Iran, Turkey, and Iraq
I. Iran
Iran or Persia
Iran is the ancient name for the country and its people. Persia is an ancient province in which Iranian people were 1st known to have lived. In 1935, the Iranian government asked all foreign government to use the name Iran rather than Persia.
The Shah's Legacy
In January 1963, the Shah announced the "white revolution", an ambitious plan to give social growth equal priority with production. The plan promoted women's suffrage, literacy and health, nationalization of natural resources, sale of state-owned factories and profit-sharing for workers.
The Iranian Revolution
The revolution that ended the Shah 37-years reign did not spring up full blown in a year with a wave of Khomeini's hand.
The social, economic, and religious pressures had been building up for several decades, and Khomeini became both the symbol of the revolution and its leader.
In the traditional absence of formal political institutions entrusted with the advancement of the national interest, Iran's shahs often had been the sole embodiment of central authority and the principal architects of national policy.
English: Ruhollah Khomeini فارسی: امام خ...
English: Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran, 1 february 1...
English: Mausoleum of Ayatullah KhomeiniMass demonstrations
Serious mass demonstrations in 1976 protesting the shah's change from the Islamic calendar to one based on the coronation of Cyrus the Great threatened the future of Iran.
The shah was directly responsible for the army's rising pay and stature. Although the shah enjoys their loyalty, there was always some fear that one day, a military elite would rise against its creator.
The shah also felt secure in the belief that he had neutralized the opposition of the religious hierarchy through the modernization process. The shah had denied the religious community any effective political power and had imprisoned some religious leaders. One of the most vociferous, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had after all been in exile in Iraq since...