History of Iran (Middle Eastern History)
Iran, which was
once known as Persia until 1935, used to be a great empire in its
own right. Under the rule of Cyrus the Great, Iran Persia was the
very first country that successfully unified the Middle East. In
1795, the Qajar dynasty ruled the country until the 19th
century. During this dynasty’s reign, Iran grew weak due to poor
financial policies but it got even worse when the country was
loosing much of its land to the Russians. Of course, the fact that
the land was also used by fighting countries as a battleground
during WWI slowly destroyed its natural resources which are
predominantly controlled by petroleum.
In 1920, Riza Khan became the new shah and became the
founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty. It was this dynasty that helped to
modernize Persia. By March 1932, the name of Persia was officially
changed to Iran. With Pressure from Russia and Britain, Iran was
dependant on Germany to help be a neutralizing force for Iran.
However when Khan refused to expel the German spies during WWII the
British and the Russians forced Khan to abdicate the throne. His son
Mohammad Reza took the throne in 1941 and made many reforms. |
