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Early
History
Iran’s Ethnic
Heritage
The Rule of
Cyrus the Great
Alexander
the Great and Seleucus Nectar
The Parthian Dynasty
The Sassanid Dynasty
The Advent of Islam
Turkish Influence
Mongols and Tartars
The Safavid
Empire
Colonial Rivalry
Modern History
Pahlavi Dynasty
Early History
The written history of Iran begins with the early Achaemenids, some
2,500 years ago, but from that time till the dawn of Islam
in Iran, all that is available on the Iranian history had been
written by the ancient Greeks, who were then Iran’s greatest
enemies. The pre-Islamic historical sources are therefore not
completely reliable although there are indications that Greek
historians recorded the facts often faithfully.
Was there no Iranian Herodotus or Xenophon, or were Iranian
historical records destroyed in the many invasions that followed?
The answer is not clear. Of the ancient past, however, only a number
of mythical stories have survived, which had been collected during the Sassanid era and, once the Persian
language emerged in Muslim Iran, were turned into a large verse
epic, called the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), by Abulghassem
Ferdowsi, one of Iran’s greatest poets. Parts of these verses have been translated into English, French, German and a few
other languages. The book makes for on excellent epic reading, but
for the ancient history we nevertheless have to rely on Greek
writings and archaeological findings.
Iran’s Ethnic Heritage
Although it is true that Iranians are predominantly Aryan, they are
actually a mixture of many nations and races: the Old Asian people
who lived on the Iranian plateau before the arrival of the Aryans;
the Aryans who moved to the plateau mostly in the first millennium BC; and, finally, the descendants of the later
conquerors: Arabs, Turks, and Mongols.
Archaeological findings indicate that before the Aryans moved to
Iran, a race of people who were neither Semitic nor Aryan lived on
the Iranian plateau. These men and women belonged to a certain race
which inhabited western Asia, a region extending from the present
republic of Turkmenistan to the Mediterranean. In Iran the Old
Asians formed a settlement which gradually spread over the western
parts of the plateau up to the Zagros Mountains. Apparently, this
people developed agriculture, especially the cultivation of barley
and wheat, and the art of pottery which began with the primitive
sun-baked brick.
Gradually they had to face other neighboring peoples and
civilizations quite different from their own. From the north, tribes
came peacefully, mixed with the natives and settled on their land.
In the west, there was contact between the natives of Iran and the
Semites of Mesopotamia, who were developing an agricultural
civilization with urban centers and elaborate political and military
structures. One would think that these two peoples — the Old
Asians, living in mountainous regions that were rich in raw
materials such as ores, and the Semites, a wealthy people producing
a wide variety of foods and utility goods — should have lived in
peaceful coexistence developing trade relations. In fact, however,
the two peoples fought each other for centuries, and although the
Semites were generally superior and often victorious, it was the
less civilized people of the mountains that overcame the Semites.
Eventually, one of the Old Asian Tribes, the Elamites, took over the
whole of the Tigris Valley from Assure to the Persian Gulf. They
developed an admirable civilization, which was later overthrown by
the Babylonians and more or less destroyed under Nebuchadnezzar I.
Meanwhile, on the inner side of the Zagros Mountains, the Aryans
were moving in peacefully from the north, mixing with the native Old
Asians. The Aryans are a branch of the people today known as the
Indo-Europeans, and are believed to be the ancestors of the people
of present-day India, Iran, and most of Western Europe. Their
language was closely related to Sanskrit and was part of the
Indo-European family of languages.
The Aryans began their migrations 3,000-4,000 years ago in three
groups; one moved westward to Asia Minor; the second eastward to
India; the third group took the middle route, southwards to the
Iranian plateau, probably first via present day Azerbaijan, and
later also from the east of the Caspian, crossing the river Oxus.
Migration to the plateau was initially slow but by the beginning of
the first millennium the pace and the number increased. It continued
for a few centuries at an ever-expanding rate, but still peacefully,
the newcomers mixed with and settled among the natives.
