On to Modern Iran

Yesterday, we reviewed 18 centuries of Iranian history, from Alexander the Great's ancient invasion to the first foundations of the modern Iranian state. But if you really want to get to modern Iran, you can't stop there. You have to go through Safavids, Qajars, Russians, and Brits. Oh, and the CIA, too. Not to mention Ayatollah Khomeini.

Shia Safavids

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Iran's Shia Safavids waged a war for Muslim hearts and minds against the Sunni Ottoman Turks. They enjoyed some successes in the intermittent struggle. They even conquered Iraq. But eventually their empire fell into decline--especially after Safavid shahs levied heavy taxes to finance lavish lifestyles rather than Shia jihad.

The final Safavid straw came in 1722, when the shah tried to convert Afghan Sunnis to Shia Islam by force. The Afghans rebelled, laid siege to the Safavids' capital, and executed the offending shah.

During the ensuing instability, Ottoman and Russian forces encroached on Iran's borders. Then, in the 1730s, the "Persian Napoleon," Nadir Shah, seized control. Nadir Shah kicked the foreigners out and built a new Iranian empire. He conquered Afghanistan and invaded India, too, but his budding dynasty died with him in 1747. Iran fell into relative disorder until 1794, when a local ruler, Agha Mohammad Shah, overcame all rivals and founded the Qajar dynasty.

Qajar Q&A

The Qajars set up shop in Tehran (which has been Iran's capital ever since) and waged two disastrous wars against the Russians. In the first, the Qajars lost Georgia. In the second, they lost Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Russians kept pushing, too. During the 1830s and '40s, they expanded their political influence inside Iran--and caught the attention of another western power, the British, who wanted to limit the czar's reach to points well west of British India. But neither imperial power wanted a war over Iran. Both preferred peace and a weak Iranian government, which they worked together to achieve.

The Qajars stayed in power, but were increasingly beholden to the imperial powers. To raise cash, they gave trade concessions to westerners and watched while high-ranking officials accepted outsiders' bribes. By the start of the 20th century, much of the population saw the government as fundamentally corrupt.

The Constitution Solution

Eventually, protests by Muslim clerics grew into a popular movement demanding a written constitution that limited the shah's powers through an elected parliament called the Majlis. With strikes and demonstrations, the movement won its campaign in 1906. Shah Muzaffar ad Din signed the constitution on December 30, 1906. Five days later, he died.

Unfortunately, hopes for constitutional rule barely outlived him. In 1908, the Russians supported an attempt to eliminate the Majlis and roll back the constitution. Pro-constitution forces chased the shah into exile, but by the end of 1911, Russian troops were in northern Iran. Within months, the Majlis had been dismissed and the constitution suspended.

Then, in 1914, World War I broke out. Iran proclaimed itself neutral, but British and Russian forces nevertheless staged attacks against the Ottomans (who were allied with the Germans) from Iranian soil. Fallout from the fighting produced a famine in parts of the country, and the government's impotence in the face of both fighting and famine fueled separatist movements.

Reza's Rise (and Fall)

In 1921, an officer in the Persian Cossacks Brigade, Reza Khan, joined up with a prominent journalist, Sayyid Zia ad Din Tabatabai, to seize control in Tehran. At first, the journalist played the role of prime minister, but within a few months he had been forced into exile. Within a few years, Reza Khan had become not only prime minister but shah.

Reza Shah Pahlavi, as he was now called, worked quickly to modernize Iran. He built a disciplined military and used it to unify the nation. He expanded the Iranian bureaucracy and established a public school system open to girls as well as boys. He built new roads and factories, abolished the wearing of veils, and imposed European fashions. He also wielded dictatorial power, silenced his critics brutally, and used his power to pad his pockets.

In part because he feared continued interference from Britain and Russia (reborn as the Soviet Union), Reza Shah cultivated economic ties with Germany in the 1930s. When World War II broke out, Iran once again declared its neutrality, but in 1941 the British and Soviets invaded to ensure supply routes across the Iranian plateau. Resistance was futile. Reza Shah abdicated in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Shah, who promised to serve as a constitutional monarch.

Reza Reprise

When the war was over, men's minds turned to thoughts of oil. First the Soviets tried to keep control over oil-rich areas in the north, precipitating what's known as the Azerbaijan Crisis (the first case ever brought before the U.N. Security Council). Then, after the Soviets went home, democratically elected Majlis member Mohammad Mossadeq led a movement to nationalize Iran's oil industry.

Not only did Mossadeq achieve that policy goal, he also became immensely popular, ultimately taking over as prime minister. Unfortunately for Mossadeq, neither the British nor the Americans liked him much, and in 1953 CIA agents helped the shah topple him.

With Mossadeq out of the way, the shah consolidated power. But because of the CIA's role in Mossadeq's overthrow, and subsequent special treatment the shah gave the United States, many Iranians came to see Mohammad Reza Shah as an American puppet. Many also came to view the United States as the economic and spiritual heir to the British and Russian imperialists--and they deeply resented any American interference in their affairs.

Khomeini Comes Home

Perhaps the most outspoken critic of all was the Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, a major Shia spiritual leader. After Khomeini made a particularly fiery speech in 1963, the shah had him arrested, only to see three days of violent riots erupt. Suppressing the riots and sending Khomeini into exile the following year calmed the country down for a while, but discontent continued to mount.

In 1971, Khomeini published a book that laid out the religious justification for Islamic rule in Iran. In 1979, after more than a year of violent protests, the shah fled Iran and Khomeini came home in triumph. Within a few weeks, the shah's government had been overthrown. Within a year, Iranians had voted overwhelmingly to establish an Islamic republic and taken 66 hostages at the American embassy. Khomeini would rule as the country's "supreme leader" until his death in 1989. His successors still rule.