1. Iranian Revolution

2. Revolution
We have spent some time in this class discussing the role of government and looking at what makes a successful government. We have also discussed the ingredients that are necessary for a successful overthrow of the government. In , the people of Iran revolted against the Shah and overthrew his government.
Based on what we know about revolution, why do you think the people of Iran revolted and overthrew their government?

3. Class Agenda
For the first 25 minutes or so, I will present a history of Iran from the years 1940 to I will provide you with this information to help you better understand why the Iranian people rebelled and overthrew the Shah.
You will then be divided into 4 groups. Each group will be responsible for presenting a skit to the class covering the information on select slides. The skit should be 3-5 minutes in length.

4. Agenda Continued
Group one will focus on the first two slides in my presentation. Group two will focus on slides three, four and five. Group three will be responsible for slides six and seven, while group four will focus on the last two slides.
Finally, we will watch a 5 minute clip on YouTube about the Iranian Revolution.

5. 1941
At the beginning of WWII, Germany was Iran’s biggest trading partner. When the Germans invaded Russia in 1941, the Allies worried that Germany would use Iran as a base of military operations against Russia. England and Russia sent letters to the shah (king) of Iran demanding that he expel all Germans from Iran. He refused, and in late 1941, the English moved into Iran from the South and the Russians from the North. Under this pressure, the shah relinquished the throne to his son, Mohammed Reza. Reza swore allegiance to the allies and promised to allow the British and Soviets to extract and export Iran’s oil. Iranians received 16% of the profits from the sale.

6. 1944
Iran’s constitution provided for a Parliament in addition to the shah. In this year, a member of Parliament, Mohammed Mossadegh, proposed a bill that would postpone all new oil contracts with Britain and Russia until they ended their occupation of Iran. He argued that these countries would be able to force Iran into a poor deal as long as they occupied their country. The bill passed and angered the British and the Soviets as they had been counting on the shah to give them favorable deals. The shah did not support the bill because he knew that he owed his position to the British and calculated that he could strengthen his power by supporting the British.

7. 1951
In the years after WWII, the British owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AICO) became a focus of resentment and represented to the Iranians the exploitation and weakness of Iran. In 1951, popular pressure forced the shah to appoint Mossadegh as Prime Minister. Mossadegh moved to nationalize, or take over, the British oil company so that control would come into Iranian hands. The British feared that they would lose access to the oil and revenues that they desperately needed, and refused to compromise. The US attempted to negotiate a compromise, but the negotiations failed to resolve the dispute.

8. 1953
In the early 1950s the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union was heating up. The Soviets’ proximity to and relationship with Iran worried President Eisenhower. American and British officials saw the shah as the key to their goals in Iran. Both countries wanted oil-producing Iran firmly aligned against the Soviet Union. They aimed to rid Iran of the Mossadegh government, and increase the power of the shah, whom they were convinced would do their bidding. The shah, anxious to increase his power, approved of the coup in advance. In 1953, the CIA and British secret services bribed a small group of Iranians to instigate a coup. Mossadegh was removed from power, and the shah took steps to increase his power . Mossadegh was convicted of treason and spent the rest of his life (he died in 1967) in jail or under house arrest.

9. 1950s
The shah was anxious to modernize Iran and make it a more powerful country. He had the support of the US and Britain, who wanted a stable oil-producing Iran as an ally against the Soviet Union. With the help of the US and Israel, the shah formed the SAVAK, a secret police organization, which he used to hunt down opponents. SAVAK became known for the mistreatment, torture, and execution of opponents and political prisoners. The shah’s actions severely limited the public expression of political ideas. He also negotiated a new oil contract with Britain and the US that gave Iran 50% of the profits. The shah used most of the profits on himself. During the 1950s, the US provided more than $500 million in military aid to the shah.

10. SAVAK

11. 1960s
During the 1960s, the shah continued his efforts to modernize Iran. The most important reforms included redistributing land to peasants, giving women the right to vote, and emphasizing education. Land reforms took land away from wealthy landowners and from religious schools and mosques, but did not provide most peasants with enough land to reach a level of subsistence. The shah also introduced laws that gave women more rights in marriage. These reforms were a source of resentment among some religious leaders because they challenged traditional interpretations of Islamic law and replaced them with what religious leaders saw as Western values.

12. 1964
The Ayatollah Khomeini, a high ranking cleric, opposed the shah’s rule. He urged all Iranians to protest all new laws that he argued would “ turn Iran into an American colony”. He proposed cancelling all laws that he considered un-Islamic. He proposed taking away women’s right to vote, banning “corrupt content” from TV and radio programs, and prohibiting alcohol. He considered the shah to be an enemy of Islam who was unconcerned about the welfare of the Iranians. Khomeini’s ideas struck a chord with Iranians of many classes and ideologies. Although all Iranians did not agree with his religious ideology, they were pleased to have a voice speak out against the shah. The shah ordered Khomeini to be arrested and exiled. In coming years, visitors would smuggle pamphlets and cassette recordings of Khomeini back into Iran.

13. 1976 Shah statement in Sept 1976:
“There are still terrorists in Iran, but they had received new orders, now striving to create chaos by means other than assassination. They talk of freedom, but they do not tell us what kind of freedom they seek. Iran is the envy of the world. They want to take us back to the stone age. This, however, [will] not be allowed as long as I, the armed forces, and patriotic Iranians are here to protect the country.”
The Life and Times of the Shah; Gholam Reza Afkhami; page 447

14. 1978
In January, 1978, a government newspaper published a negative article about Khomeini in an effort to discredit him. Some theological students protested. The army brutally put down the protest and killed several students. Leading members of the clergy who opposed the shah called for protests and attendance at mosques forty days after the death of the students. This was a Shia tradition of mourning for forty days and then gathering to remember the dead. Protests were peaceful, except in the city of Tabriz, where the government sent in tanks to control the demonstrators. The shah’s army and police forces killed more than 100 people. Iranians protested again forty days later. The cycle continued and over the next 14 months, the government killed tens of thousands of protestors. In December 1978, more than 2 million people took to the streets of Tehran.

15. Revolution

16. Revolution

17. The Revolution
YouTube - Iranian Revolution (Feb 1979)