Iran, Iran And Concessions, Mid 19th Century And 20th Century

All the Shah’s Men by Stephen Kinzer details the 1953 American-orchestrated coup in Iran. Iran was under British economic control, but as it modernized, Iranians began fighting for their own control. Their fledgling democracy was working to modernize, until the UK and the US decided to interfere to protect Britain’s colonial holdings from Soviet influence. Because the US was not interested in protecting a British business, British politicians emphasized the threat the USSR held to Iran, leading to Americans inserting themselves into a nation’s politics in which they had no place. They successfully orchestrated a coup, however, the negative, long-term, anti-Western results overwhelm any positive effect. All the Shah’s Men by Stephen Kinzer paints a picture of the results of action without adequate attention to future results.

Various factors influenced the 1979 Iranian revolution, but at the core of this significant event was Islamic fundamentalism. The Iranian religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, led this movement to end the thirty-seven-year reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, also known as the Shah of Iran (Diller 1991, p.152). The revolution was a combination of mounting social, economic, political and religious strains. The nation of Iran was never colonized, unlike some of its bordering countries, making its people intolerant of external influences. The Shah had gradually westernized and secularized his country, creating a strong American presence that was being felt

Iran was now unprotected, and a new power came into being. The Arabs invaded and the quality of life changed. “People fell into poverty as the greedy court imposed ever-increasing taxes. Tyranny tore apart the social contract between ruler and ruled that Zoroastrian doctrine holds to be the basis of organized life” (21). The Iranian people couldn’t survive with a ruler who had no sympathy or respect for them. Their life was being over run by foreigners.

With the shah still sick, it was hard to manage what was back in Iran. The speed of change in Iran was too hard to get command. “The shah was in trouble, reaping the harvest of years of brutal and unpopular policies, including the use of secret police that controlled dissent with arbitrary arrests and torture.” It was obvious that the shah had lost all control of his people of Iran, but the president had hoped for an alliance of opponents to be formed. A man

The complexity of America’s relationship with Iran increased steadily beginning in 1908, when Iran struck oil. The Shah, the king or emperor of Iran, after taking the place of his young predecessor Reza Shah Pahlavi with the help of the CIA, led Iran into a period of extreme wealth and prosperity, the likes of which the Iranian people had never experienced. However, with the growth of wealth in Iran came the growth of Iranian resentment towards the West, specifically the United States. The Iranian’s resented the uneven distribution of wealth that they felt existed and the United State’s influence in “westernizing” their society. In 1963, this growing hatred led to a conflict with the Islamic clergy. The conflict was quickly settled by the Shah, but he was unaware that this dispute was the beginning

Thesis: Iran, because of these events, is in worse condition because of the cultural revolution, poisoned from within, and is the victim of the actions of the western powers.

On President Jimmy Carter’s third year as president, the shah of Iran was in deep trouble. Iran had brutal and unpopular policies that many people did not agree with. Revolution broke out in the January of 1979, because many Iranians didn't agree with the shah's ruling. The shah had no support due to his “secret police” that would

With the death of the Shah on 27 July 1980 and the invasion of Iran by Iraq made the Iranians more

World leaders in Great Brittan didn’t want Mossadegh to have any sort of power because he had long desired to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Mossadegh and British diplomats argued over the rights of Iranian oil for years. Mossadegh argued that the oil was a natural resource, the most abundant in Iran, therefore it was rightfully property of the people of Iran. He also saw the deal as an opportunity to create wealth and prosperity in his country. The British argued that Iran had contractually agreed to allow them to run the company decades prior and the contract had yet to cease. Additionally, Britain had been getting the oil dirt cheap and was selling it at 30 times the price they paid. According to Mossadegh, the British were exploiting Iran for their oil and land. The British claimed they were only trying to help Iran, yet they refused to help Iranians learn to run the factory and ensured that no British citizen would help them.

When the Iranian Revolution succeeded in 1979, Iran wanted to gain the admiration and the support of Arab countries, benefiting in particular from the support by the Shah of Iran and his relationship with Israel before the collapse of his regime. On this very first day of the victory of the revolution, Iran was keen to extend its bonds with the Islamic world, and when this was not possible in most cases, because of many complex causes of the revolution, Iran began to look for «organizations» instead of «regime’s or countries», in order to continue its role in Islamic issues. Iran was keen to show that this role was one of the foundations of the revolution and its beliefs, in

After the communist revolution in Russia, the British install Reza Shah Pahlavi as shah of Iran in 1925 to prevent the spread of communism. Then because of his relations to Hitler in World War II the Russians and British invaded Iran again. The forced Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi became the Shah of Iran (White, 2014, pp. 207-208).

By 1951 Mohammad Mossadegh had established himself firmly in the political scene in the mountainous country of Iran. Mossadegh ran for the office of Prime Minister with just one campaign promise: to free Iran from the British imperial yoke (Gavin, 1999, p.64). He had also built his political strength, based largely on his call to nationalize the concession and installations in Iran of the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (Risen, 2000, p.10). Mossadegh embodied the fierce nationalistic pride felt by so many Iranians, this brought Mohammad Mossadegh an easy victory (Gregory,1951,p.31). On May Day 1951, after three days of raging Pro-Mossadegh rioting, Mossadegh announced that the Majlis had passed the Nationalization Act, despite strong opposition by many members of the Majlis (Gavin,1999, 65). By this time Mossadegh's power had grown so great that the Shah (monarchy) was virtually forced to appoint him Premier. Even after being appointed to the Premiership, popularity continued to skyrocket for Mossadegh. Mossadegh's popularity, growing power, and intransigence on the oil issue were creating friction between the prime minister and the Shah.

In the late 20th century, the government of the United States was going through a difficult time. Having just came out of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States were in a state of political and military tension known as the Cold War. Little attention did the government of the United States give to the other issues at hand. While, in the Middle East there was a storm forming, the citizens of Iran were undergoing an evolution into a democratic government; breaking apart from it monarchical rule. During this extremely crucial phase for Iran, the U.S. and United Kingdom stepped in to overthrow this democratic development to strengthen their own agendas. In response to this corruption that caused oppression amongst the Iranian people, they rose up against the U.S. and held our citizen’s hostage. This was known as the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979. In this essay we will discuss how the evolving decisions and events that built up to the Iranian Hostage Crisis were due to a shortsightedness and lack of the understanding of people.

He created all laws, appointed and dismissed every single official – from court ministers, governor-generals, and tribal chiefs, all the way down to village and ward headmen; named all dignitaries, bestowing and withdrawing honours and titles, he even claimed to own all property, treating the country as his own private estate. In reality, the power of the shah was strongly constrained – limited by the lack of both a state bureaucracy and a standing army. His real power ran no further than his capital. The Qajars were originally a Turkic-speaking tribal confederation, who took over the country piece by pice in the 1780–90s. They established their capital in Tehran

The Qajar empire, brought to power under Agha Mohammad Khan, became, and maintained its position as a major ruling strength in Persia between the years of 1795 and 1925. With the death of the final Zand dynasty ruler, Moḥammad Karīm Khān Zand, in 1779, Agha Mohammad Khan worked to unite the rest of the Qajar empire under him began to take his rise to power. This Turkmen group, ancestrally from present-day Azerbaijan, and it’s leader set out to reunify Iran under their rule, leaving a legacy that would live out the extent of the empire and find its way into modern day history books. The experiences, strength, drive, and ruthlessness of Agha Mohammad Khan aided to secure his long-sought rise to power as the undisputed Shah of Persia in the 1790’s, and set the stage for one of the longest lasting empires in modern day Iran.