History of Iran to 1989

History of Iran to 1989
Early history & the Median & Achaemenian Empires (3200 BCE – 330 BCE)

Get A Senneh Rug Mousemat, depiction of the 19th Century rugs - Persian Rugs

Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire, & the author of "the world's oldest human rights declaration".
The Achaemenian Empire (559–330 BCE) at its greatest extent.Main articles: Zayandeh Rud civilization, Jiroft civilization, Elam, Median Empire, & Achaemenid Empire
Dozens of pre-historic sites across the Iranian plateau point to the existence of ancient cultures & urban settlements, centuries before the earliest civilizations arose in nearby Mesopotamia.

The written history of Persia (Iran) begins around 3200 BCE with the Proto-Iranian civilization, followed by the Elamites. The arrival of the Aryans (Indo-Iranians) in the third & second millennium BCE & the establishing of the Median dynasty (728–550 BCE) culminated in the first Iranian Empire. The Medes are credited with the foundation of Iran as a nation & empire, the largest of its day, until Cyrus the Great established a unified empire of the Medes & Persians leading to the Achaemenid Empire (648–330 BCE), founded by Cyrus the Great.

After Cyrus's death, his son Cambyses continued his father's work of conquest, making significant gains in Egypt. A power struggle followed Cambyses' death & , despite his tenuous connection to the royal line, Darius was declared king (ruled 522-486 BCE). He was to be arguably the greatest of the ancient Persian rulers.

While Darius's first capital was at Susa, he also initiated the construction of Persepolis. He then built a canal between the Nile & the Red Sea, a forerunner of the modern Suez Canal. It is during his reign that mention is first made of the Royal Road, a great highway stretching all the way from Susa to Sardis with posting stations at regular intervals.

Under Cyrus the Great & Darius the Great, the Persian Empire eventually became the largest & most powerful empire in human history up until that point, ruling over most of the known world. Their greatest achievement was the empire itself. The Persian Empire represented the world's first global superpower. Some claim Darius was good, but he was not and he demanded subjigation from places who should not have been subjigated. It took wars and slaving to subjigate them.

2500 year-old relief in Apadana Hall.
The Arg-e Bam citadel, built before 500 BC.The borders of the Persian empire stretched from the Indus & Oxus Rivers in the East to the Mediterranean Sea in the West, extending through Anatolia (modern day Turkey) & Egypt. But in 499 BCE, one of the cities along the cost of Anatolia, Miletus, ruled by a Greek tyrant named Aristagoras, staged a revolt & turned to the Athenians for aid. Until then the Persians had no plan or desire to go into Europe. Subsequently, an Athenian assault on a major Persian province culminated in the sacking & burning of the city of Sardis. It is this event that escalated into what is known as the Greco-Persian Wars, which included encounters such as the Battle of Thermopylae. In 494 BCE the Persians defeated the Greeks at the battle of Lade, & the coast of Anatolia was once again peaceful.

Alexander of Macedon - referred to as "the accursed" in the Zoroastrian Middle Persian Book of Arda Viraz - invaded Achaemenid territory in 334 BCE, conclusively defeating the last Achaemenid Emperor Darius III at the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE. In 330 BCE, Alexander occupied Persepolis (and according to legend, had it destroyed) & Pasargadae, leaving them & the rest of the Pars province in control of one of his officers before moving on northwards. In the same year, Alexander occupied in quick succession Aspardana (present day Isfahan), Ecbatana in Media (present day Hamadan), Hecatompylos in Hyrancia (present day Mazandaran), Susia in Parthia (in present day North Khorasan). He then turned southwards & occupied Prophtasia in Drangiana (present day Sistan). The next year, in 329 BCE, Alexander took the satrapy capitals at Kandahar in Arachosia, Kabura (Kabul), Bactra (Balkh) in Bactria, & finally Maracanda (Samarkand) in Sogdiana before leaving imperial territory in 328-327. In each of the former Achaemenid territories he installed his own officers as caretakers, which led to friction & ultimately to the partitioning of the former empire after Alexander's death. A reunification would not occur until 700 years later, under the Sassanids (see below). Unlike the diadochic Seleucids & the succeeding Arsacids, who used a vassalary system, the Sassanids - like the Achaemenids - had a system of governors (MP: shahrab) personally appointed by the Emperor & directed by the central government.

