(the iranian revolution (persian: انقلاب ایران Enqelāb-e Iran; also known as the Islamic Revolution or the 1979 Revolution) refers to events involving the overthrow of the ‘Pahlavi’ dynasty under ‘Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi’, who was supported by the ‘United States’, and eventual replacement of 2500 years of Iranian monarchy with an Islamic Republic regime under the Grand Ayatollah ‘Ruhollah Khomeini’, the leader of the revolution, supported by various leftist and Islamist organizations and student movements)
(demonstrations against the ‘Shah’ commenced in ‘October 1977’, developing into a campaign of civil resistance that included both secular and religious elements and which intensified in ‘January 1978’)
(between august and december 1978 strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country)
(the ‘Shah’ left ‘Iran’ for exile on ’16 January 1979′, as the last Persian monarch, leaving his duties to a regency council and an opposition-based prime minister)
(‘Ayatollah Khomeini’ was invited back to ‘Iran’ by the government, and returned to ‘Tehran’ to a greeting by several million Iranians)
(the royal reign collapsed shortly after on 11 February when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the ‘Shah’ in armed street fighting, bringing ‘Khomeini’ to official power)
(‘Iran’ voted by national referendum to become an ‘Islamic Republic’ on ‘1 April 1979’, and to approve a new theocratic-republican constitution whereby ‘Khomeini’ became ‘Supreme Leader’ of the country, in ‘December 1979’)
(the revolution was unusual for the surprise it created throughout the world: it lacked many of the customary causes of revolution (“defeat at war”, a “financial crisis”, “peasant rebellion”, or “disgruntled military”), occurred in a nation that was enjoying relative prosperity, produced profound change at great speed, was massively popular, resulted in the exile of many Iranians, and replaced a pro-Western monarchy with an anti-Western authoritarian theocracy based on the concept of ‘Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists’ (or velayat-e faqih))
(it was a relatively non-violent revolution, and helped to redefine the meaning and practice of modern ‘revolutions’ (although there was violence in its aftermath))
19 DECEMBER 2009:
(grand ayatollah “hosein-ali montazeri”, one of the leaders of the 1979 iranian revolution and a senior dissident, dies at ‘age 87’)
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