Some background information about the Islamic regime and the Shahs of Iran comes from the book, “In the twentieth century, Iran entered a new phase. Reza Shah decided to modernize and westernize the country, but meanwhile a fresh source of wealth was discovered: oil. And with the oil came another invasion. The West, particularly Great Britain, wielded a strong influence on the Iranian economy. During the Second World War, the British, Soviets, and Americans asked Reza Shah to ally himself with them against Germany. But Reza Shah, who sympathized with the Germans, declared Iran as a neutral zone. So the Allies invaded and occupied Iran. Reza Shah was sent into exile and was succeeded by his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was known simply as the Shah” (p.1-2). Which leads up to the reason why the shah seemed to have the worse policies. Its starts with the veil, where it became mandatory to wear at school. Also during the 1980 all Bilingual schools were closed down because they felt like there were a sense of capitalism happening during that time period. As time progressed there was a fire that had …show more content…
So basically the shah is a really dangerous person because, one of the Shahs policy to where they would torture people by filling up a jail cell with high amounts of water for a long period of time. So then Ali Ashraf Darvishian explained why children had to work at young ages. For example in the book it said “Reza became a porter at age 10, Lella wove carpets at age five, and Hassan cleaned car windows at age of three. While reading these stories she finally understood the same reason for her shame and for the revolution it was the difference between social classes” (p.32-34). The reason this is important, it shows the way the Shahs wanted to operate their country by making children do hard and brutal work at such a young
This type of suffering also occurred in 1722 with the Afghan tribesmen and yet again during the late eighteenth century and lasted until 1925. The Qajars, a Turkic tribe that was established near the Caspian Sea, conquered Iran this time. The kings who ruled under the Qajar Empire also were mainly responsible for the country’s poverty and resistance to modernity. The only difference between the Qajars and the Arabs is that now the people of Iran were not going to sit back and let these kings give foreigner powers the right to their country. The Qajars had “lost their right to rule, their farr. Armed with Shiite principle that endows the ordinary citizen with inherent power to overthrow despotism…Iranians rebelled in a way their forefathers never had” (28).
Iran has always, it seems, been the breeding ground for some kind of political upheaval or another. In recent times, back in 1979, there was a major revolution which was, in some ways, similar to the revolution we are seeing today. The people were angry and they were tired of being controlled by the government that was in power. They had concrete ideals and were incredibly passionate about their revolution. The revolution Iran is experiencing today does not appear to be quite as passionate and does not appear to maintain a belief in any real solid political system. They just know they want something different. In the following paper we present an illustration of the current revolution that is taking
Now, my opinion comes in, do I think the Shah was good or bad for Iran? The way he worked around his citizens was often near the top of the list for worst governmental human rights violators, and his secret police and their torture chambers were very much feared by the people. It's safe to say that when the very anti-religion party and ultra religious groups are willing to work together to overthrow you, you are not doing your job very
During the Islamic Revolution in the Iranian country, education was essential to the people. Shah wanted the Western education because he believed that it was best for the Iranian people. Most of the women were involved in the demonstration of wearing the veil has some western education. The Islamic revolution wanted things to go back to the original Islamic culture. Based on the Complete Persepolis, in 1979, a revolution took place and later called “The Islamic Revolution”. This is the period they were forcing people to do what they don’t want to do. The women were also forced to wear the veil including the school girls. Being Educated will help to change a country, especially in undeveloped countries. When people are getting a quality education it will make life easier for them. Being educated is the most achievement anyone can make in their lifetime. The more education you have, the more knowledge you gain to solve a problem in any situation you have encountered. In Marjane’s life education makes her to have confidence and satisfaction in everything she has done. The people should encourage education, in our societies.
