 16 September 1941, the British forced Reza Shah, who had pro-Nazi sympathies, to abdicate in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Meanwhile, Soviet troops took Tabriz for strategic reasons. On 2 November 1945, the USSR proclaimed a Soviet-puppet Azerbaijan Autonomous Republic with Ja’far Pishevari as president. By 1946 and the start of the Cold War, the USA demanded the USSR leave Iran or face hostilities. The USSR accordingly withdrew its support for, and military forces from, the Azerbaijan Autonomous Republic in November, and the Iranian military succeeded in re-establishing Iranian rule on 11 December 1946.