The Iranian Revolution,[Note 1] also known as the Islamic Revolution,[3] culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Imperial State of Iran by the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the monarchical government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was superseded by Ruhollah Khomeini, an Islamist cleric who had headed one of the rebel factions, and became the country’s supreme leader.[4]: 154 The ousting of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, formally marked the end of Iran's historical monarchy.[5]
In 1953, the CIA and MI6-backed 1953 Iranian coup d'état overthrew Iran's prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, who had nationalized the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.[6][7][8] The coup reinstated Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as an absolute monarch and significantly increased the level of influence of the United States over Iran.[9]
In 1963, the Shah had launched the White Revolution, a top-down modernization and land reform program that alienated many sectors of society, especially the clergy. Khomeini emerged as a vocal critic and was exiled in 1964. However, as ideological tensions persisted between Pahlavi and Khomeini, anti-government demonstrations began in October 1977, developing into a campaign of civil resistance that included communists, socialists, and Islamists.[10][11][12] Mass protests were underway. A key turning point occurred on 19 August 1978, when the Cinema Rex fire by Islamic militants killed around 400 people.[13][14] However a large portion of the public believed it was a false flag operation by SAVAK, the Shah's secret police, to discredit the opposition and justify a crackdown, fueling nationwide outrage and mobilization. By the end of 1978, the revolution had become a broad-based uprising that paralyzed the country for the remainder of that year.[15][16]
On 16 January 1979, Pahlavi left Iran for exile,[17] leaving his duties to Iran's Regency Council and Shapour Bakhtiar, the opposition-based prime minister. On 1 February 1979, Khomeini returned, following an invitation by the government;[18][19] several million greeted him as he landed in Tehran.[20] By 11 February, the monarchy was brought down and Khomeini assumed leadership while guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed Pahlavi loyalists in armed combat.[21][22] Following the March 1979 Islamic Republic referendum, in which 98% approved the shift to an Islamic republic, the new government began drafting the present-day constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran;[23][10][11][24][25] Khomeini emerged as the absolute supreme leader of Iran in December 1979.[26]
The revolution was fueled by widespread perceptions of the Shah's regime as corrupt, repressive, and overly reliant on foreign powers, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, at the expense of Iran's sovereignty and cultural identity.[27][28] However others perceived the revolution's success as unusual,[29] since it lacked customary causes of revolutionary sentiment, e.g. defeat in war, financial crisis, peasant rebellion, or disgruntled military.[30] It occurred in a country experiencing relative prosperity,[18][25] produced profound change at great speed,[31] and resulted in a massive exile that characterizes a large portion of Iranian diaspora,[32] and replaced a pro-Western secular[33] but authoritarian monarchy[18] with an anti-Western Islamic republic[18][24][25][34] based on the concept of Velâyat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), straddling between authoritarianism and totalitarianism.[35] In addition to declaring the destruction of Israel as a core objective,[36][37] post-revolutionary Iran aimed to undermine the influence of Sunni leaders in the region by supporting Shi'ite political ascendancy and exporting Khomeinist doctrines abroad.[38] In the aftermath of the revolution, Iran began to back Shia militancy across the region to expand its influence in the Arab world, seeking to establish an Iranian-led Shia political and military order in the Middle East.[39]
Names
While the name "Iranian Revolution"[Note 2] is common, it is also referred to as the 1979 Revolution, the Islamic Revolution[Note 3] or the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Background (1891–1977)
Main article: Background and causes of the Iranian Revolution
Reasons advanced for the revolution and its populist, nationalist, and later Shia Islamic character include:
A backlash against forced Westernization and imperialism;
The 1953 Iranian coup d'état;
A rise in expectations created by the 1973 oil revenue windfall;
An overly ambitious economic program;
Autocratic Rule;
Anger over a short, sharp economic contraction in 1977–1978; and[Note 4]
Other shortcomings of the previous regime.
