Persepolis and Iranian History Background Knowledge to Help You Out!

Persian Empire

Alexander the Great’s Empire

Expansion of Islam IRAN

POLITICAL SPECTRUM LEFT WINGRIGHT WING LIBERALCONSERVATIVE MODERATERADICAL REVOLUTIONARY: Wants drastic change and believes it requires drastic action (revolution) RADICAL REACTIONARY: Wants to go back to the way things were DEMOCRATSREPUBLICANS

POLITICAL SPECTRUM LEFT WINGRIGHT WING LIBERALCONSERVATIVE MODERATERADICAL REVOLUTIONARY: Wants drastic change and believes it requires drastic action (revolution) RADICAL REACTIONARY: Wants to go back to the way things were

 Takes power in 1925  Authoritarian government  Strict censorship  Propaganda Reza Shah

 Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi comes to power  Reza Shah’s son  Power in Parliament  Hope to become a constitutional monarchy World War 2

 Prime Minister in Iranian Parliament  Nationalizes oil industry  Iran takes control of Iran’s oil!  Took it out of British hands  Taken out of power by a coup  Forcible takeover  Coup supported by the CIA  Shah back in power Mohammad Mossadeq

 Wanted to Westernize Iran  What does this mean?  Liberal or conservative?  Maintained control by security forces  SAVAK  Many political prisoners taken Mohammad Reza Shah Returns

 Ruhollah Khomeini comes to power  Called Ayatollah  Title like “king”  Moves country toward Islamic state  Instituted Sharia law  Fundamentalist Muslim rule  Conservative or liberal? 1979 Islamic Revolution

 The book takes place around this time period in Iranian history.  Autobiographical…author wrote about herself.  Marjane Satrapi Persepolis

 Strict adherence to specific religious teachings or books.  Examples:  Inherit the Wind townspeople  Zionist Jews  Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikh… Fundamentalism

 Women to wear “the veil”  Varieties in Muslim countries  Honor killing  The family is allowed to kill a family member who has dishonored or shamed the family.  Women killed by family because they were raped. Sharia Law Examples

For example…

 Nov 4, 1979 Iranian students held Americans hostage  Held for 444 days until January 1981  Started calling the US “the Great Satan” 1979 American Hostage Crisis

 IRAQ (Saddam Hussein) saw opportunity to take back some land from Iran.  Oil rich land, of course  Invaded Iran  Eventually used chemical weapons  Supported by…the United Stated  Weapons, money 1980s Iran – Iraq War

 Ronald Reagan wanted to stop communism.  Communist threat in Nicaragua  The Contras were fighting against the communists  Contra = against!  Reagan wanted to help them. Iran – Contra Affair

 He secretly sold weapons to IRAN to raise money.  Give that money to the Contras.  Congress told him to stop.  He didn’t  Should have been impeached.  But…he was so grandfatherly.  Oliver North blamed  Now a FOX TV announcer! So…

 Reform efforts vs conservative Islamic clergy  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad elected  Anti-Israel  Building up nuclear capabilities – Weaponry? Energy?  Currently – Ali Khamenei Present