REZA SHAH

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FYI/Iranian Intelligentsia Unite Against IRI HistoricRevisionism

Recommended Reading:

Iranian Diaspora Intelligentsia Unite Against Islamic Republic's Holocaust Revisionism

When will Iraninans stop debating British propaganda

as though
it was in fact our history?

Enough already, the guy's turned to dust, who cares. What did the literate Iranians do for Iran, except bring the rule of Akhoond in 21st century? What Qajar 'nobility'? Who are we kidding? There wasn't a single concession these freeloaders had not sold to foreigners by their own admission.

Repair the divisions in the nationalist ranks and do something for the poor b*st**ds under the Akhoonds' cosh.

Pro-German vs. Anti-Jewish

Dear Darius,

Thanks for your reasoned input; yes, there is a marked difference between being pro-German versus anti-Jewish, and Reza Shah (like so many other Mid East politicians) fell under the first category, as they were really more irritated towards the intrusive British colonial policies than anything else.

Moreover, similarly, I am not aware of any anti-Jew action during the Reza Shah reign, by him or the police/army. He was not threatened by the religious minorities, and having the backward Shia sentiments as target, may have even seen them as allies or supporters.

Hitler's use of Islamic militancy is correctly related, by yourself, to the opportunistic nature of the Nazi military policy, which seeking an Arab/Muslim 5th column behind the British front, was actively supporting popular uprisings from North Africa to Iran (e.g. the Qashqai). That faithful strategy had been effectively used earlier, by the German Kaiser in WWI and even by Napoleon during the 1800 Egyptian campaign.

Finally, the horrific crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Nazi's in Germany and Russia, did not become common knowledge in the Mid East, until many years after WWII; again making the pro-German stand more of a miscalculated step, than an outright criminal intent.

Cheers, Arash M-K

Dear Zoe

Regarding Mossadeq, please channel your enquiry to this address and I am sure you won't be disappointed:

MI6 (SIS), PO Box 1300, London SE1 1BD

M

Revelation 1, 2: Reza the father, Reza the Son

It is time to bring the body of soldiers both father and son to Persian for burial...

now...

Reza Shah NEVER Met Hitler in Person UNLIKE ...the Mufti

Dear Arash,

I would have used the title Indo European. Iran is an Indo European country and its language is of indo european roots. This was noticed by european researchers and linguists already in the 18th and 19th centuries. Iran was no exception to this and it seems natural that Reza Shah was influenced by these considerations.

Also one should not forget that in the 1930's Germany, and Italy were considered as the most "modern" societies rivalling with Colonilalist Great Britian considered as a Foe in most of the Middle East. Both Former Egyptian Former Egyptian Presidents Sadat and Nasser as a young menn spied for the Axis during WWII by offering help to Rommel's Troops in North Africa. Yet Sadat was the man who signed the Peace Treaty with Israel in 1977. His fight with Israel after WWII was against Zionism but was not motivated by truly an Anti Semitic ideology unlike HAMAS today.  

Also the Iranian government at the time never recognized the Nazi Party in Iran even if there was an authorised marginal group the SUMKA but with no representation in the Parliament. Reza Shah was ferociously Nationalist and did not want any direct linkage between his regime and a foreign power so to speak which explains why the Iranian Nazi Party was not officially recognized. Also because of the fact that the Jews in Iran were widely active in the Iranian society and were considered as Iranians regardless of their religion. Also  because Jews had strongly participated in the Constitutional Revolution of 1906:

//iranian.com/Pictory/2003/October/jews.html

and all subsequent shah's could not risk a conflict with the Constitutional mouvement in Iran.

Also under Reza Shah's Son the Protection of the Jewish Community was also a Royal Commitment: Since Iranian Diplomats helped save Jews and Not just Iranian Jews in France and other occupied countries thanks to their Embassy Personal.

Also See Pahlavi Medal with Jewish Insignia:

//iranian.com/Pictory/2002/November/jewish.html

But Hitler and NAZI Germany were aware of the Anti British Sentiments in the Middle East and the Rise of Nationalism in such muslim countries like Turkey, Iran and elsewhere but particularly in the Arab World since by 1941 Iran was out of reach since it was occupied by British and Russian Troops.

This may be interesting for the debate arised here for that see my VIDEO Blog below:

Hitler and Islamic Militancy :

//iranian.com/main/blog/darius-kadivar/hitler-and-islamic-militancy

Best,

DK

Arash jaan

Thanks for sharing.