The Shah's regime was seen as oppressive, brutal,[45][46] corrupt, and lavish by some of the society's classes at that time.[45][47] It also suffered from functional failures that brought economic bottlenecks, shortages, and inflation.[48] The Shah was perceived by many as beholden to—if not a puppet of—a non-Muslim Western power (i.e., the United States)[49][50] whose culture was affecting that of Iran. At the same time, support for the Shah may have waned among Western politicians and media—especially under the administration of US President Jimmy Carter—as a result of the Shah's support for OPEC petroleum price increases earlier in the decade.[51] When President Carter enacted a human rights policy which said that countries guilty of human rights violations would be deprived of American arms or aid, this helped give some Iranians the courage to post open letters and petitions in the hope that the repression by the government might subside.[52]
The revolution that substituted the monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi with Islam and Khomeini is credited in part to the spread of the Shi'a version of the Islamic revival. While often described mainly as a religious revolt, the revolution also grew from a mix of nationalist goals, political populism, and religious radicalism.[53][page needed] It resisted westernization and saw Ayatollah Khomeini as following in the footsteps of the Shi'a Imam Husayn ibn Ali, with the Shah playing the role of Husayn's foe, the hated tyrant Yazid I.[54] Other factors include the underestimation of Khomeini's Islamist movement by both the Shah's advisors—who considered them a minor threat compared to the Marxists and Islamic socialists[55][56][57]—and by the secularist opponents of the government—who thought the Khomeinists could be sidelined.[58]
Tobacco Protest (1891)
Main article: Tobacco Protest
At the end of the 19th century, the Shi'a clergy (ulama) had a significant influence on Iranian society. The clergy first showed itself to be a powerful political force in opposition to the monarchy with the 1891 Tobacco protest. On 20 March 1890, the long-standing Iranian monarch Nasir al-Din Shah granted a concession to British Major G. F. Talbot for a full monopoly over the production, sale, and export of tobacco for 50 years.[59] At the time, the Persian tobacco industry employed over 200,000 people, so the concession represented a major blow to Persian farmers and bazaaris whose livelihoods were largely dependent on the lucrative tobacco business.[60] The boycotts and protests against it were widespread and extensive as result of Mirza Hasan Shirazi's fatwa (judicial decree).[61] Within two years, Nasir al-Din Shah found himself powerless to stop the popular movement and cancelled the concession.[62]
The Tobacco Protest was the first significant Iranian resistance against Shah and foreign interests, revealing the power of the people and the ulama influence among them.[59]
Persian Constitutional Revolution (1905–1911)
Main article: Persian Constitutional Revolution
The growing dissatisfaction continued until the Constitutional Revolution of 1905–1911. The revolution led to the establishment of a parliament, the National Consultative Assembly (also known as the Majlis), and approval of the first constitution. Although the constitutional revolution was successful in weakening the autocracy of the Qajar regime, it failed to provide a powerful alternative government. Therefore, in the decades following the establishment of the new parliament, a number of critical events took place. Many of these events can be viewed as a continuation of the struggle between the constitutionalists and the Shahs of Persia, many of whom were backed by foreign powers against the parliament.
Reza Shah (1921–1941)
Main article: Rezā Shāh
Insecurity and chaos that were created after the Constitutional Revolution led to the rise of General Reza Khan, the commander of the elite Persian Cossack Brigade who seized power in a coup d'état in February 1921. He established a constitutional monarchy, deposing the last Qajar Shah, Ahmad Shah, in 1925 and being designated monarch by the National Assembly, to be known thenceforth as Reza Shah, founder of the Pahlavi dynasty.
There were widespread social, economic, and political reforms introduced during his reign, a number of which led to public discontent that would provide the circumstances for the Iranian Revolution. Particularly controversial was the replacement of Islamic laws with secular Western ones and the forbidding of traditional Islamic clothing, separation of the sexes, and veiling of women's faces with the niqab.[63] Police forcibly removed and tore the chadors off women who resisted his ban on the public hijab.
