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1804-1813 First Russo-Persian War
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1813-1828 War eventually lost to Russia, with loss of territory.
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1906-1911 Constitutional Revolution
Dabashi calls this event the beginning of modern Iran, when the absolute monarchy becomes a constitutional monarchy (71). -
Reza Shah was determined to modernize Iran, looking to imitate Ataturk’s modernization of Turkey (1895-1914, Young Turk Movement).
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The rule of the first Pahlavi monarch comes about as a result of a military coup in 1921 supported by the British.
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Reza Shah crowned himself on April 25, 1926.
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1934 Establishment of Tehran University, modern and secular.
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1936 Veiling of women in public is banned by the Shah.
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1941 Second Pahlavi monarch, age 22, occupies the throne after his father is exiled to South Africa.
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1943 Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran; they promise Iran national sovereignty
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1951 Iranian Prime Minister Mosaddeq nationalizes the Iranian oil industry, which foments a power struggle with the Shah.
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1953 The US CIA engineers a coup (led by Kermit Roosevelt) that removes Prime Minister Mosaddeq, and brings the Shah back to power.
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1958 The Shah establishes SAVAK, the secret police that act against political dissenters.
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The White Revolution, initiated by the Shah and supported by President Kennedy, implements further secularization.
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1963 Ayatollah Khomeini, now Shi’ite leader, challenges the Shah, only to be arrested and exiled to Iraq.
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1971 The Shah celebrates 2500 years of Persian monarchy.
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1971 Siahkal uprising, armed struggle against the Shah by socialists.
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1973 Iran doesn’t participate in the Arab oil embargo, which means tremendous profits for the Shah.
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1978 Increasing large public demonstrations against the Shah signify opposition of urban guerrilla movements and the clerics.
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1979 January 19, a million Iranians celebrate in Tehran, calling for the formation of an Islamic republic and the return of Khomeini.
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1979 The Shah leaves the country on January 16 for Egypt, Morocco, the Bahamas, Mexico, and then the US, where he undergoes treatment for cancer.
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February 1, 1979 Khomeini returns in triumph to Iran and appoints Mehdi Bazargan prime minister for a provisional government while the Islamic constitution is drafted.
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November 4, 1979 Militant students seize the American embassy in Tehran and hold 52 American diplomats hostage there for 444 days.
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1980 January 25, the first Iranian president, Abu al-Hassan Bani-Sadr, is inaugurated. He’ll be dismissed and exiled by Khomeini in June 1981.
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1980 In September, Saddam Hussein invades Iran, with the support of the US, Europe, and the Soviet Union.
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1988 July 20 Iran accepts a UN-sponsored peace treaty that ends the war with Iraq.
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1989 Khomeini dies and is succeeded by Ali Khamenei.
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1990 August Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait, First Gulf War (1990-1991), repulsed by American forces.
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1997 Mohammed Khatami elected president, serving until 2004.
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2002 President Bush designates Iran, along with Syria and North Korea, as the Axis of Evil.
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2003 March the US invades Iraq.
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2005 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad becomes president of Iran.
