Causes Of The Iranian Revolution

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A series of complex events beginning in the Pahlavi dynasty provoked the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and Iranian nationalist, Mohammad Mosaddeq, fought for popular support and government control in the early 1950s. Mosaddeq’s popularity greatly increased to the point that the Shah had to promote Mosaddeq to the position of prime minister. He then passed a law that nationalized the property of foreign oil companies. The Shah tried to dispense with Mosaddeq in 1953 but instead was forced to leave the country by Mosaddeq’s proponents. Mosaddeq’s opponents and the United States helped restore the Shah to power through a military coup, causing him to begin a reversal of Mosaddeq’s policies.
One notable precursor to the Iranian revolution was the White Revolution. It was a string of changes that entailed improved transportation, irrigation, industrial growth, and land reform. The Shah wanted Iran to become less dependent on other nations. The most important tenet of the White Revolution was the drastic land reform, which redistributed agricultural land to 1,638,000 peasant families. Even with the attempts of improving the plight of the various social classes, there was still socioeconomic inequality.
Though the Shah gained general support for his actions, some criticized that his reforms were not radical enough or that his westernization was dangerous to Islam. The disapproval of the Shah was based on his autocratic rule, corruption, uneven distribution of oil wealth, modernization and westernization, and the oppressive activities of the Savak, the government police, towards those who disagreed with the regime.
Though the Shah made many significant changes to the social and economic structure of Iran, ...

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...he position of authority was vacated, the prime minister, Shapour Bakhtiar, had to temporarily assume the role of leadership in the country. Unfortunately, the state of Iran was so tumultuous that he could not maintain control. Due to the political and social turmoil of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini was able to return to the country in February of 1979. The prime minister could no longer handle his position and went into hiding, eventually leaving Iran. Now that the country lacked a formal government, the opponents of the Shah were able to start executions against the Shah’s supporters. Ayatollah Khomeini then held a vote to determine whether or not Iran should be an Islamic Republic. The people voted in favor. Ayatollah Khomeini became the religious leader of the new Iran and instituted the radical changes of the Iranian Revolution, also known as the Islamic Revolution.

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