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Adrian's Reviews > The Last Shah: America, Iran, and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty
The Last Shah: America, Iran, and the Fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty (Council on Foreign Relations Books)
by
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A great book for understanding Iran from the 40s till the present day.
Some key points i've learned:
- Mohammad Mossadeq the premier of Iran , the great man of the people of the 50's was not actually coup-ed by US but by his own compatriots , due to his inability to resolve the largest legal oil fiasco between the then operating british oil company AIOC and Iran. He came to power through the people , but the people devoured him
- the Shah of Iran was a man that would accumulate as much pwoer as possible but would retreat and let others take responsibility when the going would grt tough. He was a really lame leader on internal politics. He tried to modernize Iran and rightfully managed to in a way (building hospotals , universities and infrastructure) , he was the first monarch to distribute land to the masses. This being said he never let the masses interfere in politics, during his tenure meritocracy was at its lowest point... This is one of the main reason people started to hate him.
-On the other hand the shah was a master of foreign policy , being a friend of USA , while selling oil at high prices to Russia, befriending arab states while being a friend and trade partner with Israel
- USA has supproted the shah during his reign but has always tried to make him do internal reforms for his country. Truman , Eisenhower , Kennedy , Johnson and all their administrations tried as much as possible to quell his thirst for weaponry and make him focus on his people.
The most important and interesting part of the book of course was the begining of the end , the era of Khomeini. The way this dude manage to be everything for everybody , disgracing the shah and galvanizing the clergy , bazaar and students against the shah whose reforms benefitted many.
Khomeini was an ambitious ruthless yet had a chameleonic speech.
His policy was no policy , he promised pardoning of all his enemies , yet as soon as the revolution was succesful the wave of summary trials started and waves of people got murdered with the even now present accusation of "corruption on earth" .
This basically meant a sham of a trial of 10-15 minutes followed by the accused getting shot in the back of the neck. Khoemini sent countless people to their deaths , starting ironically with the ones that have helped him along the way.
A great book. Its a 4/5 because i found the period of 1945 to 1953 (Mossadeq reign and the shah quite off the stage) quite boring as in happenings , not authors writing.
Great book !
Some key points i've learned:
- Mohammad Mossadeq the premier of Iran , the great man of the people of the 50's was not actually coup-ed by US but by his own compatriots , due to his inability to resolve the largest legal oil fiasco between the then operating british oil company AIOC and Iran. He came to power through the people , but the people devoured him
- the Shah of Iran was a man that would accumulate as much pwoer as possible but would retreat and let others take responsibility when the going would grt tough. He was a really lame leader on internal politics. He tried to modernize Iran and rightfully managed to in a way (building hospotals , universities and infrastructure) , he was the first monarch to distribute land to the masses. This being said he never let the masses interfere in politics, during his tenure meritocracy was at its lowest point... This is one of the main reason people started to hate him.
-On the other hand the shah was a master of foreign policy , being a friend of USA , while selling oil at high prices to Russia, befriending arab states while being a friend and trade partner with Israel
- USA has supproted the shah during his reign but has always tried to make him do internal reforms for his country. Truman , Eisenhower , Kennedy , Johnson and all their administrations tried as much as possible to quell his thirst for weaponry and make him focus on his people.
The most important and interesting part of the book of course was the begining of the end , the era of Khomeini. The way this dude manage to be everything for everybody , disgracing the shah and galvanizing the clergy , bazaar and students against the shah whose reforms benefitted many.
Khomeini was an ambitious ruthless yet had a chameleonic speech.
His policy was no policy , he promised pardoning of all his enemies , yet as soon as the revolution was succesful the wave of summary trials started and waves of people got murdered with the even now present accusation of "corruption on earth" .
This basically meant a sham of a trial of 10-15 minutes followed by the accused getting shot in the back of the neck. Khoemini sent countless people to their deaths , starting ironically with the ones that have helped him along the way.
A great book. Its a 4/5 because i found the period of 1945 to 1953 (Mossadeq reign and the shah quite off the stage) quite boring as in happenings , not authors writing.
Great book !
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Reading Progress
January 31, 2022
– Shelved
January 31, 2022
– Shelved as:
to-read
September 29, 2022
–
Started Reading
October 1, 2022
–
8.93%
"Its alrdy solid from the first 5 pages. Got me hooked like a Steinbeck novel.
Starting with 1941 , we get into the early life of Shah Pahlavi and the gonverment and country which was already in turmoil for siding with Hitler. Stalin was already thinking about dismantling Persia.Despite this able statesmen were able to trick him not to do it."
page
30
Starting with 1941 , we get into the early life of Shah Pahlavi and the gonverment and country which was already in turmoil for siding with Hitler. Stalin was already thinking about dismantling Persia.Despite this able statesmen were able to trick him not to do it."
October 4, 2022
–
14.88%
"Seems like Pahlavi Reza Shah was quite a hotshot.He pretty much mined the state and propped himself up to full power precipitating Mossadeq's fall.His reign meant heavy industrialization and modernization of Iran(uni-s, hospitals etc) , better living, , brilliant foreign policy making while on the other hand corrpution at an all time high , spying, brutal special police ...etc all the nitty gritty of a dictator."
page
50
October 6, 2022
–
10.0%
"During WW2 the shah understood that the only way to hold the integrity of the country against soviet ambissions and Britain's thirst for oil was to seduce USA. The plan worked and onwards 1944 Roosevelt started sending financial help and experts to help Iran prop itself up.
USA would use Iran as an example and experiment in pushing its liberal and democractic values countering the soviet model."
USA would use Iran as an example and experiment in pushing its liberal and democractic values countering the soviet model."
October 7, 2022
–
10.0%
"Incredullous how much Russians tried to dismember Iran, a country already under joint occupation (russian,british, american) after WW2 .
The old iranian diplomats managed the crysis briliantly using America as muscle against Stalin and accepting Washington's advisors knowing full well their proposed said reforms would not work in Iran long. term. Russians fabricated Azerbaijan as a knife in Iran's sovereignity."
The old iranian diplomats managed the crysis briliantly using America as muscle against Stalin and accepting Washington's advisors knowing full well their proposed said reforms would not work in Iran long. term. Russians fabricated Azerbaijan as a knife in Iran's sovereignity."
October 12, 2022
–
25.0%
October 23, 2022
–
25.0%
"Iranians blame USA for dethroning Mohammad Mossadeq the true man of the people. However reading this book proves that the americans hands in the coup against mossdeq was just simbolic. Eisenhower just approved the coup instigated by iranian politicians but didn't actually lift a finger. The coup failed and US balked forever. After that iranians took matters in their own hands and succesfully did a second coup."
October 27, 2022
–
55.0%
October 28, 2022
– Shelved as:
2022
October 28, 2022
– Shelved as:
society
October 28, 2022
– Shelved as:
social
October 28, 2022
– Shelved as:
politics
October 28, 2022
– Shelved as:
history
October 28, 2022
–
Finished Reading