Ebi aka Haaji

Zoe

Zoe, this is just my opinion.

I think Mossadegh was a great man, i have a lot of respect for him. With that said, i dont think he would have modernized Iran as much as the Pahlavis did because he would have tried to do it in a democratic way and he would have wanted to establish a democracy(at least that is what all of his supporters say). A country as backwards as iran was not ready for democracy at that time. The people were Besavad and olaghs. They needed a strong King or "bully" to force them forward because they couldnt go forward themselves, the only thing they wanted was some islamic crap and to stay retarded.

Dear Londoner

You give too much credit to US and British for toplling Mossadegh. 160,000 US troops cannot even keep a green zone safe in Baghdad, how could have a handful of agents toppled Mossadegh's governmnet. Westerners are always quick to take credit for victories but disappear on "failures."

Mossadegh's policies and actions contributed to his own downfall: abolishing the parlimant, mismanaging the economy and giving too much fee hand to Tudeh Party, and....People at the time vwere simply tired of the misery that existed in Iranian society at the time.

He was at best a Kerensky, had he not been overthrown, Tudeh Party would have taken over Iran in couple of years. History has been good to him as his overthorw made him look like a victim of super-powers, where indeed he was an in-capable of handling Iran's economic problems.

Please let us know what else your Iranian friends say, so we can assist with and give you the "whole-truth" and not the "half-truth."

Sincerely,

Mohammed Mosaddeq

I am a Londoner who has interacted with many Iranians through University, work and socially - the responses to the article are intriguing. If I may, I wonder where Iranians place Mohammed Mosaddeq as regards the modernisation of Iran; is it possible that he could have led the country more successfully than either the Shah or Khomeni had he not been deposed by British and American agents?

Many thanks in advance for any responses.

You Deserve Backwardness

Reza Shah THE GREAT - forcefully established the modern institutions of IRAN. Sorry but we are a bunch of NAMAK NASHNAS who deserve to be beaten backward - Reza Shah beat the country to move us forward - Look at the Turks how they revel and respect Ataturk and what how we "motamadden" Iranians deal with Reza Shah the GREAT.

"changing name from Persia

"changing name from Persia tyo Iran was very foolish too. I hope we go back to name PERSIA when our beloved country is freed from the hands of these persian speaking Arabs."

Wait... what?

Persia is a romanized form of the name parsa.

Iran is a pure parsi name, contraction for land of Aryans.

Why the heck would we want to go to a name that doesn't even belong to our language? Sometimes members of the Persian community and their misguided/misinformed "pride" makes me want to repeatedly bang my head on a desk.

Another illiterate bully who soon became intoxicated with power

That "illiterate bully who soon became intoxicated with power" was way ahead of his time and ahead of iranians. He was just way too good for iranians. The evidence: 1979.

Iranians, 38 years after reza shah was depose, bowed and kissed the hands of "Another illiterate bully who soon became intoxicated with power" called khomeini who could hardly speak a correct sentence in persian language.

Iranians "demanded" the return of the illiterate bully khomeini to take them where they really belonged and were comfortable to be: the deserts of arabia of 14 centuries ago. That is what they wanted, that is what they got, that is what they deserved. Someone who could tell them what they wanted to hear, like what to do with an unwanted child as a result of someone falling from second floor due to an earthquake and landing on his sleeping aunt, leading to an unwanted pregnancy [Ref. Ayatollah Gilani], or what to do with a sexed mule after the completion of the act [Ref. Ayatollah khomeini]. Modernities that reza shah provided to those people, university, clinics, education, etc., were of no use to those iranians.

To Kaveh Nouraee: I agree with you

Kaveh jan,

I agree 100% with your statement about the fact that not everything Reza Shah did was positive. No one is perfect and I didn't say that in my comment either. All I'm saying is that Reza Shah loved his country and did the best he could (as an illiterate man) and served his nation and even some of his enemies agree that he meant well and he left many good things behind. Did he do everything right? No! But does he deserve to be treated and referred to with respect? Absolutely Yes! Does he deserve to be called names and mentioned in disgust? No!

When do we Iranians start being civil to  each other and to our past?

Look at how Americans remember and treat figures from their Civil War. In any of our third world, backward countries a general who had led a rebellion to break up the country would never be mentioned, ever again and any attempt to even study his life would be a sin, punishable by death! But in the United States people are allowed to respect and honor General Lee as a brave leader and one who loved and served his people when he lived!

