Iranian revolution underlying and precipitating causes PDF

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iranian causes of revolution...

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Iranian revolution underlying and precipitating causes Origins of Iranian revolution part 1 Slide 2 Slide 3 -

Conservative revolution Very large population- 38 million when revolution occurred 61% are Persian Shi’ism spread throughout Iran when the Safavid conquered iran in 16th century In 19th century Qajar dynasty cooperated with expanding imperialist powers of Great Britain and Russia 1859- shah or ruler of Iran allowed the British to lay telegraph lines to connect Britain to India 1879 accepted military aid to create Iranian Cossack bridge The shah was trying to modernize the country o Trying to professionalize the army Internal resentment about modernization project that shah was doing o Many internally resented the economic privileges given to British and Russians

Slide 4 - Western imperialism created resentment in Iran (underlying cause) - Continues to be a problem in 20th century - Everything changes when US exerts a great deal of power in Iran during cold war period Slide 5 - Early 20th century- Iranian intellectuals call for a parliament to balance power of dynasty of the Shah and to protect national interests from foreign imperialist powers - 1921 shah signed a treaty stating neither the USSR nor Iran would allow its territory to be used for launching aggression against the other country - British were unhappy with the Qajar connection to the Soviet Union o Also very fed up with the corrupt and ineffective dynasty o British trying to gain more control of government by putting their own man (their colonel) in as prime minister o 1925 colonel reza helped to convince the parliament to depose the Qajar dynasty o 1926- reza shah crowned himself king of kings- pahvali dynasty Slide 7 - There were corrupt and undemocratic aspects of Reza Shahs (Pahlavi dynasty) government - He wanted to modernize the economy and create a middle class of doctors, lawyers, civil servants and teachers - Build infrastructure (roads and railroad) - A lot of his economic development was carried out in a very corrupt manner therefore, a very small group made a lot of money off of it.

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Wanted to gain more support so he renegotiated terms of oil concessions with the British Restricted political participation to those he approves of

Slide 9- By 1934 the german and Iranian connection became problematic - Soviets and the british feared the shah would side with Germany - 1941- both british and Russians would occupy iran to prevent any kind of german invasion through that border Slide 10- Reza shah resigned in 1941 and abdicated in favor of his son who took over his position Slide 11- “when the allies deposed reza shah, we were really free, you could say almost anything you wanted to say, write anything you wanted, and wear what you wanted to.” (Jalal-al-e Ahmad) - Women felt as though they had been released from prison because they could be seen in their chadors - “when reza shah went it was really clear how weak and poor we really were” - Many were hopeful positive change would come from the shift in power - This process of the switch made it even more clear how dependent iran was on western powers - They still weren’t sure what to do with their freedom now though - Reflecting on underlying problems and one of the underlying causes of the revolution which is the underdevelopment and dependency of iran on western powers. (underlying causes are factors, trends and conditions Slide – - Savak arrested, tortured and killed thousands of Iranians, savak was inseparable from western influence and interference - Sent agents to spy on Iranians abroad Origins lecture part 2- immediate events of 1960s and 70s Slide 2 - In the 1960s the US pressured the shah to relax restrictions on political expressions as a condition for ongoing aid o As a result, the shah allowed the national front, mosaddeghs organization, right coalition of various groups to reconstitute and it was immediately critical of the shahs policies Slide 4 the white revolution - Series of reforms implemented by the shah in 1963 not a revolution - Wanted to reduce growing unrest in the country - Reforms included agrarian reform, giving women right to vote and creating literacy corps - Literacy corp was part of shahs drive to modernize iran but modernization requires an educated population

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As a result of this- elementary school enrollment did increase Land reform took land away from wealthy, absentee landowners as well as lama or clergy who used land to support religious schools But 75% of peasants did not receive enough land to reach a level of subsistence o Led to them not becoming supporters of the shah as he had hoped The changed made alienated part of the clergy by challenging their interpretation of Islamic law The white revolution was also not enough to deal with the growth of the population as well The white revolution was not enough to deal with the demographic growth It was economically successful, but the benefits were not distributed evenly, there was a lot of opposition to the shahs policies

Change of class structure contributing to revolution Iran was very divided to begin with, modern middle class and traditional middle class Large impoverished peasantry and urban population Clear divide between modern and traditional sector of iran Because of the increase in the modern middle class, the percentage in agricultural labor declined

Slide 5- rise of religious opposition and ayatollah khomeini - Ayatollah Khomeini believed that the shahs reform were an assult on islam and the role of the clergy in Iranian society - Demanded article 2 of 1906 constituion to be enforced - Proposed cancelling all laws considered un-islamic including laws giving women the right to vote - Wanted to enforce strict Islamic culture by banning western content from TV - Some began to protest and were then killed by the Shah - Khomeini spoke out against the Shah

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Mass unrest over increasing poverty and unemployment and the inequality that exsisted Protest in the 1970s because people were aware of the money iran was bringing in from oil and the fact that the oil wealth was not being equally distributed Dissident elite movements Iran very diverse group Attempts at constitutional rule Communist party, the tudeh party, the national front, khomeni, guerrilla, university students and workers...