Modernisation in Pahlavi Iran

Question 1

Dates of the two Shah’s

Answer 1

Reza Shah- 1925-41

Mohammad Reza Shah- 1941-79

Question 2

Reza Shah Society (secularism)

Answer 2

• 1936 forced unveiling
• 1934 hat law (after visiting Ataturk)
• 1929 tries to change calendar

Question 3

Reza Shah Military

Answer 3

• Conscription introduced in 1935
• Military grew tenfold from 22,000 men in 1921 to 127,000 men in 1941
• Air force had 157 planes by 1941
• Navy had 4 gunboats by 1941
• Army had 100 tanks by 1941

Question 4

Reza Shah bureaucratic apparatus

Answer 4

• Bureaucracy grew seventeenfold under Shah had eleven ministries and 90,000 civil servants by 1941
• 8 old provinces were remapped to 15

Question 5

Reza Shah new revenues

Answer 5

• Oil royalties in 1921 were £1,288,000 by 1941 were £4,000,000
• Customs revenue jumped from 51 million Qrans in 1921 to 675 million in 1940
• American Arthur Millspaugh came and created new tax-collecting system in 1922

Question 6

Reza Shah education

Answer 6

-1920s mass schooling and national curriculum
designed
-By 1941 the state administered 2336 primary schools and 241 secondary schools compared to only a total of 650 schools in 1923
-By 1941 Tehran Univeristy had over 3330 students

Question 7

Reza Shah infrastructure

Answer 7

• Constructed 1,000 kilometers of paved road and 5,000 kilometeros gravel roads
• Trans-Iranian railway

Question 8

Historiography

Answer 8

• Abrahamian argues that Reza Shah transformed the country from ‘ramshackle administration’ to ‘centralised state’
• Boroujerdi argues that Iranian people benefitted economically and intellectualy from Reza Shah’s modernisation
• Azimi emphasises Mohammed Reza Shah’s autocratic power and distaste for democracy

Question 9

Removed power of the Majles

Answer 9

Deputies such as Samuel Haim who criticised the Shah killed

Question 10

Cultural organisations

Answer 10

• New Cultural Academy based on French Academy
• State Museum
• State Library
• Society for National Heritage

Question 11

Oil under Mohammed Reza Shah

Answer 11

• Iran became the world’s fourth largest oil producer and the world’s second largest oil exporter
• Iran’s oil revenues increased from $34.4million in 1954 to $2.5billion in 1972 and $20billion in 1975

Question 12

Military budget under Mohammad Reza Shah

Answer 12

-Between 1954 and 1977 the military budget grew twelvefold and its share of the annual budgert went from $60million to $7.3billion

Question 13

Increase in military size under Mohammed Reza Shah

Answer 13

• Manpower grew from 127,000 to 410,000

- By 1975 was the fifth largest army in the world

Question 14

State Bureaucracy under Mohammed Reza Shah

Answer 14

• Number of ministries increased from 12 to 20

- By 1975 the state employed 304,000 civil servants

Question 15

White Revolution: Land Reform

Answer 15

• Stratified the country into 1300 commercial enterprises and 640,000 landlords
• Cooperatives

Question 16

White Revolution: Industry

Answer 16

-Between 1953 and 1975 the number of small factories increased form 1500 to over 7000 and large factories increased from less than 100 to more than 150

Question 17

White Revolution: Education

Answer 17

• Enrollment in kindergartens increased from 13,300 to 221,990
• Secondary school enrollment grew from 370,000 to 741,000

Question 18

White Revolution: Health

Answer 18

-Number of doctors increased from 4000 to 12,750

Question 19

White Revolution: Women

Answer 19

• 1967 Family Protection Law, restricted men’s power to get divorces and have multiple wives
• Women allowed to run for government jobs and judiciary
• Women gain the right to vote