Page 309 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1610 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

that it badly needed.This pact, along with an earlier U.S.- 1978 and as a result hundreds died in clashes with riot
Iran mutual defense agreement, set up Iran to receive police forces. The shah’s inability to curb the situation
great quantities of military equipment. encouraged the opposition to be more vigorous in their
During 1972 the tide turned in favor of the shah. demand to end the monarchy.With the hope that a new
Great Britain had pulled out of the Persian Gulf due to government may be able to solve the political problems,
worldwide military cutbacks, and this vacuum was soon he appointed one prime minister after another. They
filled when the administration of U.S. President Richard were, however, either old acquaintances or army generals
Nixon underwrote the shah as the policeman of the Per- who were already despised or mistrusted by the opposi-
sian Gulf. This underwriting gave Iran carte blanche to tion. His final attempt was to ask Dr. Shahpur Bakhtiar,
purchase up-to-date non-nuclear weapons from the an opposition figure that had gone to jail for his anti-shah
United States. During the 1973 meeting of the Organi- activities, to form a new government. Even though, on
zation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), when January 3, 1979, the parliament gave its approval to the
the shah pushed to increase oil prices, in light of the new government, it was too late for Bakhtiar to gain the
1973 Arab-Israeli War and an ongoing oil embargo, the trust of the people and remedy the situation. As a result,
timing was right for him to strengthen his presence as a the shah realized that his departure from the country
leader in the region.With increased OPEC oil prices, the might help ease the discord, so on January 13, 1979, he
Iranian oil revenue augmented from $2.3 billion in 1972 named a Regency Council to take his place while out of
to $20.5 billion in 1977, dispersing any monetary obsta- the country. His departure on January 16, 1979, how-
cle that might have prevented the shah from strengthen- ever, marked the end of the Pahlavi era and the monar-
ing his military forces. chy in Iran.
With the increase in oil revenue, Iran’s annual military Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who was
budget increased from $1.8 billion in 1973 to $9.5 bil- unceremoniously forced out of Iraq, where he had been
lion in 1977, and the size of the military increased to in exile since 1963, was given permission to go to Paris.
410,000 troops. The purchase of arms from the United Suddenly the world’s major media personalities discov-
States alone totaled $6 billion by 1977. In 1976 the two ered a simple religious man who opposed the tyrannical
countries signed a bilateral agreement that anticipated leadership of his native country. Khomeini’s message was
that non-oil and non-military trade between the two broadcast to the world and specifically to Iranians via var-
countries would reach $15 billion by 1981. By 1978 ious media outlets. His message was very simple; abdi-
more than fifty thousand U.S. military advisors and civil- cation of the shah and reinstatement of the Iranian
ians were residing in Iran with extraterritoriality (or Constitution of 1906. In Paris, Ayatollah Khomeini set
exterritoriality; privilege of immunity from local law up an Islamic Revolutionary Council with the task of
enforcement of the host country) privileges. Ironically, the establishing a transitional government and a few days
shah had now reinstated the same extraterritoriality act after his arrival in Iran, on February 1, 1979, he
that his father had so fervently abolished in 1928. In gen- appointed Mehdi Bazargan, a devout Muslim and sup-
eral, the Iranian people never forgave Muhammad Reza porter of Dr. Mossadeq and an anti-shah activist, as the
Shah for that reinstatement. prime minister of a provisional government while
Other factors leading to the Iranian Revolution Dr. Bakhtiar’s government was still in power. Dr. Bakh-
included inflation, widespread corruption, inequities in tiar and his government became increasingly unpopular
income distribution, and the failure of political reform. to the point that he was forced underground and even-
Hence, by 1978 a rapidly growing and resounding dis- tually fled the country on February 10, 1979.
content existed among a majority of Iranians. Strikes and Like with any other modern political revolution, a
demonstrations became a daily occurrences throughout period of uncertainty and political chaos ensued during