Arabic Cossack Model 1881 Russian Dragoon Shashka Sword.In the late 1870s, Nasir al-Din Shah, after a trip seeing southern Russia and seeing the Cossack Brigades of the Caucuses, returned to Persia and set about the creation of his "Cossack Brigades", sending a request to Tsar Alexander II, and requesting military advisors to lead and train his new cavalry force.
Not coincidentally, at this time the Shah’s royal cavalry was in a very poor state, being described as having no training or discipline, and had been defeated by the British Empire in previous wars, and was now even seeing significant difficulties when fighting against the Turcoman nomads. The Qajar state, after fighting wars external and internal was completely weakened, and lacked any professional military forces. Thus, Tsar Alexander II approved Russian military advisors travelling to Persia to fulfill the Shah’s request. The brigade was then formed in 1879 by Lieutenant-Colonel Domantovich, a Russian officer.