Further, Atatürk worked much harder than the Shahs to create a democratic government, even though he still maintained dictatorial powers. Atatürk’s democratic government showed a positive side of Western, secular style government, and it made the Turkish people more favorable to the West than Persians. Throughout Turkey’s early history, Atatürk was always the president, and nothing more; Turkey had democratic elections through Atatürk’s rule, and Atatürk was simply so popular that he continued to win them over and over until his death. Contrarily, Reza Shah and his son, Mohammad Reza Shah, were both Shahs, meaning kings, and there was very little democracy in their governmental system. Although their parliamentary bodies were elected by the people, both Shahs greatly ignored them, and Mohammad Reza Shah even exiled Mohammad Mossadeq, a leading member of their parliamentary body. Further, Turkey’s Western-style concept of populism and democracy never made it as far East as Iran, and Persians did not have a say in their government. This lack of representation angered Persians, and they considered the Shahs (especially Mohammad Reza Shah) puppets of the West, so by extension they were angry with the West. It is probable that Persians would have liked Western-style government more, had the Shahs created a truly Western government, with democracy and representation. However, because their governments were so autocratic and dynastic, their people were never privy to true Western-style government, and therefore only saw the bad side of the West. Furthermore, the Shahs also created a very confusing identity for their country, as their policies contradicted each other. Reza Shah attempted to create a secular government, but he still wanted Shi’a Islam to be a major part of people’s lives: he neither
The Shahs in post Islamic Iran needed to learn to establish legitimacy in a region where the people were disposing of Zoroastrian beliefs and converting to the Shī 'a ideology of Islam. The Shah that managed to merge traditional role of a Shah and the religious aspects of Islam was Shāh Ismāʿil. This Shah needed to establish his legitimacy and did so in two important and relevant ways. First, Shāh Ismāʿil used the “the ancient Persian concept of kingship which was expressed in the concept of the king being the ‘shadow of God on Earth” because he believed that he was divine and had the right to rule because of
Saudi Arabia and Iran are two countries that sit on opposite sides of the Sunni/Shiite divide, which can be argued as being the most prominent issue the Middle East faces today. Saudi Arabia is predominantly known to be a Sunni state, while Iran is largely inhabited by Shia Muslims. Both countries aspire to be the hegemonic powers of the region. Ethnically, Iran is known to be a Persian land, unlike Saudi Arabia that is known to be in the heart of the Arab world. These two countries are separated by the Arabian Gulf and throughout the twentieth century and up until today, the relationship between the two countries has been notoriously contentious. Within the past few years especially relationships between the two states have been very fragile with Saudi Arabia ending diplomatic ties early in 2016. The two states are strained over many issues of which are, interpretations of Islam, oil export policy and hegemonic regional leadership.
can be seen through the documented evidence left behind from the ancient civilisation that the Persian Empire [550BCE – 331BCE] was crafted with a combination of various attributes such as, strong standing armies that were prepared to fight through the worst of situations for their leaders, the assisstance of skillful leadership and the respectfulness of a kind and caring King, a tolerance and resilience towards various situations and problems that could arise, and an effective government. As it would appear, these qualities had a major impact on the lives of those that lived within the Persian Empire as without them, the empire started to crumble and dissolve. There were a magitude of factors that lead to the slow fall and decline of the
Iran had been ruled by Shahs, which were essentially absolute monarchies for countless years. The Pahlavi dynasty was the latest family to hold the throne. Of course, Shahs weren’t the only powerful figures in Iranian society. Iranians are a people who are firmly embedded in their religion and traditions. And Shia clerics are the respected leaders of the religious aspects of Iranian life. Looking back into the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is evident that the Shahs and Clerics often were at odds with one another.
The Iranian Revolution in 1979 was the events leading to the overthrow of the unfit leader Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Shah came to power during World War II and became the last monarch in the House of Pahlavi. While ruling, he introduced policies like the White Revolution, which were political and economical reforms that claimed to be beneficial and grant women's suffrage, nationalization of some industries, and a way to make Iran a global power. But the Shah lost support first from the Shi’a muslims and the working class because of his strict ways in things like modernization and secularization. The Shah then lost all support and was overthrown on January 7th, 1979 and after, the monarchy was abolished leading to the Islamic Republic.
By 1979, the shah of Iran, an ally of the United States, was in deep trouble. Many Iranians resented his regime’s widespread corruption and dictatorial tactics. In January 1979, revolution broke out. The Muslim religious leaderAyatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led the rebels in overthrowing the shah and establishing a religious state based on strict obedience to the Qur’an, the sacred book of Islam. Carter had supported the shah until the very end. In October 1979, the president allowed the shah to enter the United States for cancer treatment, though he had already fled Iran in January 1979.
The shah quickly returned to Iran to assume dictatorial power. Mossadeq and other members of his government were arrested and tried for crimes against the monarchy by a military court. In the next two years, hundreds of shah's opponents were executed, given lone prison sentences, or driven into
Whilst the discontent that the Iranian citizens felt for their government and their economic situation was a contributing factor in the outbreak of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, it was the growing Western influence in Islamic culture that was the main cause for the revolution. The Iranian/Islamic Revolution refers to the events involving the deposing of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi and pro-American government, and the replacement with an anti-Western authoritarian theocracy under the leader of the revolution, the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The revolution was mainly supported by various leftist Islamic organizations and Iranian student movements to firstly, protest against the increasing Westernization of Iran and secondly, it was in
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a very significant event in the development of the Iranian state. The Shah was universally reviled, and the revolt against his government brought together citizens of wildly different viewpoints. It was a revolution inspired by populist ideals, but led by a religious fundamentalist. The circumstances of revolution would also continue to influence the national identity of Iran for decades after the event, and is still affecting world politics today in the form of U.S. and Iranian relations.
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