Irainian revolution

Numerous symptoms led to the crumbling downfall of Reza Shah Pahlavi, ruler of Iran until 1978. One of these symptoms is rising expectations which can be seen during the 1960's and 70's. The rich Shah cleared the way for the land reform law, enacted in 1962. The land minority had to give up its land to the government, and among those stripped of land, were the Shi'ah Muslims. Iran's power structure was radically changed in a program termed the "White Revolution". On January 26, 1963, the White Revolution was endorsed by the nation. By 1971, when land distribution ended, about 2,500,000 families of the farm population benefited from the reforms. From 1960-72 the percentage of owner occupied farmland in Iran raised from 26 to 78 percent ("Iran" 896). As a result of the thriving economy, the income gap rapidly widened. Exclusive homes, extravagant restaurants, and night clubs and stree

As the middle class became discontent in Iran throughout the

As time progressed the weakness of the Shah became apparent. Waves of opposition began building after 1975, due to the formation of the Rastakhiz, the legal political party in Iran, and the banning of opposition political parties. It also became clear that the increased oil revenues following oil price increases were spent on arms and industrialization. In mid-1977 the religious leaders began demonstrating against the modernization brought on by the Shah. In November, several people were killed when police broke up demonstrations. As time went on, protests became more radical. The Shah became more of a dictator. As a result, those who had been moderate in demands for reform became more radical. In the fall of 1978, strikes against the oil industry, the post office, government factories, and banks demolished the economy. This pattern continued throughout most of 1978 (Orwin 45). As these protests became more frequent there were more and more people killed. This reflects the Shah's loss of power over his government and his people.

In late 1978, the Shah came to the conclusion that he would and could not rule a country in which he had to stand in front of his dying people. He understood that he could not militarily occupy his own country. The Shah's early mistakes had been devastating as the years went on. His forceful actions did not work and it's no wonder that his grip weakened. These events all led to the march against the government of the Shah, in which eight million Iranians protested on December 10, 1978 (Bill 25). One-fifth of the Iranian government was willing to join in a massive and nonviolent demonstration of opposition even though most of them knew that thousands of their countrymen had been shot in previous demonstrations. The banners and slogans made clear the religious and political essence

Some topics in this essay:
White Revolution, Shah November, Khalq Khomeini, Freedom Front, One-fifth Iranian, Press Khomeini, Iranians Iranians, Shah Pahlavi, Ruhollah Khomeini, Shah October, middle class, 1 1979 khomeini, opposition shah, people killed, weakness shah, white revolution, throughout 1970's, islamic republic, 1979 khomeini, 1 1979, symptoms rising,