NAME: ____________________________ PERIOD: ___ DATE: ____________MRS. BRANFORD GLOBAL HISTORY 10

~ IRANIAN REVOLUTION ~

Introduction: Review of Forms of GovernmentDirections: For each form of government below, match it to a historical example on the right by drawing a line between the two.

Form of government Historical examples

monarchy (autocracy)a government in which power is in the hands of a single person that has divine right to rule

Louis XVI’s France

Hitler’s Germany

Stalin’s Soviet Union

Mussolini’s Italy

totalitarianismgovernment control over every aspect of public and private life

communisman economic system, and a political ideology, in which all means of production (land, mines, factories, railroads, businesses) are owned by the people, private property does not exist, and all goods and services are shared equally

fascisma government that promotes an extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights, and a dictatorial one-party rule

What is a theocracy?

As a result of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Iran’s government changed from a monarchy to a theocracy. A theocracy is a type of government that is based on a religion. It is run by religious figures and its laws are based in religious laws.

In Iran, since 1979, the government’s laws have been based on Islamic law, called Sharia. Though there are elected positions in Iran’s government, the ultimate power is held by religious leaders who ensure that all government actions are in line with their interpretation of the Quran and Sharia Law.

1. What is a theocracy? How is it different from other forms of government?

Form of government

Relating to God or gods

THEOCRAC

The Iranian Revolution of 1979Directions: Read through the first two sections of the excerpt from “1979: Iran’s Islamic Revolution” by Roger Cohen, from the New York Times Upfront Magazine, examine the images below, and answer the questions that follow.

Vocabulary

The Shahthe name used to refer to Shah Reza Pahlavi; shah was the title given to him to show that he was the king of Iran

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

Muslim religious leader who became the leader of the Iranian government as a result of the Iranian Revolution in 1979

Shiite a religious sect in Islam; Khomeini was Shiite

cleric a religious leader

secular nonreligious

Autocratic regime

a government who has complete control of those it rules

mullah the Persian word for a Muslim religious leader

Tehran, Iran's capital, was in a state of revolt on Jan. 19, 1979. The Shah, Iran's ruler for nearly four decades, had fled the country. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shiite Muslim cleric who had worked for years to overthrow the Shah, was still in exile in Paris, but vowing to return and form an Islamic government. A million people took to the streets to cheer on Khomeini and denounce the Shah. […] Within two weeks, Khomeini had returned, replacing Iran's secular government with a theocracy ruled by Islamic religious leaders called mullahs. By year's end, young supporters of Khomeini—angered by America's long support of the Shah—had stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking dozens of hostages. "Death to the Shah!" gave way to "Death to America!" and U.S. officials knew they had a powerful new foe on their hands. […] The U.S. and the Shah A quarter century earlier, in 1953, the C.I.A. had secretly helped topple Iran's prime minister and restore the Shah to his throne after he had gone into exile during a power struggle with members of Iran's elected parliament. Why were American leaders so determined to keep the Shah in power? It was the height of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and Iran was seen as a potential target for the spread of Soviet Communism. American presidents, from Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s to Jimmy Carter in the 1970s, gave the Shah, who was sympathetic to the West, their support. At home, however, the Shah could be a ruthless leader. Dissent was violently suppressed. Although a forward-thinking ruler in many respects—he created a modern economy almost from scratch, and with it a growing middle class, and extended suffrage [voting rights] and other basic rights to women—the Shah was seen by many Iranians as a puppet of the West. At the same time, many of the Shah's reforms, especially those involving women, infuriated conservative Muslims, led by Khomeini, a Shiite scholar.

