NIAS

Reza Shah Kabir (Reza Shah The Great) was born in the village of Alasht in the region of Savad Kouh in the province of Mazandaran. Alasht was an isolated village and at the turn of the century its population was about 1,000.

Abbas Ali, father of Reza Shah was a member of the Savad Kouh provincial army regiment and probably reached the rank equivalent to major, married his second wife, Noush Afrin, around 1877. She was a girl of Persian-speaking stock whose father had come to Iran from Erivan. The following year 1878, a son, Reza, was born. Abbas Ali died some three to six months after Reza’s birth.

At about the age of fifteen, Reza joined the Cossack Brigade in 1893-94. And about 1903 Reza Khan married four times.

By 1915 he had come to be regarded as a brave and fearless soldier and was handpicked by his successive senior commanders to accompany them on military expeditions. Reza Khan’s military reputation, his native intelligence and professionalism served him well and he soon became well known by some prominent Iranians in Tehran and other provinces. By 1915 he was promoted to the rank of colonel.

In 1921 Reza Khan (later Reza Shah Pahlavi), an officer in Iran’s only military force (Persian Cossack Brigade) used his troops to support a coup against the government of the Qajar dynasty. Within four years he had established himself as the most powerful person in the country by suppressing rebellions and establishing order. In 1925 a specially convened assembly deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last ruler of the Qajar dynasty, and named Reza Khan, who earlier had adopted the surname Pahlavi, as the new shah.

Reza Shah had ambitious plans for modernizing Iran. These plans included developing large-scale industries, implementing major infrastructure projects, building a cross-country railroad system, establishing a national public education system, reforming the judiciary, and improving health care. He believed a strong, centralized government managed by educated personnel could carry out his plans.

He sent hundreds of Iranians, including his son, to Europe for training. During 16 years from 1925 and 1941, Reza Shah’s numerous development projects transformed Iran into an urbanized country. Public education progressed rapidly, and new social classes were formed. A professional middle class and an industrial working class had emerged.

Reza Khan became prime minister of the new regime in 1923. He negotiated the evacuation of the British forces stationed in Iran since World War I in 1924.

In 1925 Reza Khan deposed Ahmad Mirza, the last shah of the Qajar Dynasty, and was proclaimed shah of Iran. Hechanged his name to Reza Shah Pahlevi, thus founding the Pahlevi dynasty.

Grand opening of Pahlavi Medical School by Reza Shah

Reza Shah introduced many great reforms, reorganizing the army, government administration, and finances. He abolished all special rights granted to foreigners, thus gaining real independence for Iran. During Reza Shah’s sixteen years of rule, major developments, such as large road construction projects and the Trans-Iranian Railway were built, modern education was introduced and the University of Tehran was established.The government sponsored European educations for many Iranian students. These industrial reforms in Iran were often also advantageous for British interest. For example, in spite of the fact that economically an east-west railway system was justifiable, Reza Shah constructed an uneconomical north-south system that was beneficial for the British who had a military presence in the south of Iran and wanted to transfer their troops to Russia and the Indian subcontinent as part of their strategic defence plan.

Reza Shah's portrait on 20 Rial

On 21 March 1935, the ruler of the country, Reza Shah Pahlavi, issued a decree asking foreign delegates to use the term Iran in formal correspondence in accordance with the fact that “Persia” was a term used for a country called “Iran” in Persian. Opponents claimed that this act brought cultural damage to the country and separated Iran from its past in the West. The very name “Iran” means “Land of the Aryans”.

Along with the modernization of the nation, Reza Shah was the ruler during the time of the Women’s Awakening (1936-1941) where the issue of “unveiling” was couched in women’s liberation, but was in fact a government controlled action to further the paternal image and give the appearance of modernity. The purpose of the Women’s Awakening was to create equilibrium between emancipating and controlling women because the Pahlavi regime prior to Reza Shah had brought male guardianship and modern Iranian womanhood to a critical point.

In World War II the Allies protested his rapprochement with the Germans, and in 1941 British and Russian forces invaded and occupied Iran.

The invasion was allegedly in fear that Reza Shah was about to align his petroleum-rich country with Nazi Germany during the war: However, Reza Shah’s earlier Declaration of Neutrality and refusal to allow Iranian territory to be used to train, supply, and act as a transport corridor to ship arms to Russia for its war effort against Germany, was the strongest motive for the allied invasion of Iran. Due of this event, Iran attained the war-time pseudo-name of “The Bridge to Victory”.

The Shah’s son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, officially replaced his father on the throne on September 16, 1941. Reza Shah was soon forced into exile, first to Mauritius, then to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he either died, or was allegedly poisoned, by British agents on July 26, 1944, aged 66. After his death, his body was flown back to Iran, and a mausoleum was built in his honor, where his body was buried. His son later designated the title “the Great” to be added to his name.

Forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Mohammad Reza Shah, and he died in exile in Johannesburg of South Africa in 1944. In August 1941, the Allied powers United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, occupied Iran by a massive air, land, and naval assault subsequently forcing Reza Shah to abdicate in favour of his son (see also Persian Corridor).