Third Iranian Empire: Parthian Empire (248 BCE – 224 CE)

Coin of Phraates IV. The inscription reads: Benefactor Arsaces, civilized, friend of Greeks.
A second century BCE bust of a Parthian warrior from Nysa, capital of the Parthian homeland.Main articles: Parthian Empire & Seleucid Empire
Parthia was led by the Arsacid dynasty, who reunited & ruled over the Iranian plateau, after defeating the Greek Seleucid Empire, beginning in the late third century BCE, & intermittently controlled Mesopotamia between ca 150 BCE & 224 CE. These were the third native dynasty of ancient Iran (Persia) & lasted five centuries.

Parthia was the arch-enemy of the Roman Empire in the east, limiting Rome's expansion beyond Cappadocia (central Anatolia). By using a heavily-armed & armored cataphract cavalry, & lightly armed but highly-mobile mounted archers, the Parthians "held their own against Rome for almost 300 years". Rome's acclaimed general Mark Antony led a disastrous campaign against the Parthians in 36BCE in which he lost 32,000 men. By the time of Roman emperor Augustus, Rome & Parthia were settling some of their differences through diplomacy. By this time, Parthia had acquired an assortment of golden eagles, the cherished standards of Rome's legions, captured from Mark Antony, & Crassus, who suffered "a disastrous defeat" at Carrhae in 53BCE.

Parthian remains display classically Greek influences in some instances & retain their oriental mode in others, a clear expression of "the cultural diversity that characterized Parthian art & life". The Parthians were innovators of many architecture designs such as that of Ctesiphon, which later on "influenced European Romanesque architecture".

Fourth Iranian Empire: Sassanid Empire (224 – 651 CE)

Bust of Shapur II the Great displays the craftsmanship commanded by Sassanid artisans.The end of the Parthian Empire came in 224 CE, when the empire was loosely organized & the last king was defeated by Ardashir I, one of the empire's vassals. Ardashir I then went on to create the Sassanid Empire. Soon he started reforming the country both economically & militarily.

The Sassanid Empire at its greatest extent.The Sassanids established an empire roughly within the frontiers achieved by the Achaemenids, with their capital at Ctesiphon, & called their empire Erânshahr (or Iranshahr, "Dominion of the Aryans", i.e. of Iranians).

During their reign, Sassanid battles with the Roman Empire caused such pessimism in Rome that the historian Cassius Dio wrote:

“ Here was a source of great fear to us. So formidable does the Sassanid king seem to our eastern legions, that some are liable to go over to him, & others are unwilling to fight at all."
”

The Romans suffered repeated losses particularly by Ardashir I, Shapur I, & Shapur II. During this period the religion of Mithraism as restructured by Prophet Zoroaster, was practiced throughout the Roman Empire & became particularly popular among Roman Soldiers.

Under the Sassanids, Persia expanded relations with China, the arts, music, & architecture greatly flourished, & centers such as the School of Nisibis & Academy of Gundishapur became world renowned centers of science & scholarship.

After roughly six hundred years of confrontation & rivalry with the Roman Empire, raids from the Arab peninsula began attacking the Sassanin & Byzantine frontiers in which a war-exhausted Persia was defeated in the Battle of al-Qâdisiyah, paving way for the Islamic conquest of Persia.

From the fall of the Sassanid Dynasty to the Safavid Empire (652-1501 AD)
Ilkhanate, Timurid dynasty, Mongol Empire, Khwarezmian Empire, Seljuk dynasty, Buyid Dynasty, & Ghaznavid Empire

A Latin copy of Avicenna's Canon of Medicine, which was the standard medical text in Europe for seven centuries.
Hakim Abol-Qasem Ferdowsi (935–1020) is perhaps the most revered Persian poet. He was the author of the national epic of Iran Shahnama, & credited with preserving the Persian language.After the Islamic conquest of Persia, Persia was annexed into the Arab Umayyad Caliphate. But the Islamization of Iran was to yield deep transformations within the cultural, scientific, & political structure of Iran's society: The blossoming of Persian literature, philosophy, medicine & art became major elements of the newly-forming Muslim civilization. Inheriting a heritage of thousands of years of civilization, & being at the "crossroads of the major cultural highways", contributed to Persia emerging as what culminated into the "Islamic Golden Age".

