A Timeline of Iranian History in the Twentieth Century

1795-1925 - Qajar kings, ruling Iran in alliance with Shi`i clerics since, continue their despotic rule, but are weakened under a modernization drive led by European-educated intellectuals

 

1903 - Oil is discovered in Iran ; British Petroleum begins to exploit it

1905-1911 - Iran 's Constitutional Revolution limits the historically near-absolute power of Iranian monarchy; Iran 's first constitution is a translation of the Belgian constitution of 1831

1907 - Nineteenth-century superpowers Russia and England divide Iran into two spheres of influence

1915-1917 - Russia and England occupy western and southern Iran during WWI

1917 - The Russian revolution mobilizes Iranian intellectuals; first leftist and communist parties are formed

1921-25 - Reza Khan, an army officer, rises through the ranks eventually to abolish the Qajar dynasty and become king; the new dynasty is called Pahlavi

1925-1941 - Reza Shah's reforms include change in the dress code, unveiling of women, establishment of both the army and the system of higher education; he also tames Iran 's parliament and disregards the constitution

1930s - Reza Shah's nationalist policies make him a natural ally of Hitler; he dreams of an “Aryan” nation

1939-45 - WWII; the allied forces occupy Iran in 1941; Reza Shah abdicates and is sent to exile

1941 - Reza Shah's European-educated son, Mohammad Reza, becomes Shah at 22; he rules for 37 years

1941-53 - period of freedom and parliamentary supremacy; political parties are formed; a nationalist movement initiates the oil nationalization drive

1950-53 - Premier Mosaddeq leads Iran's oil nationalization drive against Britain; Iran is blockaded; The Shah and Mosaddeq have a fall-out over oil nationalization policy and the powers of the monarchy; US teams up with Britain and the Shah to oust Mosaddeq in a coup d'etat in August 1953

1957 - The CIA assists the Shah in establishing the SAVAK, a notorious secret police organization; the political situation deteriorates

1960-63 - The Kennedy administration tries to persuade the Shah to initiate a series of reform projects, particularly a land redistribution program; rampant Westernization begins

1963 - The Ayatollah Khomeini leads a bloody and unsuccessful revolt against the Shah's “reforms”

1968-70 - Iran 's writers try to form a Writers Association; the government crushes the movement after two years

1963-77 - Copying his father, the Shah succeeds in reducing the parliament to a rubber-stamp institution; all opposition is stifled

1970 - Two guerrilla movements are formed in Iran , the Fadaiyan-e Khalq inspired by Marxism, the Mojahedin-e Khalq inspired by an egalitarian interpretation of Islam

1973 - The quadrupling of oil prices leads to huge revenues for Iran; the Shah initiates a series of grandiose projects which lead to huge economic and social dislocations and widespread discontent; at the same time, the Nixon administration allows massive export of weaponry into Iran

1976 - The election of Carter brings the issue of human rights to the forefront of American foreign policy; Iranian dissidents agitate against monarchy

1977 - The ten nights of poetry reading highlights the intellectual opposition to censorship and surveillance; the monarchial regime tries to accommodate the protests

1978-79 - An anti-monarchial revolutionary coalition takes shape between the forces of religious right, the nationalists, and the left; the Ayatollah Khomeini emerges as the revolution's leader

1979 - The Pahlavi dynasty is toppled, Iranian monarchy comes to an end; an “Islamic Republic” takes its place

1979-1981 - Militant Islamic students occupy the American embassy in Tehran in response to the deposed Shah's trip to the US and in retaliation for the coup d'etat of 1953; relations between US and revolutionary Iran deteriorate

1979-81 - The revolution's leadership goes to the Shi`i clerics; the revolution assumes an increasingly “Islamic” cast

1979- 1989 - Over a million Iranians, mostly professionals, leave their homeland; various exile communities emerge in Western countries

1980-88 - The Iran-Iraq war, Iran 's only major war of the century, erupts when Iraqi forces invade the southwestern parts of the country; it leaves over 500,000 Iranians dead and vast areas of the country in ruins, before ending inconclusively after 8 year.

1981-88 - The war allows the Islamic State to consolidate its power; the Islamic Republic systematically suppresses all the other partners in the revolutionary coalition

1989 - The Ayatollah Khomeini, charismatic leader of the Iranian revolution, dies; after a brief power struggle, Ali Khameneh'i is elevated to the position of spiritual leader

1989-97 - President Hashemi-Rafsanjani undertakes a reconstruction effort, but the human rights situation continues to deteriorate

1997 - In the seventh presidential election since the revolution, Iranians elect Mohammad Khatami, a moderate cleric to presidency; he promises to expand freedoms and work to create a civil society; US expresses support, but sanctions against Iran remain in place

1998 - The Ministry of Information launches a campaign of terror against Iranian dissidents; this leads to a series of chain assassinations, where a number of writers and political activists are kidnapped and/or murdered

2000 - Tensions between the reformists led by the President and the conservatives under the command of “The Spiritual Leader” escalate, each side accusing the other of undermining the Islamic Republican state; the judiciary begins a campaign of intimidation against freedom of expression; many reformist journals are shut down

2001 - President Khatami is elected to a second term; clashes with the conservatives escalate, leaving the presifdent incapable of carrying the reform agenda forward.

2005 - in a presidential election marred by widespread manipulation, an ultra-conservative dark horse candidate by the name of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad replaces the reformist President Khatami.