It wasn't, though. People don't have revolutions because they are tired of a good life and people were rightfully wary of the west given what they did in the 1950's
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- Thread starter ShahryarHedayat
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It wasn't, though. People don't have revolutions because they are tired of a good life and people were rightfully wary of the west given what they did in the 1950's
Iran was once one of the most developed countries in Asia, only behind Japan, Israel and the Soviet Union. But they took development for granted. The revolution was all about ideology and religion. The Shah was disregarding traditional culture and religion. Sure, the economy wasn't perfect, but it was developing quickly. People didn't like the Shah's secret police and repression of political and religious enemies.
Iranian modern history is another lesson in not letting the mob rule the nation. Democracy kills development
At that time, most Asian countries were very underdeveloped, including the Gulf countries. Even China was underdeveloped at the time. The claim that Iran is worse off now because of the current government cannot be based on such comparisons and thoughts. Iran has been in a long and costly war and has been under heavy U.S. sanctions for the past 40 years. If we take this into account, it turns out that Iran is still holding up well.
I am by no means an iranist or Iranian, but my impression is that any warm feelings about the Shakh is mostly western "white emigree" thing.
Developed in what sense?. There were plenty of issues with Iranian economy and development specially after the 1950's were all nationalizations were reversed.
Also I wouldn't include Israel on any of this comparisons since they were and still mostly pumped up by the West. Should aid and favorable deals be halted, they will quickly crash out.
The Shah was a despotic anticommunist moron just as smart as Nicholas II and proped up by the West which people were really wary of again, thanks to the coup. While they were modernizing and such, the economy was facing 30% inflation rate and thats despite having open access to western markets unlike the current Iran.
His modernization efforts also completely failed in that it didn't create the needed jobs and his land reforms displaced poor and smaller farmers in favor of his buddies and large foreign corporations. It also failed in that the Iranian economy was still oil-dependant and the 70's oil crisis really fucked them up because of this.
Like I said, people don't do revolutions for fun or just out of ideological things if there isn't a credible material crisis and interests underpining all of it.
Shahin Shah Reza Pahlavi had quite good relations with the communist East and even bought weapons. I remember how he visited my country and a grandiose military exercise was organized for this. Then good contracts followed. At that time, several high-quality architects and artists from us were successfully working there, who designed royal palaces and other buildings and equipment for him.
Otherwise, the growth of the Iranian economy at that time was based on oil and the industry was just being built. I think that their current industrial capabilities are very decent, despite the embargoes. If the embargo were to disappear, they would have great potential.
Religion can do terrible things to people. The islamic revolution was irrational because it was mostly ideological. People used to be extremely faithful, just like children from the rich world who decide to go to Syria and join Islamic state
The economic facts are very clear. Iran was a major beneficiary of the 70s oil crisis because it continued exporting to the west unlike arab countries. The Shah with his alliance with the US was modernizing much earlier than their neighbours. What fucked up the Iranian economy was the Iraqi invasion. Economically, the Shah's alliance with the US and modernisation efforts were brilliant, but domestically he just lost touch with his own people
Without a nuke they are a still a target waiting to be hammered. They have the means to put a good fight but it's not a guarantee for prosperity.
It doesn’t make sense as to why they’re delaying the tests