[2] Hasan Arfa was born in Tbilisi, Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire) to an Anglo-Russian mother and Iranian father.

In 1914, he joined the Iranian Imperial Guards, and during the early part of World War I that organization sponsored his training as a cavalry officer with the Swiss army.

Reza Shah's forceful character left a deep impression on him, and Arfa remained a loyal supporter of the Pahlavis throughout his life.

In 1923, Arfa married Hilda Bewicke, a British ballerina in Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev's Russian Ballet whom he met in Monaco; they had one daughter, Leila.

After his training in France, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and placed in command of the newly formed Pahlavi Guards Cavalry Regiment, which he turned into a highly disciplined and professional unit.

During the joint Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran in August 1941, the shah appointed Arfa chief of staff in charge of the defenses for Tehran.

Arfa maintained contact with a variety of political activists, including Mozaffar Baqai of the Toilers' party, the fiery preacher Ayatollah Sayyed Abu al-Qasem Kashani, and Shaban Jafari, an organizer of street mobs.