Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
Mohammad Reza was the eldest son of Reza Shah Pahlavi, an army officer who became the ruler of Iran and founder of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925. Mohammad Reza was educated in Switzerland and returned to Iran in 1935. In 1941 the Soviet Union and Great Britain, fearing that the shah would cooperate with Nazi Germany to rid himself of their tutelage, occupied Iran and forced Reza Shah into exile. Mohammad Reza then replaced his father on the throne (September 16, 1941).
In the early 1950's a struggle for control of the Iranian government developed between the shah and Mohammad Mosaddeq, a zealous Iranian nationalist. The shah reversed Mosaddeq’s nationalization. With U.S. assistance he then proceeded to carry out a national development program, called the White Revolution, that included construction of an expanded road, rail, and air network, a number of dam and irrigation projects, the eradication of diseases such as malaria, the encouragement and support of industrial growth, and land reform. The White Revolution solidified domestic support for the shah, but he faced continuing political criticism from those who felt that the reforms did not move far or fast enough and religious criticism from those who believed westernization to be antithetical to Islam. These negative aspects of the shah’s rule became markedly accentuated after Iran began to reap greater revenues from its petroleum exports beginning in 1973.
Widespread dissatisfaction among the lower classes, the Shīʿite clergy, the bazaar merchants, and students led in 1978 to the growth of support for the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shīʿite religious leader living in exile in Paris. Rioting and turmoil in Iran’s major cities brought down four successive governments; on January 16, 1979, the shah left the country, and Khomeini assumed control.
In the early 1950's a struggle for control of the Iranian government developed between the shah and Mohammad Mosaddeq, a zealous Iranian nationalist. The shah reversed Mosaddeq’s nationalization. With U.S. assistance he then proceeded to carry out a national development program, called the White Revolution, that included construction of an expanded road, rail, and air network, a number of dam and irrigation projects, the eradication of diseases such as malaria, the encouragement and support of industrial growth, and land reform. The White Revolution solidified domestic support for the shah, but he faced continuing political criticism from those who felt that the reforms did not move far or fast enough and religious criticism from those who believed westernization to be antithetical to Islam. These negative aspects of the shah’s rule became markedly accentuated after Iran began to reap greater revenues from its petroleum exports beginning in 1973.
Widespread dissatisfaction among the lower classes, the Shīʿite clergy, the bazaar merchants, and students led in 1978 to the growth of support for the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shīʿite religious leader living in exile in Paris. Rioting and turmoil in Iran’s major cities brought down four successive governments; on January 16, 1979, the shah left the country, and Khomeini assumed control.