We need to recognize and respect our past leaders for who they were. Reza Shah was a patriot, even if you disagree with him!

These Mullahs will go away, too (in time) and we should not allow the next guy to come and destry Khomeini's tomb and do the same these bastards did to the past leaders that came before them!

Unless we break this vicious cycle of hate and disrespect, we will remain nothing but a third-rate and backward country! Change must start from within!

Self Awareness

Reza was a man who was aware of his own weeknesses more than any apple polishers who was around him. He said once that I am only a soldier and not a diplomat: an achilles hill that he knew that later on prove to be mortal to his system of modernization that was geared toward putting the basic formal social and economic and cultural institutions on the ground for the first time in Persia.

In less than sixteen years he found himself in exile dying in a foreign land for the diplomatic miscalculation he made toward aligning himself in balance correctly toward the major fighting foreces all engaged with their tooth and nails in steel in the global battlefield.

HS Diploma, Diplomatic, Diplomacy

I MUST SAY.....

you are WAY OFF BASE DUDE!
you should kiss the ground that reza shah walked on....do you even have a clue what iran was like before he came to power??????? in 25 years he brought iran out of the gutter from being in the stone age into the modern times!!! what the heck have YOUR ANCESTORS done for iran!?
he held the country together when the scumbag brits and russians wanted to divide iran up between the two of the them.....you and your whole family owe your butts to him....learn to give him the respect he deserves....he may have had his issues, but he WAS A TRUE VATANPARAST WHO LOVED HIS COUNTRY.....so quit spewing this nonsense

Revering Reza Shah

I revere Reza Shah because he was the archenemy of mullahs. He knew something then that it took all other Iranians decades to learn: Mullahs are vermin that must be squashed.

Poor title, poorer subtitle, and a complete humbug

Mr AM-K, when would learn the basic principles of objective academic research? You seem to have re-discovered the world and need to be heard. Well, I have news for you: long before you discovered the world there were people who have exhaustively researched and written about the subjects that you get a WoW! from. Why do you think that apart from the usual army of WoW commenters the rest are interested to read your poorly researched and erroneous drivel?

Please read Cyrus Ghani's book on Reza Shah and make an effort to lean something.

Thank you.

Kabir

Reza Shah definitely earned the Kabir title. Rest in peace, job well done!

amused:
"Maryam" (Semitic) "Hojjat" (Semitic) writes : blather blather huff puff "persian speaking Arabs".

LOL

Dear Maryam Hojjat

To us Iranians, our land has always been Iran in some form or other. The name Persia was the official name of Iran in foriegn countries before 1937, when Reza Shah asked the rest of the world to call us by what we call ourselves. This article is written by an Englishman, hence the notion of "change name".

We Iranians, at the time of Zoroaster or even before (probably between 6000 to 1000 BC), used to call our country "Aryanam (the equivalent world for "Iran", and the plural of the word "Arya" in proto-Iranian language). The proto-Iranian term for Iran is equivalent to Avesta's Airyanem (as in Airyanem Vaejah).

From the time of Sassanian (226-651CE) we have used "Iranzamin" or "Iranshahr", both meaning "the land of Aryans".In fact if one delves into the literary masterpieces of the sons and daughters of Iran, there are many references to Iran as "Iranzamin" or Iranshahr.

Nowhere do we see in Iranian literary works any referneces to "Persia" or "Pars" or "Fars" pertaining to the country's name.  Admittedly Persia has those romantic conotations attached to it, and is more readily recognisable to the foreigners, becuause for far too long they have been used to this name.

Persia as we all know pertains to only one area of our land, where the first unified Iranian state originated from. For this reason alone the Greeks associated us with this region, and the name stuck.

Iran 1945 > Afghanistan and Pakistan 2009

When he left in 1945, Iran was a more modern and advanced nation than what Afghanistan and Pakistan are as nations today.

reza shah the great!

sometimes you lead a bully to be tough on the nation to drag it through it backwards to modernity. he was a great man and one of the greatest iranians that lived. god bless his soul. he is called reza shah the great thank you very much.

Reza Shah

Reza Shah is best described as:
Sarabazi ke baraye Iranian Amniat avard.
Bisavadi ke baraye Iranian Daneshgah avard.
Dahati ke baraye Iranian tamadon avard.

