What is a Revolution?

1. What is a Revolution? • Although the term “revolution” is used a great deal in contemporary culture, an actual revolution that completely transforms a society is quite rare. However, during the period 1950-1990, a number of the world’s regions witnessed events that could legitimately be termed revolutionary. • Historian MehranKamrava provides us with a solid working definition of the term “revolution” – a definition that will help us to understand better many of the events portrayed in Satrapi’sPersepolis.

2. MehranKamrava’s Definition of “Revolution” • Revolutions involve “ingredients not always easy to come by: millions of people for whom pursuing a cause has become more pressing than the chores of daily life; the collapse of state institutions and their replacement by other, new ones; and the reconstitution of a political order radically different from that of the old order. These changes resonate not only domestically, but also regionally and globally, affecting balance-of-power equations, alliances, and international economics” (138).

3. Planned vs. Spontaneous Revolutions • Kamrava notes that the Iranian Revolution was spontaneous in nature, meaning that it evolved in a haphazard, unstructured way. For contrast, he points to the Chinese or Cuban Revolutions, which were planned carefully over long periods of timely by highly organized guerrilla movements (139). • Why is the distinction important? Spontaneous revolutions often enable inexperienced or highly radical individuals to rise quickly to power, thus increasing the possibility for violence and instability.

4. The Iranian Monarchy Reza Shah Pahlavi ruled Iran from 1925-1941 His son, Muhammad, ruled Iran from 1941-1978

5. Four Phases of Modern Iranian Politics

6. The Opposition, circa 1978

7. The Iranian Revolution

8. Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini • In 1964, Ayatollah Khomeini had been exiled for his opposition to the Shah, first to a remote region of Iran, then to Iraq, and finally to France. By the mid-1970s, his anti-Shah speeches were being played in mosques across the country, via cassette tape. Increasingly, Iranian critics looked to Ayatollah Khomeini for guidance, paying special attention to his 1970 book, Islamic Government: Authority of the Jurist. Ayatollah Khomeini was in an excellent position to take advantage of the revolutionary turmoil that emerged in the late 1970s.

9. The End of the Shah’s Rule • On January 18, 1979, the Shah left Iran due to “medical reasons,” and on February 1, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran – over a million people rallied in the streets of Tehran in welcome. • On February 11, 1979, the military capitulated, and on March 30, 1979, the people voted to establish an Islamic Republic, with Ayatollah Khomeini as its leader.

10. Three Phases of the Iranian Republic

11. Satrapi’sPersepolis (2000-2003) • This brief background presentation should help you to make sense of the politcal and cultural events that Satrapi describes in her graphic narrative, Persepolis. • The primary source for this lecture was: • Kamrava, Mehran. The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since the First World War. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.