It was the Persian general Abu Moslem, who expelled the Umayyads from Damascus & helped the Abbasid caliphs to conquer Baghdad. The Abbasid caliphs frequently chose their "wazirs" (viziers) among Persians, & Persian governors acquired a certain amount of local autonomy. Thus in 822 AD, the governor of Khorasan, Tahir, proclaimed his independence & founded a new Persian dynasty of Tahirids. & by the Samanid era, Persia's efforts to regain its independence had been well solidified. Attempts of Arabization thus never succeeded in Iran, & movements such as the Shuubiyah became catalysts for Persians to regain their independence in their relations with the Arab invaders.

The cultural revival of the post-Abbasid period led to a resurfacing of Persian national identity. The resulting cultural movement reached its peak during the ninth & tenth centuries. The most notable effect of the movement was the continuation of the Persian language, the language of the Persians & the official language of Iran to the present day. Ferdowsi, Iran's greatest epic poet, is regarded today as the most important figure in maintaining the Persian language.

During this period, hundreds of scholars & scientists vastly contributed to technology, science & medicine, later influencing the rise of European science during the Renaissance. The movement continued well into the eleventh century, when Mahmud-a Ghaznavi founded a vast empire, with its capital at Isfahan & Ghazna. Their successors, the Seljuks, asserted their domination from the Mediterranean Sea to Central Asia. As with their predecessors, the divan of the empire was in the hands of Persian viziers, who founded the Nizamiyya.

In 1218, the eastern Khwarazmid provinces of Transoxiana & Khorasan suffered a devastating invasion by Genghis Khan. During this period more than half of Persia's population were killed, turning the streets of Persian cities like Neishabur into "rivers of blood", as the severed heads of men, women, & children were "neatly stacked into carefully constructed pyramids around which the carcasses of the city's dogs & cats were placed". In a letter to King Louis IX of France, Holaku, one of the Genghis Khan's grandsons, alone took responsibility for 200,000 deaths in his raids of Persia & the Caliphate. He was followed by yet another conqueror, Tamerlane, who established his capital in Samarkand.

The waves of devastation prevented many cities such as Neishabur from reaching their pre-invasion population levels until the twentieth century, eight centuries later. But both Holaku, Timur & their successors soon came to adopt the ways & customs of that which they had conquered, chosing to surround themselves with a culture that was distinctively Persian.

The birth of modern Iran: Rise of the Safavid Empire (1501 – 1920)

Shah Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid dynasty (1501 to 1736).
Naghsh-i Jahan Square was one of the many monuments built in the Safavid era. It was the largest city square in the world at the time of it's construction.Main articles: Safavid Empire, Qajar dynasty, Afsharid dynasty, & Zand dynasty
Persia's first encompassing Shi'a Islamic state was established under the Safavid dynasty in 1501 by Shah Ismail I. The Safavid dynasty soon became a major political power & promoted the flow of bilateral state contacts. The Safavid peak was during the rule of "Shah Abbas The Great"[36]. The Shah swiftly moved to defeat the Uzbeks, Ottomans, & Portuguese, bringing a flow of prosperity into Iranian cities.

The capable Qajar chancellor Amir Kabir established Iran's first modern college system, among other modernizing reforms.The Safavids moved their capital from Tabriz to Qazvin & then to Isfahan where their patronage for the arts propelled Persia into one of its most aesthetically productive eras. Under their rule, the state became highly centralized, the first attempts to modernize the military were made, & even a distinct style of architecture developed.

The defeat of Shah Sultan Hossein by Afghan rebels marked the start of the downfall of the Safavid era in 1722. One year after the last Safavid monarch lost his throne in 1735, Nader Shah successfully drove out the Afghan rebels from Isfahan & established the Afsharid dynasty. He then staged an incursion into India in 1738 securing the Peacock throne, Koh-i-Noor, & Darya-ye Noor among other royal treasures. His rule did not last long however, & was assassinated in 1747.

