Iran

1. Iran Religious Revivalism and the Rejection of the West

3. Qajar dynasty • Replaced Zand dynasty in 1794 • Turkmen tribe unified Iran under Agha Mohammad Khan • Introduced Western science, technology, and educational methods

4. Naser o-Din Shah 1848 - 1896 Qajar dynasty Mozaffar o-Din Shah 1896-1907

5. Constitutional Revolution1906 • Strict limitations on royal power • Majles (elected parliament) with wide powers to represent the people • Government featuring a cabinet subject to confirmation by the Majles • The Supplementary Fundamental Laws approved in 1907 provided, within limits, for freedom of press, speech, and association, and for security of life and property.

6. Anglo-Russian Agreement of 1907 Britain and Russia agreed to divide Iran into spheres of influence. The Russians obtain exclusive right to pursue their interests in the northern sphere, the British in the south and east; both obtain rights to a central neutral sphere.

7. Pahlavi dynasty Reza Khan was brought to power in a coup d'etat in 1921. The Qajar rule was officially terminated and Reza Khan was proclaimed Shahanshah (“King of Kings”) by the Persian Majlis in 1925.

8. Reza Khan Reza Shah Pahlavi from 1925-1941 Pahlavi dynasty

9. Reza Shah : Ambitious plans for modernizing Iran and creating a strong, centralized government. • Developing large-scale industries, • Implementing major infrastructure projects, • Building a cross-country railroad system, • Establishing national public education, • Reforming the judiciary, and • Improving health care.

10. Pahlavi Coat of Arms

11. The name of the country, Persia, was altered to Iran (Land of the Aryans) in 1935.

12. Muhammad Reza Shah 1941-1979 Muhammad Reza Shah The shah planned to fill the government with Western-educated personnel. He sent hundreds of Iranians, including his son, to Europe for training.

14. Rejection of the West: The Iranian Revolution

15. Ayatollah KhomeiniAyatollah Rouhollah Mousavi Khomeini A junior figure in the Shiite religious hierarchy, Khomeini was in no position to mobilize popular opinion on a national scale.

17. The Iranian Revolution The revolution is divided into two stages: • the first saw an alliance of liberal, leftist, and religious groups oust the Shah; • the second stage, often named the Islamic Revolution, saw the ayatollahs come to power.

18. Fall of the Shah • Offended ayatollahs (religious experts) and mullahs (local religious leaders)

19. Rise of Fundamentalism In the autumn of 1962, the government promulgated new laws governing elections to local and provincial councils, which deleted the former requirement that those elected be sworn into office on the Koran. Khomeini accused the shah of violating both the law of Islam and the Iranian Constitution of 1907, and threatened that the 'ulama' (religious scholars) would engage in a sustained campaign of protest.

20. In the context of regional turmoil and the Cold War, the Shah established himself as an indispensable ally of the West. Domestically, he advocated reform policies, culminating in the 1963 program known as the White Revolution, which included land reform, the extension of voting rights to women, and the elimination of illiteracy. The American-inspired package of measures were designed to give his regime a liberal and progressive facade.

21. Rise of Fundamentalism Ayatollah Khomeini denounced the Shah and his plans. Two days later Shah took armored column to Qom, and he delivered a speech harshly attacking the 'ulama' as a class.

22. Fall of the Shah • Offended ayatollahs (religious experts) and mullahs (local religious leaders) • Land reform angered land-owning class and failed to benefit rural poor

23. The Shah's regime continued its pro-American policies and in the autumn of 1964, it concluded an agreement with the United States that provided immunity from prosecution for all American personnel in Iran and their dependents. This occasioned the Khomeini to deliver a speech against the Shah. He denounced the agreement as surrender of Iranian independence and sovereignty, made in exchange for a $200 million loan that would be of benefit only to the Shah and his associates, and described as traitors all those in the Majlis who voted in favor of it; the government lacked all legitimacy, he concluded.

24. Shortly before dawn on November 4, 1964, again commandos surrounded the Ayatollah Khomeini house in Qom, arrested him, and this time took him directly to Mehrabad airport in Tehran for immediate exile to Turkey. Turkish law forbade Ayatollah Khomeini to wear the cloak and turban of the Muslim scholar, an identity which was integral to his being.

25. During his exile, Khomeini coordinated an upsurge of opposition--first from Iraq and then from France, after 1978--demanding the Shah's abdication.

26. Fall of the Shah • Offended ayatollahs (religious experts) and mullahs (local religious leaders) • Land reform angered land-owning class and failed to benefit rural poor • Alienated emerging middle class and merchants with the favoritism showed to Western investors and the few Iranian entrepreneurs with political connections

27. In January 7, 1978 when an article appeared in the semi-official newspaper Ittila'at attacking him in such terms as a traitor working together with foreign enemies of the country. The next day a furious mass protest took place in Qom; it was suppressed by the security forces with heavy loss of life. This was the first in a series of popular confrontations that, gathering momentum throughout 1978, soon turned into a vast revolutionary movement, demanding the overthrow of the Pahlavi regime and the installation of an Islamic government. On January 16, 1979, in what was officially described as a "vacation," the Shah fled Iran.

28. Fall of the Shah • Offended ayatollahs (religious experts) and mullahs (local religious leaders) • Land reform angered land-owning class and failed to benefit rural poor • Alienated emerging middle class and merchants with the favoritism showed to Western investors and the few Iranian entrepreneurs with political connections • Urban workers and students favored populists

29. Supreme Leader On March 30 and 31, 1979, a nationwide referendum resulted in a massive vote in favor of the establishment of an Islamic Republic. Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed the next day, April 1, 1979, as the "first day of God's government". He obtained the title of "Imam," the highest religious rank in Shia, and Supreme Leader of the new Iranian Republic (Vali-e Faqeeh).

30. The Islamic Revolution

31. Supreme Leader The supreme leader forms foreign and domestic policy and controls the military and intelligence operations. He also appoints leaders of the judiciary, the state media, and a powerful oversight committee. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

32. Theocracy The supreme leader appoints the head of the judiciary, who in turn appoints the Supreme Court head and the top public prosecutor. After the Islamic revolution, the Supreme Court revoked alllaws deemed un-Islamic and new laws were established based on Sharia, which is law framed around interpretations of the Islamic holy text, the Koran.

33. Hostage Crisis • 1979 – American embassy in Tehran overrun by Iranian students (reports range from 300-5000) • 52 American hostages • Americans are infidels, America the “Great Satan”

34. War with Iraq • 1980 - Saddam Hussein takes advantage of political turmoil and invades Iran • Saddam fearful of Islamic Revolution • Devastating for overmatched army and fragile economy in Iran • Four Hundred thousand Iranians dead • United Nations mediated cease-fire declared in August 1988