JJ does a great job in presenting the articles, but the subtitle

JJ does a great job in presenting the articles, but the subtitle is a bit "offensive", as it kind of gives up the key "plot". The piece is written to take the reader from desperation (post WWI period) to hope (1st half of Reza shah's reign) back to despair for Iran. But JJ knows better than the less journalistic me that: you have to get their attention in the first 10 seconds or you've lost them. For that professional touch and honesty (the line is taken directly from my text); I am very thankful. He has also done a great job with the front page picture and the title one, which is much better in setting the reader's mood, than my original choice.

Yes, as a couple of comments have kindly pointed out, the key message is not about what Reza Shah did for the country, but where he failed and failed miserably too! My humble mission has been to learn and tell; so that next time, we don't make the same mistakes, and instead make fresh new ones :-). As for the IRI and their murderous founder Khomeini, my position is clear, and in due time will be presented with ample details too.

Regarding the reference book, please note that it is only one reference, not the sole source for this article. To see the complete reference list for that period, please see my website. Nevertheless, Mr. Axworthy's brand new book has such a refreshing yet realistic and friendly view of Iran's history that should be read by all who cherish it. Axworthy clearly knows and loves the Iranian culture and literature; and has weaved that affection and the silk threads of our cerebral existence through his text; hence the book's subtitle:

A history of Iran - An Empire of the Mind 

Arash M-K

Thanks, but..

Don't you ever call my country filthy, ever.

Desperate for attention for your article, huh...?

Insults and slander lend you no credibility.

British and German

Before falling into trap of naivety, ask who is telling the story. We fell into this trap before when we listened to Khomeini of how bad pahlavis were and took his words, the words of a religious man, the sign of God, to the heart; and we know where it all took us.

It is very hard to be objective in the events of history of a period which is totally (thanks to pahlavis) foreign to us. A period when only 3% of iranians were verse in reading and writing. The only reason for reza shah's rise to power was the incompetence of ghajar. There simply was nobody else to stop iran from disintegration and occupation. I wish we could have a bully like him today to save us from mullas; but sigh that men like him are not easy to come by amongst spineless iranians, or else we would not be here.

So reza shah was british and german (and probably russian too). But he recaptured Khuzesan from Sheikh Khaz'al who was supported by the British.

So reza shah was german; so what if he was? a weak broken country like iran was of no use for germany, neither did she help germany in its genocide. Yet iran received many benefits from germany until the table turned. Germany transfered technology to illiterate iran, and was in process of obtaining her first steel mill company from germany. And iran used her influence to save hundreds of european jews from certain death and transfer them to tehran -- the so-called children of tehran. So what was it that was wrong with siding with germany "for iran" without the benefit of hindsight?

Anonymous123

Here are some

//iranian.com/main/node/52097

A history of Iran, by Prof. Michael Axworthy.

Reza Shah was simply Great!

I know some of my compatriots are incapable of comprehending and judging history and events based upon the standards and living condtions that existed in all middle eastern societies/countries at the time! And I won't go into that!

Who were the aggressors and violators of Iranian soil and why? Because Reza Shah sympathized with the Nazis [... with implicit collaboration ...]! How do you know he was collaborating with the Nazis, any proof of that? And if he did, but so did many others. Why was not Franco's Spain invaded by the English?

Reza Shah did not expel the English or the French advisors [ ... expelled most of the English and French advisors ... ] Well, France gave in! He simply did not want to pay for the services provided by the British! What is wrong with that?

[ ... engaged in secret pacts regarding the future power struggles in Europe. ]

How can an illiterate Shah be able to engage in such an enterprise which requires refinement!?

[ ... When Reza Shah foolishly declined, the Allied forces easily occupied Iran from north and south ...]

I thought he was made in England!

[... illiterate ...]

Men of Reza Shah dimensions are born with the characteristic, they are not made in Oxford or Harvard universities!

There are so many holes in his reviews, I just give up!

Mr. M. A. writing is based on events, facts that are taking out of their historical context, perhaps in order to maintain certain perception.

Fatollah

Wish we had him now

Truly way a head of his time. Just compare him with morons from Harvard and MIT and other higher instiutions of learning with their PHD's that followed backward filth like khomeini!

What ever we have left in Iran including the country itself, is by product of his hard work and effort. In 16 years he did more than a whole century by Ghajar!. Imagine if he had another 16 years. Every time I pass by Theran University I think of this great man. Rest in peace.