The Degree of Success of Reza Shah Pahlavi after the 1925 Coup

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (The Shah), the son of Reza Shah took the throne after his father on September 16, 1941. The Shah continued his father’s politics and modernization of Iran. He proceeded to Westernize Iran by having the education structure “(primary, secondary, higher

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).

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was the King of Iran (1941-1979) . When his father, Reza Shah’s reign was over, he replaced him and started his reign. He went against his original vow of acting as a constitutional ruler by his involvement in governmental matters. The Shah’s main focus was on Iran’s relations with foreign power as well as modernizing Iran as quickly as possible. Although he was a clever and influential leader, he was known for his monocratic rule, corrupt government, forced westernization, and betraying his own people by use of the Savak. Mohammed Reza was thrown from power because he relied more on manipulation than on leadership.

Before the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, the country was on course to becoming a westernized secular country. The Shah of Iran was more interested in developing the country along western model than anything else. People were left on their own to make decisions regarding moral issues. Religion was a private affair and people were free to practice their religion, as they wanted. People enjoyed personal freedoms comparable to those enjoyed in the west. They only thing they lacked was political freedom as all the power rested with the Shah. The elite controlled political power and anyone who wanted to join politics needed the sponsorship of the elites. The elites also controlled the economy largely because Shah appointed members of the

The perception of the Iranian Revolution In 1979 the Shah of Iran was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution, leaving the Ayatollah to take charge of the country. The Shah was very westernized and he focused on pleasing Western countries, he did things to benefit such countries in order to become friends with them and he wanted Iran to become like them. He even gave the U.S and the U.K the “keys” to the oil fields which was a key aspect of Iran’s economy at the time. On the other hand the Ayatollah was very restrictive and conservative, he wanted Iran to be a very religious place where everyone had to follow very precise and stricts rules.

For many centuries such as the early 1500’s, Iran has been an islamic state consisting of Shiites’ majority, ruled by the Qajar dynasty (1796-1925). However, in the early 1920’s during a time of instability in Iran, Reza Khan (1878-1944), an officer was able to overthrow the Qajar dynasty and crown himself as the shah in 1925. With it’s next door neighbor Turkey already modernized, Reza had ambitions for Iran; he wanted to modernize Iran as well , that being he wanted to bring change within the nation.

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

Iran’s political and social landscape completely shifted in 1979 when the Islamic Revolution toppled the monarchy that was in power. It was decided that Iran would now be a republic built on Islamic principles and ideals, thus marginalizing the leftist nationalist party that had helped the religious right protest against the Shah’s rule in 1978 and 1979. “The new constitution created a religious government based on [Ayatollah] Khomeini’s vision of velāyat-e faqīh

This investigation will answer the question, what caused the Iranian revolution to occur during a time of national progress and prosperity? This question is important because the Iranian revolution baffled the rest of the world, as nobody expected a newly progressive and economically stable nation as Iran to have its government overthrown. The scope of this investigation is the events throughout the 20th century that put the family of monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi into power and the family’s fall from power, but more focused on the latter. It’s important to see how the Pahlavi family rose to power to understand the condition of the monarchy and what changed between the reigns of the different

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.

This tradeoff outlines the priorities of many of the Iranians who supported the government, but eventually those freedoms that had been neglected created issues with the public. Protests and acts of rebellion plagued the Iranian society causing casualties and unloyalty, but eventually the Shah accepted his fate and fled. After these events the new laws and government took over placing new freedoms and restrictions. Religion dominated the region, and those who did not follow Sharia law were tortured and executed.

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

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

Before the revolution, Shah Reza Pahlavi was the ruler of Iran. Under his leadership power was clustered and concentrated among his close allies and networks of friends and others with whom he had close relations. By 1970s, the gap between the poor and the rich was widening and huge distrust about his economic policies grew. Resentment towards his autocratic leadership grew fuelling people to dissent his regime further. Shah now was considered an authoritarian who took full control of the Iran government preventing the Iranians from expressing their opinion. The government has transformed from the traditional monarchial form of government to authoritarian with absolute authority replacing individual freedom of the Iranians. This transformation to Iranian was unacceptable because they needed to control their own affairs. They wanted self-government where they could take control as opposed to what Shah was doing. Shah was seen as a western puppet for embracing authoritarian form of government (Axworthy, 2016).

At the turn of 1925, Reza Shah began the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran. He is mostly known for his attempts in modernizing Iran on the basis of the West. With this in mind, Reza Shah showed some of the biggest reform movements throughout Iranian society. One reform, such as greater access to higher education for women at Tehran University, show significant gains compared to previous years in Iran. One of the biggest points of controversy in the course of Reza Shah’s rule was the abolition of the chador and the enforcement of unveiling. The chador is a traditional staple of women’s clothing in Iranian culture that only shows the face from the brow line, and drapes over the body from head to toe like a veil. Under the circumstances, unveiling did not