Other DramaIran

Vocabulary

• Khan – Military or sovereign leader • Shah - a title given to the kings and lords of Iran and

India.• Autocratic - government in which one person possesses

unlimited power• Theocratic – deity ruler of country

Iran - History

• Means “the land of the Aryans”• Territory was called Persia • Ruled by many empires including the Mongol Empire head by

Genghis Khan• 1500-1525 Safavid Dynasty – Ruler Shah Ismail established himself

as the ruler of western Persia and Azerbaijan• Instigated a religious revolution between the Sunnis and the Shias trying

to get the Sunnis to convert

• 19th century – Suffered in the British and Russian empire-building know as “the great game”• Lost much of its territory in the Russo-Persian and Anglo-Persian Wars

• Russians occupied northern Iran in 1911• During WWI British occupied much of western Iran • Left in 1921

Continued…

• In 1921 Reza Khan, Prime Minister of Iran and former general, overthrew the incompetent and corrupt Qajar Dynasty and became Shah.

• Reza was a nationalist known for:• Military policies, administrative and financial modernization,

industrialized Iran, constructed the Trans-Iranian Railway, centralized government and established the national education system.

• He quickly persuaded the Russians to withdraw from Iran. • 1941 he was forced by Britain and the USSR to renounce his

son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, because of his ties to Germany. • During World War II, Iran was once again subject to British and

Russian occupation.

• Iran had a Shah and a prime minister• 1951 prime minister was killed, new one, Dr. Mohammad

Mosaddegh was elected. He nationalized Iran’s petroleum industry and oil reserves. • In response, the British government, headed by Winston Churchill,

embargoed Iranian oil and successfully enlisted the United States to join in a plot to depose the democratically elected government of Mosaddegh.

• In 1953 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax. The operation, supported by the Shah, was successful, and Mosaddegh was arrested on 19 August 1953. The coup was the first time the US had openly overthrown an elected, civilian government of another sovereign state.

• After Operation Ajax, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi favored American and British oil interests and his rule became increasingly autocratic. With American support, the Shah was able to rapidly modernize the Iranian infrastructure and military

• In December 1979, the country approved a theocratic constitution, whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country. The speed and success of the revolution surprised many throughout the world, as it had not been precipitated by a military defeat, a financial crisis, or a peasant rebellion.

• In the 2005 presidential elections, Iran made yet another change in political direction, when the conservative populist candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected over creating the Islamic Republic of Iran