Eventually, two kingdoms appeared which were to play one of the most
significant roles in the history of the Persian Empire and Iran:
Firstly, Parsa or Persis as the Greeks called it, the Persian
kingdom in the south of the plateau, in and around the present day
provinces of Fars (from Pars and Parsa), and Khouzistan; and,
secondly, the Medes in the north-western parts of present-day Iran.
The Rule of Cyrus the Great
On the other side of the Zagros range, meanwhile, two powerful
Semitic nations prospered: Babylonia and Assyria. In 612 B.C.
however, the Medes, led by Cyaxares, captured Nineveh and put a
permanent end to the Assyrian Kingdom. Then, in 550 B.C. Cyrus the
Great appeared in Persia and united the two kingdoms and soon
subverted Babylonia and Lydia. The two nations, united by Cyrus,
made up the powerful empire of “the Persians and the Medes”
which, under the leadership of Cyrus, grew increasingly stronger
until Cyrus was killed in his last battle against nomads in the east
(the dynasty that followed Cyrus drew its name from one of his
ancestors, Achaemenes, whom Cyrus greatly respected).
Cyrus’s short life was characterised by courage, compassion
towards the conquered, and tolerance of others’ ideals and
religions. When he conquered Babylonia he retained the king as a
satrap (or provincial governor). He also freed the Jewish slaves
there and helped them return to their homeland and rebuilt their
temples which the Babylonians had destroyed. Thus it is that in the
Old Testament Cyrus’s name has been mentioned with respect and
gratitude.
The Achaemenid Dynasty
Cyrus’s son, Cambyses, managed to extend his father’s empire by
con quering Egypt. Before going to Egypt, however, he killed his
brother Bardia, who was more popular. When he left Iran a man who
resembled Bardia took the throne and Cambyses died or killed himself
on his way back.
In 521 BC a few of the noblest princes assassinated the impostor and
elected Darius I as the new King of Kings, or the Great King, as
Persian kings were known to the Greeks. Darius is, unfortunately,
better known for his defeat at Marathon, in his battle against the Greeks who were the only people left in the West
that the Persians and the Medes had not subjugated. Except for this
failure, however, Darius’s reign was characterized by a number of
considerable achievements. He developed, for the first time in history, a system for running his territories
through the satraps. He built admirable highways, and developed an
excellent postal system both of which allowed him to receive rapid information from his twenty or so provinces. He
appointed inspectors in whom he had confidence to act as “the Eyes
and Ears” of the king and keep him informed of all developments,
especially with regard to the behaviour of each satrap towards his
people and towards the empire, bearing in mind that a satrap was always a potential rebel.
Among Darius’s other achievements were the development of a
standard coin known world-wide for its consistency in its gold
content and weight. A canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea which
was the predecessor of the present day Suez Canal, was also made by him. After Darius, his son Xerxes led several attacks
against the Greeks. He managed to capture Athens but was eventually
pushed back. In the latter days of the Achaemenids, the Persian
kings tried to break the Greek’s resistance, not by the sword, but by their gold coins. They were about to succeed when
a young Macedonian called Alexander defeated Darius III in 323 BC
after very long and hard battles.
Alexander the
Great and Seleucus Nectar
Was the speed of his conquests too fast or his life too short? Or
did he lack the genius required for the organization and
administration of such vast territories in times of peace — the
genius with which Darius was amply endowed? Whatever the reason, Alexander died before he had brought about a
well-established and organized empire. After his death his
territories were divided among his generals, Seleucus Nectar gaining
what was then called “Asia.” This was most of the Achaemenid Empire excluding Judea, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Asia
Minor.
Alexander had made great efforts to bring together the East and the
West, Persia and Greece effectively. He had great admiration for the
Persian culture and customs, and often dressed in the fashion of the
King of Kings. He married the daughter of a Persian noble and encouraged Greek noblemen to marry Persian
noblewomen, one of whom, by the name of Apama, became Seleucus
Nectar’s wife.
