Pahlavi | |
---|---|
Royal house | |
![]() Arms of dominion of the Shahs, and therefore coat of arms, of Pahlavi Iran from 1932. The emblem of the dynasty is the mountain and sun in the blue circle in the middle. | |
Country | Imperial State of Iran |
Place of origin | Mazandaran |
Founded | 15 December 1925 |
Founder | Reza Shah |
Current head | Reza Pahlavi |
Final ruler | Mohammad Reza Pahlavi |
Connected families | Muhammad Ali dynasty (1941–1948) |
Motto | مرا داد فرمود و خود داور است Marā dād farmud o Khod dāvar ast (Justice He bids me do, as He will judge me) |
Deposition | 11 February 1979 |
The Pahlavi dynasty (Persian: دودمان پهلوی) was the last Iranian royal dynasty that ruled for almost 54 years between 1925 and 1979. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi, a non-aristocratic Mazanderani soldier[1] in modern times, who took on the name of the Pahlavi language spoken in the pre-Islamic Sasanian Empire to strengthen his nationalist credentials.[2][3][4][5]
The dynasty replaced the Qajar dynasty in 1925 after the 1921 coup d'état, beginning on 14 January 1921 when 42-year-old soldier Reza Khan was promoted by British General Edmund Ironside to lead the British-run Persian Cossack Brigade.[6] About a month later, under British direction, Reza Khan's 3,000-4,000 strong detachment of the Cossack Brigade reached Tehran in what became known as the 1921 Persian coup d'état.[7][8] The rest of the country was taken by 1923, and by October 1925 the Majlis agreed to depose and formally exile Ahmad Shah Qajar. The Majlis declared Reza Pahlavi as the new Shah of Iran on 12 December 1925, pursuant to the Persian Constitution of 1906.[9] Initially, Pahlavi had planned to declare the country a republic, as his contemporary Atatürk had done in Turkey, but abandoned the idea in the face of British and clerical opposition.[10]
The dynasty ruled Iran for 28 years as a form of constitutional monarchy from 1925 until 1953, and following the overthrow of the elected prime minister, for a further 26 years as a more autocratic monarchy until the dynasty was itself overthrown in 1979.
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