Gears in Motion Towards the Iranian Revolution

Abstract

Modern Iran, once an important issue of rivalry between the Great Powers for influences, resources and trade routes, was formed through a sequence of small and larger revolutions. Its geopolitical position had raised the “Persian Question”, as Lord Curzon put it, with the Qājār Dynasty granting commercial and business privileges to England and Russia, as well as concessions of archeological excavations. The aim of the article is to follow the steps taken by the Iranian people against the colonial powers' exploitation, towards the Revolution; merchants and clerics at first, who gradually transformed the bustling markets into a political arena at the turn of the nineteenth century that Persia's entry into the world economy made social inequalities more apparent. We will see facts that surround the era, such as the Constitutional Revolution, a parliamentary victory in the Middle East, as well as the coup d'état by Pahlavi and the establishment of his dynasty. As nationalism was an integral part of this dynasty, reflecting the political-military context in which it originated, Pahlavi Dynasty set the interpretations of antiquity at the heart of their paternalistic ideology, banks were erected in the place of amphitheaters where the holy martyrdom of Karbalā used to revive and the ritual Shiite world was silenced. Iran not only was becoming secular but violent as well, while the continuation of concessions and the opulence of state officials and western businessmen gave the people the sense that there is a perpetuation of colonialism. The last uprising will lead to the Iranian Revolution, which will call into question the role of the West.