Nadene Goldfoot
The Shah of Iran (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980),
My mother followed the life of the Shah of Iran like we followed Dianna and Charles of England. Pahlavi had a sad love life being his first wife had not been able to conceive and he had loved her so much, but he was forced to take another wife who did give him children. My mother felt so sorry for the lovers. At least that's how we heard it take place way over in Portland, Oregon, USA.
"The Shah and Soraya's marriage ended in 1958 when it became apparent that, even with help from medical doctors, she could not bear children. Soraya later told The New York Times that the Shah had no choice but to divorce her, and that he was heavy-hearted about the decision. "
The relations between Iran and Israel are divided into four major phases: the ambivalent period from 1947 to 1953, the friendly period during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty from 1953 to 1979, the worsening period following the Iranian Revolution from 1979 to 1990, and the ongoing period of open hostility since the end ...
Iran was known as Persia until 1935, when the Persian government officially changed the name of the country: The change to "Iran" was a deliberate attempt to reconnect with the country's ancient past and redefine its identity. It was also meant to distance Iran from colonial legacies and orientalist perspectives. The new name, "Iran", was a historical name of the country and had been used internally for centuries. The name comes from the Persian word Aiyran, which means "land of Aryans". Jewish people are very close to Persia, being their Queen Esther was married to the King, Ahasueros, which is the Purim Story where Esther saved the Jews from being internationally slaughtered due to the evil desires of Haman, 2nd in command to the king.
Iran in the 1960s and 70s was a tolerant place for the Jewish minority with one Iranian Jew, David Menasheri, remembering that Mohammad Reza's reign was the "golden age" for Iranian Jews when they were equals, and when the Iranian Jewish community was one of the wealthiest Jewish communities in the world. The Baha'i minority also did well after the bout of persecution in the mid-1950s ended with several Baha'i families rising to prominence in the world of Iranian business.
The Shah succeeded his father in 1941 at age 22 when WWII was going strong against Jews, and remained in power until he was 60 and was overthrown by the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which abolished the country's monarchy and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, fled the country on January 16, 1979, after the Iranian Revolution gained momentum and his regime collapsed:
His dream of what he referred to as a "Great Civilization" in Iran led to his leadership over rapid industrial and military modernization, as well as economic and social reforms. During Pahlavi's reign, the British-owned oil industry was nationalized by the prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had support from Iran's national parliament to do so. Mohammad Reza spoke English, French, and German fluently, in addition to his native language of Persian, a Polyglot that speaks multiple languages, usually considered to be more than two or three.
In 1963, Mohammad Reza introduced the White Revolution, a series of economic, social, and political reforms aimed at transforming Iran into a global power and modernizing the nation by nationalizing key industries and redistributing land.
The regime also implemented Iranian nationalist policies establishing Cyrus the Great, the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Tomb of Cyrus the Great as popular symbols of Iran. Cyrus II died in 529 BCE and was the King of Persia. He had overrun the Babylonian Empire, including the land of the Jews, Judah. He pursued an enlightened policy towards his subject peoples and in 538, granted permission to the exiles of Judah in Babylon to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple (Ezra 1: 1-44; II Chron. 36:22-3). The Jewish exiles regarded Cyrus as a divine agent. (Is.44:28; 45:1). Cyrus was said to be the son of King Ahasueros and Queen Esther.
The Shah initiated major investments in infrastructure, subsidies and land grants for peasant populations, profit sharing for industrial workers, construction of nuclear facilities, nationalization of Iran's natural resources, and literacy programs which were considered some of the most effective in the world. Shah also instituted economic policy tariffs and preferential loans to Iranian businesses which sought to create an independent economy for the nation.
Likewise, the Iranian national income rose 423 times over, and the country saw an unprecedented rise in per capita income—which reached the highest level of any point in Iran's history—and high levels of urbanization. By 1977, Mohammad Reza's focus on defense spending, which he saw as a means to end foreign powers' intervention in the country, had culminated in the Iranian military standing as the world's fifth-strongest armed force.
Money and oil led to the Shah's downfall. By the early 1950s, the political crisis brewing in Iran commanded the attention of British and American policy leaders. Following the 1950 Iranian legislative election, Mohammad Mosaddegh was elected prime minister in 1951. He was committed to nationalising the Iranian petroleum industry controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) (formerly the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, or APOC). Under the leadership of Mosaddegh and his nationalist movement, the Iranian parliament unanimously voted to nationalise the oil industry, thus shutting out the immensely profitable AIOC , which was a pillar of Britain's economy and provided it political clout in the region.
Eventually American decision-makers lost their patience, and by the time the Republican administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower entered office, fears that communists were poised to overthrow the government became an all-consuming concern. Shortly prior to the 1952 presidential election in the United States, the British government invited Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer Kermit Roosevelt Jr., to London to propose collaboration on a secret plan to force Mosaddegh from office. This would be the first of three "regime change" operations led by CIA director Allen Dulles .
In the aftermath of the 1953 coup d'état, Mohammad Reza was widely viewed as a figurehead monarch, and General Fazlollah Zahedi, the Prime Minister, saw himself and was viewed by others as the "strong man" of Iran.
American and British diplomats in their reports back to Washington and London in the 1950s were openly contemptuous of Mohammad Reza's ability to lead, calling the Shah a weak-willed and cowardly man who was incapable of making a decision. The contempt in which the Shah was held by Iranian elites led to a period in the mid-1950s where the elite displayed fissiparous tendencies, feuding amongst themselves now that Mossadegh had been overthrown, which ultimately allowed Mohammad Reza to play off various factions in the elite to assert himself as the nation's leader.
As a result of the growing number of Iranian intellectuals in the 1800s, the Ancient Persian Empire symbolized modernity and originality, while the Islamic period brought by Arab invasions brought Iran to a period of backwardness.
Ultimately these revelations in Iran would lead to the rise of Aryan nationalism in Iran and the perception of an 'intellectual awakening. In Europe, many concepts of Aryan Nationalism were directed at the anti-Jewish sentiment.
In contrast, Iran's Aryan nationalism was deeply rooted in Persian history and became synonymous with an anti-Arab sentiment instead. Furthermore, the Achaemenid and Sasanian periods were perceived as the real Persia, a Persia which commanded the respect of the world and was void of foreign culture before the Arab invasions.
In 1976, the Shah formally replaced the Islamic calendar with a Persian calendar. Religious discontent grew, and the shah became more repressive, using his brutal secret police force to suppress opposition. This alienated students and intellectuals in Iran, and support for Khomeini grew. Discontent was also rampant in the poor and middle classes, who felt that the economic developments of the White Revolution had only benefited the ruling elite. In 1978, anti-shah demonstrations broke out in Iran’s major cities.
Hoping to calm a situation, on 2 October 1978, the Shah granted a general amnesty to dissidents living abroad, including Ayatollah Khomeini. But by then it was too late. October 1978 was characterized by extreme unrest and open opposition to the monarchy; strikes paralyzed the country, and in early December a "total of 6 to 9 million"—more than 10% of the country—marched against the Shah throughout Iran.
Now, after a 2nd Ayatollah, Iran seems to have had enough of not being a part of the world such as they were with the Shah. The government has become even more despicable than ever anyone could imagine. The people drove the Shah away and now they must do the same with the Ayatollah if they want freedom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Reza_Pahlavi
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/shah-flees-iran
https://www.972mag.com/israel-shah-iran-dictatorship/
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