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi Shahanshah

Aryamehr Ruhollah Khomeini

In 1978, the simmering opposition to the Shah—not only from Khomeini's followers, but also from a middle class that sought greater political freedom—boiled over and brought millions of people onto the streets. The Shah and his wife fled in January 1979, ushering in a brief period of confusion before Khomeini assumed control as Supreme Leader over what became the first Islamic theocratic regime in the modern Middle East. Khomeini and the mullahs—and a roving army of "spiritual enforcers" known as the Revolutionary Guards—ended up substituting one autocratic regime for another. In doing so, they dashed the hopes of millions of Iranians who thought the revolution would bring more freedom, not less. Women lost the social gains they had made under the Shah, and were forced to wear head coverings and full-body cloaks called chadors. Opponents were imprisoned and tortured as ruthlessly as under the Shah. A parliamentary democracy existed mostly on paper, with true authority residing with the mullahs. With the Shah in exile, Khomeini identified the U.S. as "the Great Satan" and an "enemy of Islam." The slogans, eerily familiar today, had deep roots in injured Iranian and Islamic pride. But they also served a practical purpose: Revolutions, Islamic and otherwise, seldom deliver on all their promises, and a clear external enemy can serve as a useful diversion from internal problems. The Hostage Crisis Anger against the U.S. reached a fever pitch when the Shah, suffering from cancer, came to America for treatment in October 1979. On November 4, thousands of young Iranians, many of them college students, swarmed the U.S. embassy's 27-acre compound in Tehran, seizing the 66 Americans inside. […] The Shah died in July 1980, but the hostages, held for 444 days, were not released until the moment Reagan took the oath of office, on Jan. 20, 1981. Khomeini's death in 1989 did nothing to ease the enmity between Iran and the U.S., at least on an official level. As Iranians— particularly the Westward-looking middle class—grew more frustrated with the oppressiveness of the revolution, they began to view America more favorably. Today, Iran may be the only Mideast nation with a government—now led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (hah-mehn-a-EE) and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-ma-DIH-nee-jahd)—that is more anti-American than its people.

*The current President of Iran is Hassan Rouhani, assumed office on 3 August 2013, after the 2013 Iranian presidential election. He succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served 8 years in office from 2005 to 2013. Rouhani won re-election in the 2017 presidential election. He is considered by most to be a moderate.

Questions2. Why did the United States interfere in Iran in the 1950s? What was the result of their interference?

3. Why did some Iranians support the Shah?

4. Why did some Iranians oppose the Shah?

5. What was the result of the Iranian Revolution of 1979? Who was removed from power? Who gained power?

6. For each of the terms below, check off if it applies to the policies of Shah Reza Pahlavi or Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and explain why you identify the terms with the rulers.

Term The Shah or Khomeini? Explanation

modern Shah Khomeini

traditional Shah Khomeini

secular Shah Khomeini

religious Shah Khomeini

theocratic Shah Khomeini

western Shah Khomeini

7. In the article, Roger Cohen writes, “Revolutions, Islamic and otherwise, seldom deliver on all of their promises, and a clear external enemy can serve as a useful diversion from internal problems.” Identify at least one other revolution from your study of history that supports Cohen’s claim and explain it is an example.

Regents Multiple Choice Check for Understanding

8. A major cause of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 was the concern by Islamic leaders that

(1) traditional values were being undermined by Western ideas (2) women were being denied political rights (3) Israel had lost its influence in the Middle East (4) religious leaders were becoming too powerful

11. The Sepoy Mutiny in India, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and the Islamic Revolution in Iran were similar in that they

(1) restored power to the hereditary monarchies (2) attempted to reject the traditional cultures in these countries (3) resisted foreign influence in these countries (4) reestablished the power of religious leaders

9. The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran was a reaction to the failure of Shah Reza Pahlevi to

(1) modernize the nation's economy (2) meet the social and political needs of the people (3) establish political ties with Western nations (4) supply the military with advanced weapons technology

12. In the 1970s, when Iran was ruled by the Shah, the Ayatollah Khomeini's major criticism was of the

(1) Shah's friendship with the Soviet Union (2) return to traditional Islamic law (3) lack of political and social rights for women (4) non-Islamic influences on the culture and economy

10. "We advocate a government based on legal principles established in the Koran (Qur'an)."Which political event would most likely be associated with this statement?

(1) Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949 (2) overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979 (3) unification of Germany in 1990 (4) election of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994

13. In Iran, both the Revolution of 1979 and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism have caused

(1) an increase in women’s rights (2) tension between traditionalism and modernization to continue (3) foreign control of natural resources to expand (4) the introduction of a communist form of government

Base your answer to the following question on the passage below and on your knowledge of social studies.

". . . The grim statutes [laws] that I would spend the rest of my life fighting stared back at me from the page: the value of a woman's life was half that of a man (for instance, if a car hit both on the street, the cash compensation due to the woman's family was half that due the man's); a woman's testimony in court as a witness to a crime counted only half as much as a man's; a woman had to ask her husband's permission for divorce. The drafters of the penal code had apparently consulted the seventh century for legal advice. The laws, in short, turned the clock back fourteen hundred years, to the early days of Islam's spread, the days when stoning women for adultery and chopping off the hands of thieves were considered appropriate sentences ...." - Shirin Ebadi, Iran Awakening

14. Based on this passage, which statement is a valid conclusion about Iran following the revolution in 1979?

(1) Men were often penalized for their treatment of women. (2) Laws were changed to reflect Western legal principles. (3) The legal system discriminated against women. (4) Legal decisions were based on economic values.