In 1935, dozens were killed and hundreds injured in the Goharshad Mosque rebellion.[64][65][66] During the early rise of Reza Shah, Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi founded the Qom Seminary and created important changes in seminaries. However, he would avoid entering into political issues, as did other religious leaders who followed him. Hence, no widespread anti-government attempts were organized by the clergy during the rule of Reza Shah. The future Ayatollah Khomeini was a student of Sheikh Abdul Karim Ha'eri.[67]
Anglo-Soviet invasion and Mohammad Reza Shah (1941–1951)
Main articles: Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
In 1941, an invasion by allied British and Soviet troops deposed Reza Shah, who was considered friendly to Nazi Germany. They installed his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Shah.[68] Iran remained under Soviet occupation until the Red Army withdrew in June 1946.[69]
The post-war years were characterized by political instability, as the Shah clashed with the pro-Soviet Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam, the communist Tudeh Party grew in size and influence and the Iranian Army had to deal with Soviet-sponsored separatist movements in Iranian Azerbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan.[70]
Mosaddegh and The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (1951–1952)
Main articles: Mohammad Mosaddegh and Anglo-Persian Oil Company
From 1901 on, the British Owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company (renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1935), enjoyed a monopoly on the sale and production of Iranian oil. It was the most profitable British business in the world.[71] Most Iranians lived in poverty while the wealth generated from Iranian oil played a decisive role in maintaining Britain as a preeminent global power. In 1951, Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh pledged to throw the company out of Iran, reclaim the petroleum reserves and free Iran from foreign powers.
In 1952, Mosaddegh nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and became a national hero. The British, however, were outraged and accused him of theft. The British unsuccessfully sought adjudication from the International Court of Justice and the United Nations, sent warships to the Persian Gulf, and finally imposed a crushing embargo. Mosaddegh was unmoved by Britain's campaign against him. One European newspaper, the Frankfurter Neue Presse, reported that Mosaddegh "would rather be fried in Persian oil than make the slightest concession to the British." The British considered an armed invasion, but U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided on a coup after being refused American military support by US President Harry S. Truman, who sympathized with nationalist movements like Mosaddegh's and had nothing but contempt for old-style imperialists like those who ran the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Mosaddegh, however, learned of Churchill's plans and ordered the British embassy to be closed in October 1952, forcing all British diplomats and agents to leave the country.
Although the British were initially turned down in their request for American support by President Truman, the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower as US president in November 1952 changed the American stance toward the conflict. This, paired with Cold War paranoia and fears of communist influence, contributed to American strategic actions. On 20 January 1953, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother, C.I.A. Director Allen Dulles, told their British counterparts that they were ready to move against Mosaddegh. In their eyes, any country not decisively allied with the United States was a potential enemy. Iran had immense oil wealth, a long border with the Soviet Union, and a nationalist prime minister. The prospect of a fall into communism and a "second China" (after Mao Zedong won the Chinese Civil War) terrified the Dulles brothers. Operation Ajax was born, in which the only democratic government Iran ever had was deposed.[72]
Iranian coup d'état and US influence
Main article: 1953 Iranian coup d'état
On 15 August 1953 a coup d'état was initiated to remove Mosaddegh, with the support of the United States, the United Kingdom and most of the Shia clergy.[72] The Shah fled to Italy when the initial coup attempt on August 15 failed, but returned after a successful second attempt on August 19.[73] Mosaddegh was removed from power and put under house arrest, while lieutenant general Fazlollah Zahedi was appointed as new Prime Minister by the Shah. The sovereign, who was mainly seen as a figurehead at the time, eventually managed to break free from the shackles of the Iranian elites and impose himself as an autocratic reformist ruler.[74]
