The centuries-old period of the history of mankind, the states of the Ancient East once formed on the territory of Mesopotamia and Mesopotamia - all this is the history of Iran. At the same time, it is customary to divide modern history into two main time periods: pre-Muslim, when the descendants of the formidable Achaemenids reigned in this territory in the 6th century BC, who included not only Ancient Egypt, but also part of the territory of Ethiopia, and the Muslim period in their empire.

Ancient history of Iran

It was during the pre-Muslim period, history of Iran just overflowing with various significant events, and the state itself was developing rapidly and dynamically. Here we can say about literature, architecture and even mathematics. However, after many feuds between the heirs of the last kings of Persia, Ancient Iran and its vast territories fell under the rule of the Arabs, who, having defeated the army of the young Yezdigird III in 651, completely enslaved the state and began to plant Islam among its inhabitants. At the same time, the Arabs dealt rather harshly with everyone who tried to resist their domination.

Capital of Iran

Tehran is the capital and concurrently the largest city of Iran. It is home to over thirteen million inhabitants. It became the ancestor of the so-called Persian dialect, which later became common to all of Ancient Iran. Initially, Tehran was just a small village near the city of Rey. But after it was destroyed and plundered by the Mongols, residents rushed to the untouched village. A millennial history this city made Tehran a source of pride for Iran. As incredible and striking as the architecture of Tehran, the experience will be just as amazing.

Population of Iran

According to the latest 2006 census, it is 78,868,720 people. Most of the Persians and almost all of them belong to the Shiite Muslims. There are also several large ethnic groups in the country: Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Turkmens and other Turkic tribes. Baluchis live in the South-East. In the South-West there are bakhtiars and lurs.

State of Iran

Since April 1, 1979, it is officially considered a republic. The form of government is a constitutional monarchy. Full state name: Islamic Republic Iran... The Constitution and laws give the Persians striking advantages over other peoples. Minority rights were recognized only among non-Muslim groups. According to this constitution, the ruler of the country is the Shah. Iran has a bicameral parliament: the Senate - the upper house and the Majlis - the lower house.

Iranian politics

Iran's constitution was created over 60 years ago and is already outdated in many ways. With this in mind, its laws are still class-based and give many privileges to the upper class. Ordinary workers cannot be elected to any of the houses of parliament.

Iranian language

Officially, the Persian language (Farsi) is considered to belong to the group of Indo-European languages, which largely determines such a concept as the ancient iranian culture... Over time, the New Persian language formed, which mainly consists of Arabic words using Arabic script. It is Farsi that serves the Iranians for interethnic communication. The Persian alphabet is used for all other languages \u200b\u200bin the country, excluding Armenian and Hebrew. There are languages \u200b\u200bof the Turkic group in Iran. Arabic is widely used - its study is mandatory in schools.

Around the 6th century BC. in the arena of world history, the Persians emerged. With phenomenal speed, they managed to turn from an unknown tribe into a formidable empire that existed for several hundred years.

Portrait of the ancient Persians

What the ancient Iranians were like can be judged by the ideas of the peoples who lived next to them. For example, Herodotus wrote that initially the Persians wore clothes made of skins, as well as felt caps, which were called tiaras. They did not drink wine. They ate as much as they had. They were indifferent to gold and silver. They were distinguished from neighboring peoples by their high growth, strength, courage and incredible cohesion.

It is interesting that the Persians, even having become a great power, tried to follow the precepts of their ancestors.

For example, during the coronation ceremony, the newly made king had to wear simple clothes, eat some dried figs and wash them down with sour milk.

At the same time, the Persians could marry as many women as they saw fit. And this is without taking into account the concubines and slaves. It is also interesting that the laws did not prohibit marrying even close relatives, be they sisters or nieces. In addition, there was a custom according to which a man did not show his women to strangers. Plutarch wrote about this, pointing out that the Persians hid from prying eyes not only wives, but even concubines and slaves. And if they needed to be transported somewhere, then closed carriages were used. This custom is reflected in art. So, for example, in the ruins of Persepolis, archaeologists have not been able to find a single relief with a female image.

Achaemenid dynasty

The era of the omnipotence of the Persians began with King Cyrus II, who belonged to the Achaemenid family. He managed to quickly subdue the once mighty Media and several smaller states. After that, the king's gaze fell on Babylon.

The war with Babylon was just as quick. In 539 BC. Cyrus set out with his army and fought with the army of the enemy near the city of Opis. The battle ended with the complete defeat of the Babylonians. Then large Sippar was captured, and soon Babylon itself.

After this triumph, Cyrus decided to curb the wild tribes in the east, who, with their raids, could disturb the borders of his power. The king fought with the nomads for several years, until he himself died in 530 BC.

The next kings - Cambyses and Darius - continued the work of their predecessor and further expanded the territory of the state.

So, Cambyses managed to capture Egypt and make it one of the satrapies.

By the time of the death of Darius (485 BC), the Persian Empire occupied a vast territory. In the west, its borders rested against the Aegean Sea, in the east - in India. In the north, the power of the Achaemenids extended to the deserted deserts of Central Asia, and in the south - to the rapids of the Nile. It is safe to say that Persia at that time subjugated almost the entire civilized world.

But like any empire that possessed such a vast territory, it was constantly tormented by internal unrest and uprisings of the conquered peoples. The Achaemenid dynasty collapsed in the IV century BC, unable to withstand the test of the army of Alexander the Great.

Sassanian state

The Persian Empire was destroyed, and its capital, Persepolis, was plundered and burned. The last of the kings of the Achaemenid dynasty, Darius III, with his retinue went to Bactria, hoping to gather a new army there. But Alexander managed to catch up with the fugitive. In order not to be captured, Darius ordered his satraps to kill him, and themselves - to flee further.

After the death of the king in conquered Persia, the era of Hellenism began. For the common Persians, it was like death.

After all, it was not just a change of lord that took place, they were captured by the hated Greeks, who quickly and harshly began to replace the primordial Persian customs with their own, which means they were completely alien.

Even the arrival of the Parthian tribe, which took place in the II century BC. changed nothing. The nomadic Iranian tribe managed to expel the Greeks from the territory of ancient Persia, however, they themselves fell under the influence of their culture. Therefore, even under the rule of the Parthians, exclusively Greek was used on coins and in official documents.

But the worst thing was that the temples were built in the Greek image and likeness. And most of the Persians considered it blasphemy and sacrilege.

After all, Zarathushtra bequeathed to their ancestors that one should not worship idols. Only the inextinguishable flame should be considered as a symbol of God; it should have been sacrificed. But the Persians were unable to change anything.

Therefore, out of impotent rage, they called all the buildings of the Hellenic period "the structures of the Dragon."

The Persians endured Greek culture until 226 AD. But in the end, the cup overflowed. The rebellion was raised by the ruler of Parsa Ardashir, and he managed to overthrow the Parthian dynasty. This moment is considered to be the birth of the second Persian state, headed by representatives of the Sassanid dynasty.

Unlike the Parthians, they tried in every possible way to revive the very ancient culture of Persia, the beginning of which was laid by Cyrus. But it turned out to be difficult to do this, since the Greek dominance almost completely erased the legacy of the Achaemenids from the memory. Therefore, the society, which the Zoroastrian priests told about, was chosen as a "guiding star" for the revived state. And it so happened that the Sassanids tried to revive such a culture, which in reality never existed. And at the forefront was religion.

But the people of Persia were enthusiastic about the ideas of the new rulers. Therefore, under the Sassanids, the entire Hellenic culture began to quickly dissolve: the temples were destroyed, and the Greek language ceased to be official. Instead of statues of Zeus, the Persians began to erect altars of fire.

Under the Sassanids (3rd century AD), there was another clash with the hostile Western world - the Roman Empire. But this time this confrontation ended in victory for the Persians. In honor of the significant event, King Shapur I ordered to carve a bas-relief on the rocks, which depicted his triumph over the Roman emperor Valerian.

The capital of Persia was the city of Ctesiphon, once erected by the Parthians. But the Persians essentially "combed" it to match their newfound culture.

Persia began to develop rapidly thanks to the competent use of the irrigation system. Under the Sassanids, the territory of ancient Persia, as well as Mesopotamia, becomes literally riddled with underground water pipes made of clay pipes (cariza). Their cleaning was carried out using wells dug at intervals of ten kilometers. This modernization allowed Persia to successfully grow cotton, sugarcane and develop winemaking. At the same time, Persia has become almost the main world supplier of a wide variety of fabrics: from woolen to silk.

Death of the empire

The history of the Sassanian dynasty ended after a fierce and bloody war with the Arabs, which lasted almost twenty years (633-651). It is difficult to reproach the last king of Yezdeget III for anything. He fought with the invaders to the very end, and was not going to surrender. But Yezdeget died ingloriously - near Merv, a miller stabbed him in a dream, encroaching on the king's jewels.

But even after the official victory, the Persians continually raised uprisings, however, unsuccessful. Even internal troubles in the caliphate did not allow the ancient people to gain freedom. Only Gugan and Tabaristan lasted the longest - the last fragments of a once great power. But they were also captured by the Arabs in 717 and 760, respectively.

And although the Islamization of Iran was successful, the Arabs were never able to assimilate the Persians, who managed to maintain their self-identity. Closer to the 900s, under the new Samanid dynasty, they managed to gain independence. True, Persia could no longer become a great power again.

Section - I - Descriptions of ancient Iran
Section - II - Religion of ancient Iran
Section - III - Culture of ancient Iran
Section - IV - The art of ancient Iran
Section - V - Ancient Iran architecture
Section - VI - Ancient cities of Iran
Section - VII - The writing of ancient Iran
Section - VIII - Ancient founders of Iran
Section - IX - Scientific discoveries of ancient Iran
Section - X - The rulers of ancient Iran

Descriptions of ancient Iran

• Ancient Iran has one of the oldest histories in the world. Over the course of history, the states that existed here have changed periodically, as have their names. However, the whole of Iran can be conditionally divided into Muslim and pre-Muslim periods. When Islam came here, serious changes in the worldview and culture took place in the life of the local population, however, many values \u200b\u200bconveyed from ancient times remained in demand. It is the pre-Muslim period that is considered by historians as Ancient Iran.

• Elam became the first state formation in Iran. This small state was located east of the Tigris River, behind which the possessions of Babylon were located. This state had considerable weight among the states of Southwest Asia, and was able to compete with the Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians. The eastern part of Iran at the same time remained under the influence of the peoples of the Indus Valley.

• Between 2000 and 1500 BC. (historians cannot say more precisely) Iran was inhabited by Aryan tribes. Elam resisted its western neighbors for a long time, but at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. this state lost its independence. Media became a new state on the territory of modern Iran, occupying much larger lands than Elam. The country was founded by the Medes tribes who lived east of Assyria and gained independence in the 7th century BC. The influence of Media remained so strong that even when the power in the state in the 6th century BC. was actually usurped by the Persian king Cyrus, and the whole country was called Persia, the Greeks called them Medes until the end of the 5th century BC.

• At the turn of the 5th and 6th centuries BC. began a period known as the Achaemenid Empire, named after the dynasty to which King Cyrus the Great belonged. This state became the greatest in the entire Middle East, and soon began to undertake campaigns in Europe against Greece. The retaliatory measure of the Greeks can be called the campaign of Alexander the Great, who managed to break all the power of this state, and to end the existence of the Aheminid dynasty.

• After the Greek conquest in the 4th century BC. for one century Iran was ruled by the Seleucid Empire, but in the 3rd century BC. Persia and other territories were taken by the young state of the Parthians, ruled by King Mithridates I. He declared himself the ruler of all Persia. Since then, Parthia has waged periodic wars with Armenia and ancient Rome. In the 3rd century A.D. there was an uprising, during which the Sassanid dynasty came to power. During the period of their rule, the state expanded to unprecedented limits - the Persians occupied the entire Arabian Peninsula, advanced north and west and captured Egypt. However, in the 7th century, the state was greatly weakened, a struggle for power began in it, which the Arab Caliphate took advantage of. In 651, Ancient Iran finally entered a new phase of its existence.

Religion of ancient Iran

The separation of the tribes of ancient Iran from the Indo-European root occurred in the second millennium BC. This was enough for the religious ideas of the Iranians to acquire their originality, but they also retained many of the beliefs of their ancestors. The religion of ancient Iran was separated into a separate movement called Mazdaism ...

Culture of ancient Iran

The culture of ancient Iran remains little known to modern scholars. Most of the information about her was obtained during excavations, when analyzing the found religious buildings and objects of fine art.....

The art of ancient Iran

The art of ancient Iran is represented by multiple written sources and works of art. Ruins have also been found, allowing an appreciation of their architectural style .....

Ancient Iran architecture

The architecture of ancient Iran combines the achievements of the Elamites, Medes and Persians in the art of architecture. All these peoples and the states they create have a common history that preceded the formation of modern Iran. People on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf have lived since ancient times, the oldest settlements here date back to the 8th millennium BC, one of them is the city of Susa, which has managed to survive to our times ...

Ancient cities of Iran

Although the Arab conquest erased almost all traces of the existence of ancient Iranian civilization,

archaeologists and researchers still managed to find out about the ancient cities of Iran. At the same time, many cities, having received new names from the Arabs, have survived to our time ...

The writing of ancient Iran

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The history of statehood in Iran is one of the oldest in the world. For centuries this country has played a key role in the East. The Persian Empire under Darius I stretched from Greece and Libya to the Indus River. In the Middle Ages, Persia was a strong and influential state in the 17th and 18th centuries, but towards the end of the 19th century, Persia became a semi-colonial state. In 1935, Persia changed the country's name to Iran. In 1979, after the Islamic Revolution, Iran was proclaimed an Islamic Republic.

Ancient Iran

The settlement of the territory of Iran dates back to ancient times. Iranian peoples become dominant in its territory by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Some of the tribes (Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians) settled in the western part of the plateau; Cimmerians, Sarmatians, Alans, Baluchis settled in the east and along the coast of the Gulf of Oman.

The first significant Iranian state was the Medes kingdom, founded at the end of the VIII-beginning of the VII century BC. e., with the capital at Hamadan (Ecbatana). The Medes quickly established control over all of western Iran and partly over eastern Iran. Together with the Babylonians, the Medes defeated the Assyrian Empire, seized northern Mesopotamia and Urartu, and later the Armenian Highlands.

Achaemenids

In 553 BC. e. the young Persian king of Anshan and Parsa Cyrus from the Achaemenid clan opposed the Medes. Cyrus captured Ecbatana and declared himself king of Persia and Media. At the same time, the Median king Ishtuwegu was captured, but later released and appointed governor in one of the provinces. Until his death in 529 BC. e. Cyrus II the Great subjugated the Achaemenid empire all over Western Asia from the Mediterranean and Anatolia to the Syr Darya. Earlier, in 546 BC. BC, Cyrus founded in Fars the capital of his kingdom - Pasargadae, where he was buried. Cyrus's son Cambyses II expanded his father's empire to Egypt and Ethiopia.

After the death of Cambyses and the ensuing internecine strife in his inner circle and riots throughout the country, Darius Hystaspes came to power. Darius quickly and harshly brought order to the empire and began new campaigns of conquest, as a result of which the Achaemenid empire expanded to the Balkans in the west and to the Indus in the east, becoming the largest and most powerful state that ever existed at that time. Darius also undertook a series of internal reforms. He divided the country into several administrative units - satrapies, while for the first time in history the principle of separation of powers was implemented: the troops did not obey the satraps and at the same time the military leaders did not have administrative power. In addition, Darius carried out a monetary reform and introduced the golden gift. This, combined with the construction of a network of paved roads, contributed to an unprecedented leap in trade relations.

Darius patronized Zoroastrianism and considered the priests to be the core of the Persian statehood. Under him, this first monotheistic religion became a state religion in the empire. At the same time, the Persians were tolerant of the conquered peoples and their beliefs and culture.

The heirs of Darius I began to violate the principles of internal structure introduced by the king, as a result of which the satrapies became more independent. A mutiny broke out in Egypt, riots broke out in Greece and Macedonia. Under these conditions, the Macedonian commander Alexander began a military campaign against the Persians, and by 330 BC. e. defeated the Achaemenid empire.

Parthia and the Sassanids

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. e. his empire split into several separate states. Most of the territory of modern Iran went to Seleucia, but the Parthian king Mithridates I soon began campaigns of conquest against the Seleucids and included Persia, as well as Mesopotamia, in his state. In 92 BC. e. between Parthia and Rome, a border was drawn along the Euphrates, but the Romans almost immediately invaded the western Parthian satrapies and were defeated. In a retaliatory campaign, the Parthians captured the entire Levant and Anatolia, but were driven back by the troops of Mark Antony to the Euphrates. Soon after, civil wars broke out in Parthia one after another, caused by the intervention of Rome in the struggle between the Parthian and Greek nobles.

In 224, Ardashir Papakan, the son of the ruler of the small town of Kheir in Pars, defeated the army of the Parthians of Artaban IV and founded the second Persian Empire - Iranshahr ("Kingdom of the Aryans") - with its capital in Firuzabad, becoming the founder of a new dynasty - the Sassanids. The influence of the aristocracy and the Zoroastrian clergy increased, and persecutions against the Gentiles began. An administrative reform has been carried out. The Sassanids continued to fight the Romans and the nomads of Central Asia.

Under King Khosrov I (531-579), active expansion began: in 540 Antioch was captured, in 562 - Egypt. The Byzantine Empire fell into tax dependence on the Persians. The coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula, including Yemen, were occupied. At the same time, Khosrov defeated the Hephthalite state on the territory of modern Tajikistan. Khosrov's military successes led to a flourishing of trade and culture in Iran.

The grandson of Khosrov I, Khosrov II (590-628) renewed the war with Byzantium, but suffered defeat after defeat. War expenses were covered by exorbitant taxes from merchants and extortions from the poor. As a result, uprisings broke out throughout the country, Khosrov was captured and executed. His grandson, Yazdigird III (632-651) became the last Sassanian king. Despite the end of the war with Byzantium, the collapse of the empire continued. In the south, the Persians faced a new enemy - the Arabs.

Arab and Turkic conquests

Arab raids on Sassanian Iran began in 632. The Persian army suffered its most crushing defeat at the Battle of Qadisiyah in 637. The Arab conquest of Persia lasted until 652, and it was incorporated into the Umayyad Caliphate. The Arabs spread Islam in Iran, which greatly changed the Persian culture. After the Islamization of Iran, literature, philosophy, art, and medicine developed rapidly in the Caliphate. Persian culture became the basis for the beginning of the golden age of Islam.

In 750, the Persian general Abu Muslim led the Abbasid campaign against the Umayyads to Damascus, and then to the capital of the Caliphate - Baghdad. In gratitude, the new caliph granted the Persian governors a certain autonomy, and also took several Persians as viziers. Nevertheless, in 822, Tahir bin Hussein bin Musab, the governor of Khorasan, proclaimed the independence of the province and declared himself the founder of a new Persian dynasty - the Takhirids. By the beginning of the Samanid rule, Iran had practically restored its independence from the Arabs.

Despite the adoption of Islam by Persian society, Arabization in Iran was not successful. The planting of Arab culture met with resistance from the Persians and became the impetus for the struggle for independence from the Arabs. An important role in the restoration of the national identity of the Persians was played by the revival of the Persian language and literature, which peaked in the 9th-10th centuries. In this regard, Ferdowsi's epic "Shahnameh", written entirely in Farsi, gained fame.

In 962, the Turkic commander Alp-Tegin opposed the Samanids and founded the Ghaznavid state with the capital in Ghazni (Afghanistan). Under the Ghaznavids, the cultural flourishing of Persia continued. Their followers, the Seljuks, moved the capital to Isfahan.

In 1220, the north-east of Iran, which was part of the Khorezm kingdom, was invaded by the troops of Genghis Khan. The entire Khorasan, as well as the territories of the eastern provinces of modern Iran, were subjected to devastation. About half of the population was killed by the Mongols. As a result of famine and wars, by 1260 the population of Iran had decreased from 2.5 million to 250 thousand people [ source not specified 110 days]. The conquest of Iran was completed by the grandson of Genghis Khan Hulagu. In the state he founded, his descendants, the Ilkhans, ruled until the middle of the XIV century.

Timur founded the capital of his empire in Samarkand. He brought thousands of skilled craftsmen from Iran who built masterpieces of world architecture in Samarkand. For example, Tabriz craftsmen built the Gur Emir mausoleum in Samarkand. Under the rule of the youngest son of Timur Shahrukh, science and culture flourished in Iran. It continued during the reign of Timurid Sultan Hussein Baykara.

The centralization of the Iranian state resumed with the coming to power of the Safavid dynasty, which put an end to the rule of the descendants of the Mongol conquerors.

Islamic Iran

Shiite Islam was adopted in Iran as the state religion under Shah Ismail I of the Safavid dynasty in 1501. In 1503, Ismail defeated Ak-Koyunlu and built a new state on its ruins with its capital in Tabriz. The Safavid empire reached its highest peak under Abbas I, defeating the Ottoman Empire and annexing the territories of modern Iraq, Afghanistan, part of Pakistan, the territory of Azerbaijan, parts of Armenia and Georgia, as well as the provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Thus, the possessions of Iran stretched from the Tigris to the Indus.

The capital was moved from Tabriz to Qazvin and then to Isfahan. The conquered territories brought wealth and prosperity to Iran. The flourishing of culture began. Iran became a centralized state, the modernization of the armed forces was carried out. However, after the death of Abbas the Great, the empire fell into decay. Mismanagement led to the loss of Kandahar and Baghdad. In 1722, the Ghilzai Afghans raided Iran, taking Isfahan on the move, and elevated Mahmud Khan to the throne. Then Nadir Shah, the commander of the last ruler of the Safavids, Takhmasp II, killed him along with his son and established the rule of the Afsharids in Iran.

First of all, Nadir Shah changed the state religion to Sunnism, and then defeated Afghanistan and returned Kandahar to Persia. Retreating Afghan troops fled to India. Nadir Shah called on the Indian Mogul, Mohammed Shah, not to accept them, but he did not agree, then the Shah invaded India. In 1739, the troops of Nadir Shah entered Delhi, but soon an uprising broke out there. The Persians staged a real massacre in the city, and then returned to Iran, completely plundering the country. In 1740, Nadir Shah made a campaign to Turkestan, as a result of which the borders of Iran advanced to the Amu Darya. In the Caucasus, the Persians reached Dagestan. In 1747, Nadir Shah was killed.

In 1750, power passed to the Zend dynasty, headed by Karim Khan. Karim Khan became the first Persian in 700 years to become the head of state. He moved the capital to Shiraz. The period of his reign is characterized by almost no wars and cultural flourishing. Zend's rule lasted only three generations, and in 1781 passed to the Qajar dynasty. The founder of the dynasty, eunuch Aga Mohammed Khan, perpetrated reprisals against the Zend and the descendants of the Afsharid. Having strengthened the power of the Qajars in Iran, Mohammed Khan organized a campaign against Georgia, defeating Tbilisi and destroying more than 20 thousand residents of the city. The second campaign against Georgia in 1797 did not take place, since the shah was killed by his own servants (a Georgian and a Kurd) in Karabakh. Shortly before his death, Mohammed Khan moved the capital of Iran to Tehran.

As a result of a series of unsuccessful wars with Russia, Persia under the Qajars lost almost half of its territory. Corruption flourished, control over the outskirts of the country was lost. After lengthy protests in 1906, a Constitutional Revolution took place in the country, as a result of which Iran became a constitutional monarchy. In the summer of 1918, British troops occupy all of Iran. On August 9, 1919, the Anglo-Iranian agreement was signed, establishing complete British control over the country's economy and army. In 1920, the Gilan Soviet Republic was proclaimed in the Gilan province, which will exist until September 1921. On February 21, 1921, Reza Khan Pahlavi overthrew Ahmed Shah and in 1925 was declared the new Shah. On February 26, 1921, the RSFSR signed a new treaty with Iran, recognizing the full independence of Iran.

Pahlavi introduced the term "shahinshah" ("king of kings") into circulation. Under him, the large-scale industrialization of Iran began, the infrastructure was completely modernized. During the Second World War, the shahinshah refused Britain and the Soviet Union their request to deploy their troops in Iran. Then the Allies invaded Iran (see "Operation Concord"), overthrew the Shah and took control of the railways and oil fields. In 1942, Iran's sovereignty was restored, power passed to the Shah's son, Mohammed. Nevertheless, the Soviet Union, fearing possible aggression from Turkey, kept its troops in northern Iran until May 1946.

After the war, Mohammed Reza pursued a policy of active Westernization and de-Islamization, which did not always find understanding among the people. Numerous meetings and strikes took place. In 1951, Mohammed Mosaddegh became the Chairman of the Iranian Government, who is actively involved in reforming, seeking to revise the agreements on the distribution of profits of British Petroleum. The nationalization of the Iranian oil industry takes place. However, in the United States, immediately and with the active participation of British intelligence services, a coup plan is being developed, carried out in August 1953 by the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, Carmit Roosevelt. Mossadegh was removed from his post and imprisoned. Three years later, he was released and placed under house arrest, where he remained until his death in 1967.

In 1957, the SAVAK secret police was founded.

In 1963, Ayatollah Khomeini was expelled from the country as a result of a series of radical reforms ("White Revolution"). The transformations and de-Islamization led to active anti-government propaganda. In 1965, Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansour was fatally wounded by members of the Fedayane Islam group. In 1973, in the course of the policy of strengthening the power of the Shah, all political parties and associations were banned. By the late 1970s, Iran was engulfed in massive protests that resulted in the overthrow of the Pahlavi regime and the final abolition of the monarchy. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution took place in the country and the Islamic Republic was founded.

Islamic republic

The Islamic revolution in Iran was the transition from the Shah's monarchical Pahlavi regime to an Islamic republic headed by Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution and the founder of the new order. The beginning of the revolution is considered to be the massive anti-Shah protests in January 1978, suppressed by government forces. In January 1979, after the country was paralyzed by constant strikes and rallies, Pahlavi and his family left Iran, and on February 1, Khomeini, who was in exile in France, arrived in Tehran. The Ayatollah was greeted by millions of jubilant Iranians. On April 1, 1979, after a popular referendum, Iran was officially proclaimed an Islamic republic. On December 3 of the same year, a new constitution was adopted.

The internal political consequences of the revolution were manifested in the establishment of the theocratic regime of the Muslim clergy in the country, the increased role of Islam in absolutely all spheres of life. There have been dramatic changes in foreign policy. Iran's relations with the United States have become extremely strained. Diplomatic relations were severed on November 4, 1979, when the US embassy was seized in Tehran and the diplomats were held hostage for 444 days. The invaders (students, among whom, according to some sources, may have been the current president of Iran, then an officer of the IRGC special forces and an activist of the youth organization "Rallying Unity" - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) claimed that they were pursuing CIA agents who were planning to overthrow the revolutionary government. They also demanded the extradition of the fleeing shah. Only in 1981, with the mediation of Algeria, the crisis was resolved, and the hostages were released to their homeland.

Meanwhile, neighboring Iraqi President Saddam Hussein decided to take advantage of Iran's internal instability and its strained relations with Western countries. Iran has been (not for the first time) territorial claims for areas along the Persian Gulf to the east of the Shatt al-Arab. In particular, Hussein demanded the transfer of western Khuzestan to Iraq, where the majority of the population were Arabs and there were huge oil reserves. These demands were ignored by Iran, and Hussein began preparations for a large-scale war. On September 22, 1980, the Iraqi army crossed the Shatt al-Arab and invaded Khuzestan, which came as a complete surprise to the Iranian leadership.

Although Saddam Hussein achieved considerable success in the first months of the war, the Iraqi army's offensive was soon halted, Iranian troops launched a counteroffensive and by mid-1982 drove the Iraqis out of the country. Khomeini decided not to stop the war, planning to "export" the revolution to Iraq. This plan relied primarily on the Shiite majority of eastern Iraq. However, after another 6 years of unsuccessful offensive attempts, a peace agreement was signed on both sides. The Iranian-Iraqi border has remained unchanged.

During the war, Iraq enjoyed the political, financial and military support of most Arab countries, the Soviet Union, and the United States and its allies. During the hostilities, the Iraqi army has repeatedly used chemical weapons, including against civilian Iranians. More than 100 thousand people in Iran have died from the effects of toxic substances. The total losses of Iran in the eight-year war exceed 500 thousand people.

In 1997, Mohammed Khatami was elected President of Iran, proclaiming the beginning of a policy of tolerant attitude towards culture and the establishment of closer ties with Western countries. In the late 90s, European states began to restore economic ties with Iran, interrupted by the revolution. Nevertheless, the United States remained unchanged in its position. The American leadership has charged Iran with sponsoring terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction. Later, US President George W. Bush assigned Iran the label of an "Axis of Evil" country.

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