The Greek Seleucus and his Persian wife Apama became the king and
queen of a territory with a population of Persians and Greeks mixed
together and enjoying equal rights. On the whole, however, the
Seleucids were not successful politically and gradually lost parts of their territories, most of it in the first
100 years. However during their era, the encounter of the two
civilizations resulted in some important artistic and cultural
developments. The first province to break away from the Seleucids
was Parsa, the birthplace of the Achaemenid Empire, then gradually,
Bactria, Parthia and Hyrcania. Finally, after many years of clash
and struggle, the Parthians captured today’s Iran and Mesopotamia
and retained these territories for about 300 years.
The Parthian Dynasty
The Parthians or Arsacids — the latter refers to the names of the
earliest kings of this dynasty— were originally nomadic people who
more or less retained their nomadic culture and feudal system of
government. They realized the superiority of the culture of the conquered people and so allowed them to retain Greek
as the official language and, under the supervision of Parthian
governors, to keep their property and administration.
Meanwhile, a new empire based on and replacing Greek civilization,
had appeared in the West and eventually became the neighbour of the
Parthian territory: Rome.
During the reign of Mithridates II (123-87 BC) Iran established
relations with China in the East and Rome in the West. Thus trade
between East and West expanded, Iran provided a convenient route
that later came to be known as the famous Silk Road or Silk Route. Although the first contacts between Parthia and
Rome were friendly and resulted in the development of trade and
cultural exchanges, there were intermittent border skirmishes and
small scale battles between the two powers, in which the Parthians showed remarkable fighting abilities.
Besides such quarrels with Rome, the Parthians, whose chief
interests were hunting and battling, were kept busy by the nomad
hordes in the northeast. They withstood invasions by other nomadic
tribes and at times even drove them back considerably, thus acting as a barrier to the westward movement of these nomads.
(Had it not been for the Parthians these hordes would probably have
overrun the Near East and even parts of Europe 1,000 years before
Holaku finally did so.)
Unfortunately, the Parthians have left no written records of their
times, and what we know about them today is based on deductions from
archaeological findings and non-Parthian sources. It is most likely
that their nobles were so concerned with warfare that they left writing to the lower classes.
The Sassanid Dynasty
Empires come and go. The vassal overcomes the lord only to be
toppled, in turn, by one of his own vassals. In 220 AD, Ardeshir,
the king of Parsa, who paid tribute to the Parthian king, revolted
and, in a relatively short time, replaced the Parthian empire by
what is known as the Sassanian or Sassanid dynasty.
Rome considered these developments of little importance to its
empire. But when Ardeshir attacked Armenia, Rome’s ally, and even
Roman territories in Mesopotamia, the Roman emperor, in 231 AD,
found himself compelled to take to the battlefield, and so centuries of minor disputes with the Parthians gave way to a few
more centuries of fierce battles and deep enmity with the Sassanids.
The Advent of Islam
The Muslim Arabs arrived on their Arabian horses with their curved
swords, but — most important of all — they had an ideology which
they expressed in simple yet compassionate cries of Allah-o-Akbar
(Great is the One and Only Almighty God). The Persian Empire collapsed rapidly; the Romans lost Syria and
Egypt, two vitally important territories.
There have been many theories put forward regarding the reason why
Muslim Arabs managed to conquer Iran — at least the better part of
it — so easily. Some point to the decadence of the late Sassanid
society; some to Islam’s belief in equality irrespective of race, color and social status; yet others point out
that Muslims had an ideology, a strong belief, the belief that dead
or alive, they would be the winners at the end of any battle fought
for Almighty God. The reason, in fact, must be complex and may encompass all these factors. But ideology — belief in the
omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of Almighty God worthy of
dying for — is of utmost importance, and gave the Arabs great
strength of heart. At the same time, the lower Persian classes, bound to their social status through a caste system
irrespective of ability, could not help being mesmerized by the idea
of equality which was and is, a most significant element of Islam.
