Mohammad reza pahlavi

He completed his primary school in Switzerland. He returned to Iran in , and enrolled in a Tehran military school, from which he graduated in In he married a sister of Faroq I, king of Egypt. The couple divorced in Mohammad Reza married two more times, in with Soraya Esfandiari and with Farah Diba.

He replaced his father, Reza Shah, on the throne on September 16, , shortly before his 22nd birthday. He continued the reform policies of his father, but a contest for control of the government soon erupted between the shah and an older professional politician, the nationalistic Mohammad Mosaddeq.

Pahlavi: Born in Tehran to Reza Pahlavi and his second wife, Tadj ol-Molouk, Mohammad Reza was the eldest son of the first Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty, and the third of his eleven children. Add to home screen. This massive supply effort became known as the Persian Corridor. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.

During World War II, Britain and the USSR were concerned by Reza Shah's friendly relations with Germany. In the two countries invaded and occupied large areas of Iran. They forced Reza Shah to abdicate, and in the absence of a viable alternative, permitted Mohammad Reza to assume the throne. The new shah's reign began against a backdrop of social and political disarray, economic problems, and food shortages.

Despite his vow to act as a constitutional monarch who would defer to the power of the parliamentary government, Mohammad Reza increasingly involved himself in governmental affairs and opposed or thwarted strong prime ministers. Prone to indecision, however, Mohammad Reza relied more on manipulation than on leadership.

He concentrated on reviving the army and ensuring that it would remain under royal control as the monarchy's main power base. In an assassination attempt on the Shah, attributed to the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party, resulted in the banning of that party and the expansion of the Shah's constitutional powers.

In the context of regional turmoil and the Cold War, the Shah established himself as an indispensable ally of the West. Domestically, he advocated reform policies, culminating in the program known as the White Revolution, which included land reform, the extension of voting rights to women, and the elimination of illiteracy.

These opponents criticized the Shah for violation of the constitution, which placed limits on royal power and provided for a representative government, and for subservience to the United States. The Shah saw himself as heir to the kings of ancient Iran, and in he held an extravagant celebration of 2, years of Persian monarchy.

In he replaced the Islamic calendar with an "imperial" calendar, which began with the foundation of the Persian empire more than 25 centuries earlier. These actions were viewed as anti-Islamic and resulted in religious opposition.

Under the Shah, Iran maintained diplomatic ties with Israel. The relations between Iran and Israel were strengthened through security cooperation provided by Israel in exchange for Iranian oil.

However, the ties between Iran and Israel began to deteriorate during and after the Ramadan War, also known as Yom Kippur War, in October
During the war, the Shah allowed Soviet planes to pass through Iranian airspace to deliver military supplies to Egypt, and Iran provided financial and oil support to Egypt. He supported the notion that Israel should give back the occupied lands to the Palestinians.

The Shah in his interview of with Oriana Fallaci express his view about unlawful occupation of Arab and Palestinian lands by Israel. A year later, he went further and criticize US-Jewish lobby, AIPAC, in his interview with Mike Wallace in , and the influence AIPAC has on US politician and lawmakers.

He, again in , repeated his criticism of Jewish lobby, AIPAC, in his interview with Mike Wallace. The Shah of Iran with his criticism of Israel and Jewish lobby made him an unfavorable partner in The Middle East for US and Israel. Subsequently, during the uprisings in and Revolution of , US had distanced itself from The Shah and started to negotiate with Ayatollah Khomeini as future leader of Iran to make sure that all the US interests as well as Israeli’s are secured.

The Shah's regime suppressed and marginalized its opponents with the help of Iran's security and intelligence organization, the SAVAK (Sazman-e Ettelaat va Amniyat-e Keshvar).

Relying on oil revenues, which sharply increased in late , the Shah pursued his goal of developing Iran as a mighty regional power dedicated to social reform and economic development. Yet he continually sidestepped democratic arrangements and refused to allow meaningful civic and political liberties, remaining unresponsive to public opinion.

By the mids the Shah reigned amidst widespread discontent caused by the continuing repressiveness of his regime, socioeconomic changes that benefited some classes at the expense of others, and the increasing gap between the ruling elite and the disaffected populace.

Islamic leaders, particularly the exiled cleric Ayatollah Khomeini, were able to focus this discontent with a populist ideology tied to Islamic principles and calls for the overthrow of the shah.

The Shah's government collapsed following widespread uprisings in and consequently an Islamic Republic succeeded his regime.

Beset by advanced cancer, the shah left Iran in January to begin a life in exile. He lived in Egypt, Morocco, the Bahamas, and Mexico before going to the United States for treatment of lymphatic cancer.

His arrival in New York City led to the Iranian takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran by "Students of Imam's Line" and the taking hostage of more than 50 Americans for days.

The Shah died in Cairo, Egypt, on July 27,

See also