The Pahlavis ruled as shahs, or kings, but the figure known to modern history by the title “Shah of Iran” was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi (moo-HAHM-ed RAY-zah; 1919-1980), who assumed power in 1941. (In a reference to ancient traditions, the shahs also used the titles of “King of Kings” and “Light of the Aryans.”) The Shah tried to rapidly modernize his country, both by building roads, airports, and schools and by making its culture more Western. The latter aim placed him at odds with Shiite fundamentalists, who demanded that the country maintain its Islamic traditions [see sidebar, “Shiite Fundamentalism”].
Nor were the fundamentalists the only people the Shah managed to anger: he maintained a powerful secret police force and dealt severely with student groups that wanted to bring about a revolution to establish communism. The Communists had the support of the Soviet Union to the north, which in 1978 also helped bring about a Communist revolution in neighboring Afghanistan.
Muhammad Reza Pahlavi's attempts to modernize Iran conflicted with the Shiite Fundamentalists' traditional beliefs. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Once in power, the Afghan Communists began killing off their enemies, and their opponents—who were also Islamic fundamentalists, though not Shiites—took to the mountains to wage war against them. Meanwhile, unrest was growing in Iran. In 1979 the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (ie-uh-TOHL-uh roo-HOHL-uh hoh-MAY-nee;
1900-1989), a powerful Shiite priest, led a revolution that overthrew the Shah.
The Shah fled the country and died a year later.
A number of groups, including the Communists, helped bring about the Iranian revolution. Each hoped to achieve their own aims. But the Ayatollah's forces rounded up all opponents, killing or jailing them, and seized control of the U. S. embassy, where they held hundreds of American citizens as hostages for more than a year. Also in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in order to deal
Directly with the Islamic enemies of the Communist government. The Islamic forces called themselves mujahideen (moo-ZHAH-hi-deen) or “holy warriors.” For the next decade they waged a bloody war against the Soviets.
The holding of the U. S. hostages and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had effects felt in the United States. Many Americans perceived that President Jimmy Carter (1924-; President 1977-1981) did not handle the hostage crisis well. His response to the Afghan invasion—keeping American athletes out of the 1980 Olympics in the Soviet capital of Moscow— seemed weak at best. These events helped lead to the election of Ronald Reagan (1911-; President 1981-1989).
While the Soviets fought the mujahideen in Afghanistan during the 1980s, Iran fought an even bigger war against Iraq (ee-RAHK) to the west. In fact, the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), which pitted the nation that had once been Persia against what had once been Babylonia, was the largest con-
President Jimmy Carter signs the Mideast Peace Treaty, Washington, DC, 1979. UPl/Corbis-Bettmann. Reproduced by permission
Flict since World War II (1939-1945). It claimed more than 1.5 million lives and resulted in a stalemate—that is, a tie.
The unhappy history of the region continued even after the death of the Ayatollah and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, both in 1989. Many of the mujahideen proved to be as ruthless as the Communists they replaced, and they continued to fight amongst themselves. Iran remained a fundamentalist Islamic republic, though its leaders did begin relaxing some aspects of its system.
World History