To these reasons must be added the Persians’ appreciation of Islam
as a monotheistic religion: after all they had been one of the first
people to believe in one Almighty God, Ahura Mazda, as He was called
by them, though towards the end of the Sassanid era their religion
had become infected by ideas from Mithraism, Manichaeism and other creeds.
Persians became
Muslims and retained Islam even when they had regained their
independence and developed their new language. Just about 100 years
after Persia had become a part of the Muslim world, an Iranian by
the name of Abu Muslim led an uprising in Khorassan against the
Omayyad rulers in favor of Abdollah Saffah, a descendant of Abbas,
one of the cousins of the holy Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
In 750 AD the Omayyads were overthrown, and Abdollah Saffah became
caliph, the first in line of the Abbasid dynasty. From then on
Iranians penetrated further and further into the Arab society and
the Muslim world, and contributed greatly to the Muslim
civilization, art, literature, and sciences. On the other hand,
there were also a number of individuals who sought independence from
the Arab rule, such as Babak Khorram-Din in Azerbaijan; Maziyar and
Hamzeh in Mazandaran, Sistan and Khorassan; and especially Tahir
Zol-Yaminein, the governor of Khorassan, who declared independence
in 820 AD. Then came Yaqub Lais and the Saffarian dynasty, which
replaced the Taherian empire in 872 AD to be eventually replaced by
the Samanid dynasty (903 AD). The Al-Buyeh, or Buwahids appeared in
northern Iran, and were recognised by the caliphate (945 AD), which
was by then reduced to a puppet court controlled by the Buyehs.
There were other developments here and there until Mahmoud, a
Muslim Turk of Ghazna, established a strong state, replacing the
Samanians in Khorassan and Sistan.
Turkish Influence
It is about this time that the Turks, long used as slaves, soldiers
and generals, entered the world of Islam as rulers and masters. The
Turks were a people with their origin in the Altai Mountains of
Central Asia. They were of both Aryan and non-Aryan blood, with a common language binding them to form a single people.
Living under very difficult conditions — like the Mongols with
whom they had relations and contacts — they were a courageous and
robust people of great endurance. Gradually they descended from the
Altai Mountains and moved westwards in a series of migrations. They
came to Iran from the east and the north (both sides of the Caspian
Sea). Later they established the great Ottoman Empire west of the
Caspian Sea, in Asia Minor, which was eventually reduced to the
present day Turkey.
It is said that the Turks, being extremely poor, used to sell their
children, at about the age of ten or so, to the neighboring people.
Used to hardship, Turkish boys would normally grow up to become
worthy Muslim warriors. In this way the Turks infiltrated the courts and armies of independent Muslim Iranian
rulers as well as of the caliphs, who eventually became dependent
upon them. Finally, they ousted the Iranian rulers and replaced
them, and turned the caliph into a puppet ruler under their own influence.
From the early eleventh century, there ruled in various parts of
Iran Turkish kings who had become Muslims and were increasingly
absorbed into the Islamic and Iranian cultures. One of their
greatest pleasures was listening to readings from the Shahnameh, the legendary epic poem of the ancient Persian heroes.
Thus Iran was divided into a number of kingdoms, mostly with Turkish
monarchs, who ruled on the advice and guidance of their Iranian
vazirs, or prime ministers. In 1220 AD, however, with the appearance
of a man named Chengiz Khan, the history of Iran began to take yet another turn, more bloody, more tragic,
and sadder than at any other time before or since.
Mongols and Tartars
Chengiz Khan was a Mongol, born a prince among his people: a people
—like the Turks— used to hardship because of the harsh natural
conditions in which they lived as nomads. Chengiz’s genius and his
people’s inborn courage and loyalty allowed him to rapidly extend his domination over the entire Mongolia and
the neighboring regions. Soon his territories shared borders with
the Iranian kingdom of Kharazmshahian.
It is said that Chengiz had a great deal of respect for the Iranians
and their civilization, and even feared Iranian military strength.
