Transcript Iran

Iran
Essential Question
• How does Iran’s history influence its
present day government and economy?
Early History
• Ancient Persia
• Roots of Modern Iran traced to Sixth
Century B.C.
• Islamic religion – Seventh Century Arab
invasions
Ancient Iran (Persia)
Iran was known as Persia until 1925
• Throughout history Iran
has been known as a
crossroads country
– Consistently under invasion
because of its location
• Indo-European-speaking
invaders took over in the
15th Century B.C.
– Most famous kings of the
Persian Empire 6th Century
B.C. (Cyrus, Darius,
Xerxes)
Ancient Iran (Persia)
• 3rd and 4th Century B.C.
– Greek conquest under
Alexander the Great
• 7th Century A.D. – ArabIslamic Invasion
• 11th Century A.D. –
Turkish Tribes invade
• 13th Century A.D. –
Mongol Invasion
Questions
• What impact has the history of
invasion had on Iran?
• What other country of study
does Iran resemble?
– China
• Ancient and magnificent
civilizations
• Both fell into the “sleep of nations”
(partly at the hands of outsiders)
• Woke up far behind the West (both
view West as adversary)
• Both struggle moving into modern
times
Critical Junctures in Iranian History
• Safavid Dynasty – 1501 – 1722
• Kajar (Qajar) Dynasty – 1795 – 1925
• Pahlavi Dynasty – 1925 – 1979
• Islamic Republic
The Safavids
• Practiced a minority version of Islam called
Shia or Shiism
– Eventually declared Persia’s state religion –
most subjects switched from Sunni to Shia
and are Shiites to this day
• Immediately attacked by bordering Sunni
countries and the Ottoman Turks
– Invasions by the Ottoman Turks caused
Safavid rulers to seek out the assistance from
early Dutch, English, and Portuguese sea
traders in the late 16th early 17th Century
The Kajars (Qajars)
• Emerged in 1795 out of over
70 years of chaos
• Weak state of affairs allowed
for Russia and Britain to
dominate Persia
• Led to Constitutional
Revolution 1906-1907
– First Constitution and elected
Parliament (Majlis)
– Led by Muslim clerics and
liberals wanting a more
Westernized form of gov’t
Nasir-al-Din
(1829-1896)
The Pahlavis
• Reza Khan – 1st Pahlavi
Shah
– Illiterate cavalry officer
– Renamed the country Iran
• Modernizing Tyrant and
Westernization
– Economic growth through
close state supervision and oil
– Western style civil service and
a national bank
– Western style universities and
dress
The Pahlavis
• Reza Khan exiled by the British
in 1941 and dies in 1944 – His
son Mohammed Reza Pahlavi
succeeds him
• “White” Revolution 1963 as
opposed to “Red” Revolution
– Peasant land reforms
– Suffrage for women
– Literacy
• Excellent relations with the U.S.
• Oil – Prices soar during 1973
Arab-Israeli War
The Pahlavis
• With the rise in oil prices mass amounts of
wealth came to Iran and the Shah
• New wealth caused disruption
– Education
– Few got rich, many stayed poor
– Corruption
– As the rural population migrated to cities they
turned to the mosque for guidance – Pahlavis had
alienated the Muslim clergy
– Ridiculous spending on military 17% of GDP
All these factors set the stage for the Islamic Revolution
Islamic Revolution
• 1975 Resurgence Party
• Secular and Religious
intellectuals alike were
discontent
• The Shah’s over ambition made
Iran a debtor nation
• Ruhollah Khomeini
– Exiled in 1964 to Iraq
– Forced to leave Iraq for Paris in
1978 – recorded tapes
• Jan. 1979 the Shah had fled
2 ½ millenia of
monarchy ended in Iran
with the introduction of
the Islamic Republic of
Iran and a new
constitution in 1979
Islamic Republic
• Jurist’s Guardianship
• Shari’a – only senior clerics have
the competence to understand
• 97% of 21 million voters endorsed
the new Republic
• Constitution drawn up by the
Assembly of Religious Experts
– Theocratic in nature
– Much power to Khomeini
– Despite being endorsed by 99% of
voters, voter participation was down to
75%
Islamic Republic
• Clerics were able to
consolidate power in the
first decade after the
revolution
– Khomeini's popularity and
charisma
– Iraqi invasion of Iran – 1980
– Rise in petroleum price
Ayatollah Khomeini dies
• During this time period modern in 1989 – His successor
is Ayatollah Ali
amenities made a significant
Khamenei
appearance in Iran
Islamic Republic
• Second decade of the Islamic Republic
brought about problems for the clerics
– No more Iraq War
– No more Khomeini (Khamenei lacked charisma
and credentials)
– World oil prices drops to under $10 a barrel by
1998 (oil prices were $30 a barrel in 1979)
• Ideological Crisis
– Some of Khomeini’s followers began to stress the
importance of a democracy over theocracy in the
1990’s
9/11 and George Bush
• Islam is seen by the West as a threat
– Clash of civilizations