July 26 & 27 marks the passing away of the two Great Pahlavi King's of Iran - Reza Shah the Great and Mohammad Reza Shah (Shahanshah Aryamehr). As I have already written an entry which covered many (although not all) of Shahanshah Aryamehr's achievements I would like to focus this entry more on the founder of modern Iran - HIM Reza Shah the Great.
Iran before Reza Shah the Great was a an impoverished, disease-stricken, bandit-ridden, land with society being controlled by the poisonous grip of the Arabo-Muslim clergy. The ruling dynasty was the Qajar (Kadjar) who where known for spending more time and money travelling abroad than actually being present in the country they ruled. The Qajar's have gone down in Iranian history as one of the worst and most incompetent dynasties to rule Iran due to their complete incompetency and failure in defending Iran's borders with the entire northern parts of the country having been conceded to foreign nations. The Qajar's did not care for Iran as much as they cared for their harem's and trips abroad which had led to a disastrous socio-economic state in the country - the majority of people during the Qajar Era did not even know about their Great historical figures like Cyrus the Great, instead they had been fed Arabo-Muslim propaganda for 1400 years which had made them loose touch with their roots and Iranian identities. Not being able to tolerate the status quo and the threat which foreign powers posed to the integrity of the nation any longer (in particular the threat posed by the Bolsheviks and the Imperialist threat of Britain) a saviour rose up amongst the ranks of the Iranian Cossack Brigade - a man who would become Commander of the Imperial Armed Forces and Minister of War.
Reza Shah went on to quell all unrest across the nation in particular those separatist ambitions which the Soviets had nurtured in the northern provinces (Azerbaijan and Kordestan) and also in the south in Khuzestan were an Arab Sheikh had tried to claim Iranian territory for being Arab land. Reza Shah dealt with these enemies with an iron fist to secure the territorial integrity of Iran. Order had been established in a country which had been lawless for centuries. Having proven his worth and loyalty to his nation the Iranian parliament declared Reza Shah the new King of Iran - and thus the Pahlavi Dynasty replaced the now defunct Qajar Dynasty.
Reza Shah would come to be known as the man who laid the foundation for modern Iran - he set out rebuilding, modernizing, reforming, and improving the peoples' quality of life. Apart from the few accomplishments listed already Reza Shah is credited for:
- Building the trans-Iranian railway
- Introduction of modern education after 1400 years of the Arabo-Muslim clergy having a stranglehold on the Iranian populace through religious brainwashing/indoctrination schools
- Establishment of modern Iran's first University with many more following suit
- Introducing government sponsorship for many Iranian students at foreign educational establishments in Europe and America
- Restricting the rule and power of the Arabo-Muslim clergy
- Emancipation of Iranian women from the imposed Arabo-Muslim all-enveloping dress (chador)
- Judicial reform
- Social and Economic progress
- Introduction of reformed financial and administrative systems
- Reform of the Imperial Iranian Navy and Army
- Creation of the Imperial Iranian Air Force
- Recognizing and respecting Iranian religious minorities who had been oppressed and neglected by the occupying Arabo-Muslim clergy
- Cancelling agreements which worked against Iranian interests that had been signed before his coming to power
- Construction of roads, schools, hospitals
- Nationalization of several economic sectors
For more discussion on Reza Shah the Great's discussion please see THIS OLD THREAD of mine which I started on a discussion forum. Also see THIS PAGE.
See my photobucket album of Reza Shah the Great by CLICKING HERE and of Shahanshah Aryamehr by CLICKING HERE.
JAVID SHAH! SHAHANSHAH!
UPDATE #1 : Listen to Banoo Pari Saffari's message on the occasions of the Pahlavi Kings' memorial day - CLICK HERE.
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2 comments:
Dear friends all over the world good evenning from tennessee(usa),remembering the two great pahlavi kings must be always remmebered as 2 heros who have done so much for iran and irannians and the world,Reza Shah the king of kings and our beloved Majesty Shahanshah aryamehr were 2 heros and wil remain heros,answer to history, and history has shown after 28 years,the terrorist islamic fundemantalist of ahmadinejad and their terroorist mollahs from khomeini, khamneii, rafsanjani,khatami and all those gangs around them,they will be brought to justice for mllions of killings,of innocents may god bless your souls my 2 majestys, you were the founder of love peace, freedom, and symbol of cyrus the great. we love you both majestys, forever rouhetoun shad. your loyal soldier tirdad gharib.
Hi Arya,
Thanks for keeping us informed, what is surprising is that the Pahlavi's struggle is universal, it's freedom, prosperity and tolerance against the forces of obscurantism.
Nevertheless, even if I subscribe to the "Pahlavi doctrine", I must question the fact that Khomeini was so successful in his so called revolution. Allow me to ask you a question that may shed some light for us, foreigners, and I think, for many iranians as well.
I'm reading "Rendez-vous avez l'Islam" by Alexandre Adler, he's a french historian, often depicted as the "omniscient" by french commentators and he is a "friend" of Rafsandjani.
He says (in his book): "Everyone knows and acknowledges the tremendous impact of the army on Tukey. Iran's identity, well before the advent of Khomeini, was forged by it's religious thinkers from Ali Reza to Sohrawardi, from the latter to Mollah Sadra Chirazi, from Chariat Madani (does he mean Shariat Madari?) to Sorouch nowadays."
I disagree with Adler, by the way, but he's questioning my judgement on Iran. Many Iranians identified themselves to their Islamic Shiite past (the Sefevids) rather than to ancient imperial Persia. Some say Mossadegh was a muslim nationalist while the Pahlavis where rather Persian nationalists who emphasized the figure of Cyrus, as the founder of a Civilization.
This frame being set, can you please tell me who agrees with Adler (Mossadegh’s heirs, the leftists, MEK, the bazaris, etc.? What is the real influence of those religious thinkers he cited above? Why so many people are willing to deny Iran it's Achaemenid and Sassanian past? Why the Iranian nationalists who want to restore the monarchy don’t acknowledge the Seleucids and the Parthians (especially the latter as they are Iranians) as being part of the Iranian civilization?
What I know is that Adler subscribes to many of Foucault’s views on Iran. He thinks democracy will be achieved in Iran through reform and not by overthrowing the mullahs. Eventually, he will be proven wrong but the islamization of Iran still has many supporters.
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