In order to expand trade and cultural relations with Iran he sent
emissaries to the Kharazmshahi king Sultan Mohammad. For one reason
or another, perhaps out of greed for the possessions of the
emissaries and the magnificent presents they had with them, some
Iranian chief at the frontier outpost murdered the ambassadors and
plundered their belongings. Chengiz Khan, though furious at the
news, still remained calm. He sent a messenger to the Kharazmshahi
king to make a complaint and require an explanation as well as to
seek, once again, relations with Iran. Again
too much pride and overconfidence, as shown by the Iranian rulers
and nobles time and again, brought disaster to the nation. Rather
than apologize for his officer’s uncivilized behaviour, and make
reparations to this neighbour who was extending his hand to show his
amicable intentions, the conceited king treated the messenger as a
savage. This time Chengiz Khan decided to attack the Kharazmshahi
territory, come what may.
One could say that the
Iranian king in a way pushed Chengiz Khan into waging war against
the Iranian people, and once he began, Chengiz Khan would not be
satisfied only with Kharazmshahi territories. He overran most
Iranian kingdoms, destroyed many towns and even completely “erased some from the face of the
earth.”
Two elements in the Iranian character have shown themselves
repeatedly: pride and overconfidence among the kings and nobles,
leading often to disasters; and that of resilience, patience and
endurance among the common people. Every single town that Chengiz Khan destroyed, was eventually rebuilt by the Iranian
people.
Chengiz did not stop at just destroying and erasing towns that
resisted him in the slightest way; he massacred, men, women and
children, in the most inhumane and cruel manner, sparing only a few
whom he retained as slaves. Never in history have Iranians been so
shamefully humiliated, except for the second surge of Mongol-Tartar
invasion by Teymoor Lang (the lame Teymoor) or Tamerlane as he is
known in the West.
Chengiz had not yet established his domination over all of Iran, nor
yet completely destroyed the Kharazmshahians, when he died in 1227
AD. His empire was divided among his sons and brothers, Holaku Khan
becoming the Ilkhan of Iranian territories. He appointed an Iranian vazir, Khajeh Nassireddin
Toosi, who helped him become established as the king and ruler of
Iran and overcome the Abbasid caliph. Toosi’s presence at the
Ilkhan court made life easier for the Iranians, who gradually rose in status and soon began to assimilate the nomadic Mongols. The
later descendants of Holaku converted to Islam — became devout
Muslims, in fact — and more and more Iranian in attitude, manner
and thought.
For a short period small independent states sprouted here and there
with Iranians as their rulers, turning Iran into yet another
collection of kingdoms. Then, in 1393 AD, disaster struck again when
Teymoor Lang attacked Iran.
Teymoor Lang was a Tartar whose ancestors had converted to Islam. He
was a devout Sunni Muslim and disliked Shia Iranians whom he
believed to be heretics. However, although he was even more cruel
and merciless than Chengiz, he spared men of learning, writers, artists and craftsmen because he had
respect for them. He himself is said to have been a Muslim scholar
and to have known the entire Holy Qur’an by heart, (even backwards
they say, i.e. from the last verse to the first).
In 1405 AD, Teymoor died and his son Shahrokh acceded to his throne.
Shahrokh, though a warrior, was mild and generous. He loved the
Persian language and poetry and was deeply interested in arts and
sciences which he encouraged and supported. Shahrokh and his descendants finally came to think of themselves
more as Iranians than as Tartars. After Shahrokh, the Iranian
civilization, arts and crafts, were to reach unprecedented heights
with the emergence of the Safavid Empire.
The Safavid Empire
The Safavid dynasty was established by a man named Ismail, a Shia
Muslim, who started out with a small army to overthrow the Aq
Quyunlu Turkmen. Afterwards, his kingdom gradually grew to encompass
most of the traditionally Iranian territories. Although during Safavid rule Iran was constantly at war with the
Ottoman Turks in the northwest, the Uzbeks in the east and, for a
time, with the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf, the period is marked
by unprecedented cultural achievements. In fact, the era is known as
the Golden Age — especially with respect to the craft and art of
carpet weaving. Under the greatest Safavid king, Shah Abbas I (AD
1587-1629), Persia once again came to be known in Europe as a
superpower, because it was the
greatest opponent of the Ottomans, and their wars virtually saved
Europe, the Ottomans being too occupied in the east fighting Iran to
make headway in the west.