The Mashad based Afshar dynasty was succeeded by the Zand dynasty in 1750, founded by Karim Khan, who established his capital at Shiraz. His rule brought a period of relative peace & renewed prosperity. The dynasty however did not last more than three generations, & Aga Muhammad Khan supported by the betrayal of the young Zand king's chancellor, executed him, & founded his new capital in Tehran, marking the dawn of the Qajar dynasty in 1794. His successors however gradually transformed Iran into an arena for the rising colonial powers of Imperial Russia & the British Empire, which wielded great political influence in Tehran under the subsequent Qajarid kings. Yet in spite of The Great Game, Iran managed to maintain her sovereignty & was never colonized, unlike neighboring states in the region.

Persia suffered several wars with Imperial Russia during the Qajar era, resulting in Persia losing almost half of its territories to Imperial Russia & the British Empire via the treaties of Gulistan, Turkmenchay, & Akhal. Repeated foreign intervention & a corrupt & weakened Qajar rule led to various potests, which by the end of the Qajar period resulted in Persia's constitutional revoltuion establishing the nation's first parliament in 1906, within a constitutional monarchy.

From the Pahlavi era to the Iranian Revolution (1921 – 1979)

Main articles: Pahlavi dynasty & Iranian Constitutional Revolution
With the rise of modernization & encroachment of stronger Western powers in the late nineteenth century came the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911. Reformers hoped the constitution would strengthen Iran against Imperial Russia & Britain by centralizing & modernizing it. Ultimately the constitution became law, but its provisions were seldom followed during most of its history. Millions of Iranians died in World War One as of the Tasr making Russia a weak divided land, and unable to feed it's people.

In 1921, Cossack army officer Reza Khan (known as Reza Shah after assuming the throne) staged a coup against the weakened Qajar dynasty. An autocrat & supporter of modernization, Reza Shah initiated the development of modern industry, railroads, & establishment of a national education system. Reza Shah sought to balance the influence of Russia & Britain by seeking out assistance & technology from European powers traditionally not involved in Iranian affairs, but when World War II started his closeness to Germany alarmed allied powers Russia & Britain, Germany's enemies.

In summer of 1941 Britain & the USSR invaded Iran to prevent Iran from allying with the Axis powers. The Allies occupied Iran, securing a supply line to Russia, Iran's petroleum infrastructure, & forced the Shah to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1951, a nationalist politician, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh rose to prominence in Iran & was elected Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, Mossadegh became enormously popular in Iran by nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later British Petroleum, BP) which controlled the country's oil reserves. In response, Britain embargoed Iranian oil & began plotting to depose Mossadegh. Members of the British Intelligence Service invited the United States to join them, convincing U.S. President Eisenhower that Mossadegh was reliant on the Tudeh (Communist) Party to stay in power. In 1953, President Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax, & the CIA took the lead in overthrowing Mossadegh & supporting a U.S.-friendly monarch; & for which the U.S. Government apologized in 2000.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution, with Farah Pahlavi, former Empress of Iran.The CIA faced many setbacks, but the covert operation soon went into full swing, conducted from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran under the leadership of Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. Iranians were hired to protest Mossadegh & fight pro-Mossadegh demonstrators. Anti- & pro-monarchy protestors violently clashed in the streets, leaving almost three hundred dead. The operation was successful in triggering a coup, & within days, pro-Shah tanks stormed the capital & bombarded the Prime Minister's residence. Mossadegh surrendered, & was arrested on 19 August 1953. He was tried for treason, & sentenced to three years in prison.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi returned to power greatly strengthened & his rule became increasingly autocratic in the following years. With strong support from the U.S. & U.K., the Shah further modernized Iranian industry, but simultaneously crushed all forms of political opposition with his intelligence agency, SAVAK. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became an active critic of the Shah's White Revolution & publicly denounced the government. Khomeini, who was popular in religious circles, was arrested & imprisoned for 18 months. After his release in 1964, Khomeini publicly criticized the United States government. The Shah was persuaded to send him into exile by General Hassan Pakravan. Khomeini was sent first to Turkey, then to Iraq & finally to France. While in exile, he continued to denounce the Shah.

