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The Resignation of Captain von Goumoens
When the Austrian Captain Alfred von Goumoens obtained a posting as a military attache to Persia, it was the kind of appointment that is the making of a career and the height of adventure. The country was thought of by Europeans as “oriental” and far away. It was a time when European military technology and know-how was in demand in other countries. It was a position of potential influence where he could serve the interests of his country. The Captain was to be Iran during some of the most momentous events of the time. He may have been in Iran when, in 1850, the Bab was executed. Captain von Goumoens…
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The Execution of the Bab
The Bab was in a cell in the barracks of Tabriz. He had already been condemned to death by the Amir Kabir, Persia’s highest official. The death sentence was sanctioned by the religious authority of high clergy. Now it just remained for the sentence to be carried out. Although death approached, the Bab was dictating a letter to one of his followers: Siyyid Husayn. The guards interrupted to take the Bab to his execution. He assured them that until he had completed what he had to say, no power on Earth would be able to prevent him doing so. Nonetheless they determined to take him out. With the Bab went…