The Safavid court eventually fell into luxury and intrigues, and the
ugly face of decadence reappeared, preparing the way for a man by
the name of Mahmoud, who rose in Afghanistan, raided Iran (AD 1722-
1725), captured Isfahan, the Safavid capital, and killed most of the
Safavid princes as well as the king. Iran fell apart. Mahmoud was a
warrior but not a king, and Iranians disobeyed him; in the ensuing
political turmoil Peter the Great of Russia occupied Derbent in
Northern Iran, then Rasht and Baku. This was the first time that
Russia, which was then beginning to develop into a well organized
country with expansionist goals, waged war against Iran.
At the same time, while the Afghans were still in power, the
Ottomans occupied Tabriz. Iran was about to collapse, when fate took
another turn for the better: Nader, a brave soldier of the Afshar
tribe found a surviving Safavid prince, called Tahmasb II, became
his commander-in chief, gathered an army in his name, and in a
succession of lightning attacks defeated and threw out the Afghans.
Then, not finding the king capable, Nader replaced him with Abbas
III who soon died. This time Nader proclaimed himself as the Shah of
Persia and founded the Afshar dynasty (1736 AD). Nader was a brave
soldier but a merciless tyrant. In 1747 AD, his closest people
entered into a plot and assassinated him. Though his loss at that
time was a relief to the nation, to him must be given the credit of saving and
uniting Iran at a critical moment in its history.
In 1750 AD, Karim Khan Zand founded a dynasty in the southern
regions which he eventually extended to cover most of present day
Iran, but he let Nader’s descendants continue to rule in Khorassan
out of respect for Nader and his achievements. In the meantime, the
brave Qajar tribe was establishing a dynasty and kingdom among the
Turkmen of northern Iran. The Qajars and Karim Khan were constantly
at war until finally Karim Khan subjugated the tribe and took as
hostage Agha Mohammad Khan, the son of the tribe’s chief.
Karim Khan was a modest and gentle man and ruled with justice and
compassion, though in battle, he was a courageous and fierce
soldier. He never called himself a king, preferring the title of
Vakil-ol-Roaya (the representative of the people) or more simply the Vakil. It is said that he insisted on his people being
joyful, and that from the terrace of his palace, overlooking the
town below, he watched the town at night, feeling happy to see all
the houses and streets were lighted and to hear his bands of
musicians play at every major cross-road of the town. The Vakil is
perhaps the best-loved ruler of the entire history of Iran, admired
both by the Iranians of his time and by the generations that have
followed, except for his enemies, the Qajars, and in particular Agha Mohammad Khan, who later overcame Karim Khan’s
successors and showed incredible hatred towards Karim Khan and his
household.
Because Agha Mohammad was impotent this hatred is generally
explained by his having been castrated by Karim Khan’s men —
with or without the latter’s knowledge. But this has not been
definitely proved, and some historians claim Agha Mohammad Khan accidentally lost his manhood when he fell from a horse and the
horse trampled on him. Whatever the reason, this king was bitter and
merciless. His enemies succumbed rapidly to him, and where they did
resist they paid dearly for it. In this fashion he reunited the
whole of Iran — the present-day national territory plus
Afghanistan and some parts of the republics to the north of Iran. He
despised Catherine, the Empress of Russia, because of her
interference in Iran’s northern provinces. He attacked Russian
territories and easily captured Tiflis and Erivan and planned to
eventually capture Moscow as well. Some historians believe he would
have done so, had he remained alive; but he was assassinated by
members of his entourage the night before he intended to move his
army northwards. He was killed during the night (A.D.1797) just as
Nader had been killed before him. Thus died Iran’s last conqueror.