Iranian Revolution & Iran-Iraq War (1979 – 1988)
Main articles: Iranian Revolution & Iran-Iraq War
Starting in late 1977, protests began to build against the Shah & his autocratic, secular, pro-Western policies. By December 1978 millions of Iranians were in the streets & the country's economy was paralyzed. The Shah left the country in mid-January 1979 & two weeks later the Revolution's pre-eminent leader, Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to tumultuous, adoring crowds. The final collapse of the Shah's government came on February 11 when royal troops were defeated by guerillas & rebel troops in armed street fighting. Iran officially became an Islamic Republic on April 1 after Iranians overwhelmingly approved a national referendum declaring the country so.

The 1979 revolution was populist, nationalist & most of all Shia Islamist. Many different groups participated, including the Communist Tudeh Party & the secular nationalist National Front, but in the end it was Khomeini & his supporters who dominated & saw through the creation of a unique Islamic state with sharia, or conservative Islamic laws, & clerical rule. Iran's new theocratic constitution included the post of Supreme Leader for Khomeini & his successors, & other bodies of clerics to veto new laws & vet candidates for public office.

Iran's relations with the United States became deeply antagonistic following the revolution. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized US embassy personnel labeling the embassy a "den of spies" & accused its personnel of being CIA agents plotting to overthrow the revolutionary government, as the CIA had done to Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. Khomeini supported the embassy takeover . Women, African Americans & one hostage diagnosed with multiple sclerosis were soon released, the remaining 52 were held for 444 days. The students demanded the handover of the shah in exchange for the hostages, & following the Shah's death in the summer of 1980, that the hostages be put on trial for espionage. Subsequently attempts by the U.S. administration to negotiate or rescue were unsuccessful until January 1981 when the Algiers declaration was agreed upon. The U.S. promised (among other things) in the accord to release Iranian assets that had been frozen, but as of 2007 those assets still remain frozen.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, leader of the Islamic revolution & founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Donald Rumsfeld meeting Saddam Hussein on 19 December - 20 December 1983. Rumsfeld visited again on 24 March 1984; the same day the UN released a report that Iraq had used mustard gas & tabun nerve agent against Iranian troops.Meanwhile, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein decided to take advantage of what he perceived to be disorder in the wake of the Iranian Revolution & its unpopularity with Western governments. The once-strong Iranian military had been disbanded during the revolution, & with the Shah ousted, Hussein had ambitions to position himself as the new strong man of the Middle East. He also sought to expand Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf by acquiring territories that Iraq had claimed earlier from Iran during the Shah's rule. Of chief importance to Iraq was Khuzestan which not only boasted a substantial Arab population, but rich oil fields as well. On the unilateral behalf of the United Arab Emirates, the islands of Abu Musa & the Greater & Lesser Tunbs became objectives as well. With these ambitions in mind, Hussein planned a full-scale assault on Iran, boasting that his forces could reach the capital within three days. On September 22, 1980 the Iraqi army invaded Iran at Khuzestan, precipitating the Iran-Iraq War. The attack took revolutionary Iran completely by surprise.

Although Saddam Hussein's forces made several early advances, by 1982, Iranian forces managed to push the Iraqi army back into Iraq. Khomeini sought to export his Islamic revolution westward into Iraq, especially on the majority Shi'a Arabs living in the country. The war then continued for six more years until 1988, when Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" & accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations.

Tens of thousands of Iranian civilians & military personnel were killed when Iraq used chemical weapons in its warfare. Iraq was financially backed by Egypt, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, the Soviet Union & the Warsaw Pact states, the United States (beginning in 1983), France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, & the People's Republic of China (which also sold weapons to Iran). All of these countries provided intelligence, agents for chemical weapons as well as other forms of military assistance to Saddam Hussein. Iran's principal allies during the war were Syria, Libya, & North Korea.

With more than 100,000 Iranian victims of Iraq's chemical weapons during the eight-year war, Iran is the world's second-most afflicted country by weapons of mass destruction— second only to Japan. The total Iranian casualties of the war were estimated to be anywhere between 500,000 & 1,000,000. Almost all relevant international agencies have confirmed that Saddam engaged in chemical warfare to blunt Iranian human wave attacks, while unanimously announcing that Iran never used chemical weapons during the war
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