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The Discovery Of The Pahlavi Dynasty

Decent Essays

The 1979 uprisings were aimed at getting rid of the Pahlavi dynasty which contained only two kings, Reza Shah and Mohammed Reza Shah. Before the Pahlavi’s, Iran was ruled by the Qajar dynasty, and before that the Safavids. The safavids and Qajar’s were responsible for two of the most important aspects of Iran: The safavids made Shia Islam the official state religion in Iran, starting with Ismail 1 in 1501, and the Qajar’s gave the muslim clergy- The ulema- political power. The first major revolution in Iran was in 1906. It forced the ruling Qajar’s to accept a constitution, it created a parliament and put some limits on the king. It ultimately failed party because the clergy withdrew their support, partly because the Shah worked very actively against it, and the Russian and the British worked to keep Persia weak so they could continue to try to dominate the region. After WW1, Europeans rivalries heated up because of the discovery of oil in the Middle East. The British established Iranian Oil company and they helped to engineer the change in dynasty by supporting military commander Reza Khan. Later on Reza Khan became Shah and he attempted to turn Persia, which he re-named Iran 1935, into a modern, secular, western-style state. Reza Shah is remembered for his dictatorial repression, which led the clergy against him. During WW2 Reza Shah abdicated and his young son Mohammad Reza Shah became the leader of Iran until 1979. The Shah in 1979 was an autocrat and he employed a

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