Colonial Rivalry
From then onward Iran entered, or rather was dragged into, the
international political scene. The British, hoping to use Iran and
Afghanistan as barriers, cutting off Russia from British India,
began to gradually establish themselves at the Iranian court. Napoleon’s France came to help Fath Ali Shah, Agha Mohammad
Khan’s successor, to oust the British. The Russians wanted to get
access to the “warm waters” of the Persian Gulf. The hitherto
feudalistic Iran, undisturbed by developments in the rest of the world, suddenly found itself in a situation largely controlled
by foreign powers. Struck by the immensity of the scientific and
technical advances made by Europe, and ignorant of the ways of
handling Europeans and their diplomatic intrigues, the Iranians were
baffled, and the two powers made good use of this situation.
Russians attacked and took extensive territories in northern Iran,
defeating the Iranian army which was still fighting with swords and
hand-made rifles against the recently modernized Russian army
equipped with the latest guns and cannons. Iranians were morally
shaken and perhaps for the first time in their history, lost their
self-confidence. Later, the Russians stopped further aggressions,
because of changes in their policy and due to the British diplomatic
maneuvers. Instead, the two powers agreed to divide the country into
two separate spheres of influence with the Russians controlling the
northern parts of Iran and the British the southern regions.
Although the country was officially ruled by Iranian kings,
ministers and statesmen, however, these rulers were extremely under
the influence of the two powers.
Modern History
On the domestic side, the Iranian central government was weakened
and lost its autocratic control over the nation leading the ailing
Mozaffar al-Din Shah in 1906 to accord Iranians the right of a
Constitution with a proper parliament and limitations on the powers
of the monarch. In 1908, Mohammad Ali Shah abolished the
Constitution but soon had to give in when faced with a nationalist
uprising. The constitution was restored and Mohammad Ali deposed.
With the Russian Revolution and the overthrow of the Czarist regime,
the Russian influence diminished, and for some time even vanished
altogether, although it soon returned with the coming to power of
Stalin: first as a great rival which the British had to contend
with, and soon after, as their ally.
Meanwhile, an Iranian soldier, Reza Khan, had been showing great
gift for military leadership and had gained the status of an officer
while the Iranian army was under the supervision and instruction of
imperial Russian military advisers. When the Russian officers left the country in the aftermath of the 1919 October
Revolution, Reza Khan was already a man of influence. By then, the
British were untroubled by Russian rivalries and favoured a strong
central government in Iran to protect their interests, particularly in the oil industry. Ahmad Shah, the last Qajar king,
was not willing to cooperate with the British; and the Majlis (the
parliament), which the British once had favoured, was now an
obstacle in their way.
Pahlavi Dynasty
Thus, Reza Khan, whom the British discovered as a man capable of
controlling the country and protecting their interests, rose to
power. In 1921 he engineered a coup d’etat with the co-operation
of Seyed Zia-od-Din Tabatabai, an English oriented young journalist,
who was to later become prime minister.
As minister of war under Tabatabai, Rheza Khan gradually gained
complete control of the government and the Majlis. Finally, the
parliament deposed Ahmad Shah (1925) and a constituent assembly
elected Reza Khan as the Shah. The Pahlavi dynasty was thus
established.
In the Second World War Reza Shah sympathised with the Germans and
refused to allow the Allies to pass Iran in order to supply the
Soviet Union with war materials. So, the Allied forces occupied Iran
in 1941 and remained there until the war was over. As soon as Iran
was occupied, Reza Shah was “advised” by the British to abdicate
in favour of his son Mohammad Reza who had to adopt policies more
appropriate to the circumstances.
Bitter over the fact that Reza Shah had betrayed them, the British
refused Reza Shah’s request to go to Canada. Instead the British
government sent him first to the island of Mauritius, east of
Madagascar, and later to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he died
in 1944.
In 1941 Mohammad Reza Shah, a young man of 22 years, began his reign
over the Iranian nation. He was to rule the country for over 38
years, until the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
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