Was the Constitutional Revolution of 1906 provoked by Anglo-Russian rivalry and supported by the British to put an end to the arrogance of the Russians, the protectors of Qajar absolute monarchy? Many Iranian observers, notably those who wish to understand the failure of liberal democracy, have put forward foreign intervention, above all by the British, for the unfolding of the revolution. Detractors, particularly those trying to justify the Islamic Revolution, raise many arguments against the reformist movement of those early years: manipulated elites (by Freemasons among others); religious symbols raised by mollas with ties to British diplomats; the belated manifestation of political demands, in particular those for a “constitution” (mashrute); and the still more visible intervention by British diplomats in the final formulation of demands during the occupation of the British embassy garden in August 1906. Foreign intervention likely distorted the reforms from the very beginning and would explain why the transfer of power failed to produce a strong viable regime.