MUHAMMAD REZA SHAH PAHLEVI

moohämˈmäd rĭzä shä păˈləvē, 1919–80, shah of Iran (1941–79). Educated in Switzerland, he returned (1935) to Iran to attend the military academy in Tehran. He ascended the throne in 1941 after his father, Reza Shah Pahlevi, was suspected of collaboration with the Germans and was deposed by British and Soviet troops. He narrowly escaped assassination (1949) by a member of the leftist Tudeh party, and in 1953 he briefly fled the country after a clash with the supporters of Muhammad Mussadegh. A moderate, the shah launched (1963) a reform program with U.S. assistance called the "White Revolution," which included land redistribution among citizens, extensive construction, the promotion of literacy, and the emancipation of women. However in the process, the grassroots population became increasingly isolated as wealth, emanating from the oil industry, was unequally distributed among Iranians. The shah faced further criticism from the internal religious clergy, who disfavored his pro-Western policies. As popular discontent grew, particularly in the early 1970s, the shah became more repressive, calling upon his brutal secret police (SAVAK) to put down domestic strife. Massive rioting erupted in Iran, and widespread support for the exiled religious leader Ruhollah Khomeini grew by 1978. On Jan. 16, 1979, Shah Pahlevi fled the country; Khomeini returned to Iran and took control. When in Oct., 1979, Iranian extremists stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, they demanded the shah in return for the American hostages being held in the embassy. The shah, however, remained abroad; he died in Egypt in 1980.

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