The coup reinstated Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as an absolute monarch and significantly increased United States influence over Iran. Economically, American firms gained considerable control over Iranian oil production, with US companies taking around 40 percent of the profits. Politically, Iran acted as a counterweight to the Soviet Union and aligned closely with the Western Bloc. Additionally, the US provided the Shah both the funds and the training for SAVAK, Iran's infamous secret police, with CIA assistance.[9][75][76]
SAVAK's repression unfolded with little scrutiny or challenge from the US. By the late 1970s, popular resistance to the Shah's rule had reached a breaking point.[9][18][77]
White Revolution (1963–1979)
Main article: White Revolution
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
The White Revolution was a far-reaching series of reforms in Iran launched in 1963 by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and lasting until 1979. Mohammad Reza Shah's reform program was built especially to weaken those classes that supported the traditional system. It consisted of several elements including land reform; sales of some state-owned factories to finance the land reform; the enfranchisement of women; nationalization of forests and pastures; formation of a literacy corps; and the institution of profit-sharing schemes for workers in industry.[78]
The Shah pushed the White Revolution as a step toward westernization,[79] and it was a way for him to legitimize the Pahlavi dynasty. Part of the reason for launching the White Revolution was that the Shah hoped to eliminate the influence of landlords and to create a new base of support among the peasants and the working class.[80][81] Thus, the White Revolution in Iran was an attempt to introduce reform from above and preserve traditional power patterns. Through land reform, the essence of the White Revolution, the Shah hoped to ally himself with the peasantry in the countryside, and hoped to sever their ties with the aristocracy in the city.
The Shah did not foresee the White Revolution leading to new social tensions that created many of the problems he was trying to avoid. The Shah's reforms more than quadrupled the combined size of the two classes that posed the greatest challenges to his monarchy in the past — the intelligentsia, and the urban working class. Their resentment of the Shah also grew, as they were now stripped of organizations that had represented them in the past, such as political parties, professional associations, trade unions, and independent newspapers. Land reform, instead of allying the peasants with the government, produced large numbers of independent farmers and landless laborers who became part of the political opposition, with no loyalty to the Shah. Many of the masses resented the increasingly corrupt government; their loyalty to the clergy, who were viewed as more concerned with the fate of the populace, remained consistent or increased. As Ervand Abrahamian pointed out: "The White Revolution had been designed to preempt a Red Revolution. Instead, it paved the way for an Islamic Revolution."[82] In theory, oil money funneled to the elite was supposed to create jobs and factories, eventually distributing the money. Instead the wealth tended to remain concentrated in the hands of the very few at the top.[83]
Rise and exile of Ayatollah Khomeini (1963–1979)
Main article: Ruhollah Khomeini
See also: Movement of 15 Khordad and Ruhollah Khomeini's return to Iran § Exile
The post-revolutionary leader, Twelver Shia cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, first rose to political prominence in 1963 when he led opposition to the Shah and his White Revolution. Khomeini was arrested in 1963 after declaring the Shah a "wretched, miserable man" who "embarked on the [path toward] destruction of Islam in Iran."[84] Three days of major riots throughout Iran followed, with 15,000 dead from police fire as reported by opposition sources.[85] However, anti-revolutionary sources conjectured that just 32 were killed.[86]
Khomeini was released after eight months of house arrest and continued his agitation, condemning Iran's close cooperation with Israel and its capitulations, or extension of diplomatic immunity, to American government personnel in Iran. In November 1964, Khomeini was re-arrested and sent into exile where he remained for 15 years (mostly in Najaf, Iraq), until the revolution.
Ideology of the Iranian Revolution
Main article: Ideology of the Iranian Revolution
See also: Islamic fundamentalism in Iran
Residents of Tehran participating in the demonstrations of 5 June 1963 with pictures of Ruhollah Khomeini in their hands
In this interim period of "disaffected calm,"[87] the budding Iranian revival began to undermine the idea of Westernization as progress that was the basis of the Shah's secular reign, and to form the ideology of the 1979 revolution: Jalal Al-e-Ahmad's idea of Gharbzadegi—that Western culture was a plague or an intoxication to be eliminated;[88] Ali Shariati's vision of Islam as the one true liberator of the Third World from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution