Reza Shah

From Cossack Brigade officer to king: the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, who carried out secularizing reforms.

Life

Cossack Brigade officer

Reza came from a military family in Mazandaran and rose from private to officer in the Persian Cossack Brigade. In 1921 he led his troops into Tehran and staged a coup, then served successively as Army Minister and prime minister.

Coup and coronation

In 1925 parliament deposed the Qajar dynasty and he was crowned Reza Shah Pahlavi. He built the Trans-Iranian Railway, founded modern schools and the University of Tehran, and pursued secularizing policies such as a uniform dress code and a ban on women's veils; in 1935 he asked foreign countries to call the country "Iran." His rule was highly autocratic.

Abdication and exile

In 1941 Britain and the Soviet Union occupied Iran on the grounds that it was pro-German. He was forced to abdicate, went into exile in South Africa, and died in Johannesburg in 1944.

Legacy

Reza Shah drove the building of a modern Iranian state, but his forced secularization and autocratic rule also provoked lasting resentment among the clergy and the public.

Did you know? The Trans-Iranian Railway has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Key dates

• 1921Staged a coup
• 1925Crowned, founding the Pahlavi dynasty
• 1935Renames the country Iran
• 1938Trans-Iranian Railway opens
• 1941Forced to abdicate
• 1944Dies in South Africa