top of page

Reza Shah Kabir

Reza Shah Pahlvi

Biography

Reza Shah formed a civilian-led administration that built the foundations of a modern nation-state. The government established a national army, universities and schools, a national bank, and bureaucracies to administer new policies and railroads, airstrips, and roads to bind the nation together. Persia was formally renamed “Iran” to make clear the break from the past. Reza Shah renegotiated Iran’s oil pact with Great Britain to secure a more favorable financial settlement. He emancipated Iranian women and ordered all Iranians to wear Western dresses in public. When the clergy opposed these reforms the Shah sent in the army to make it clear that power now radiated from the center in Tehran and from the ulama in Qom and Mashhad.
For two decades Reza Shah successfully balanced the interests of foreign powers with an eye to Iran’s oil and location bordering the Persian Gulf. But in August 1941 Great Britain and Soviet Russia invaded Iran, ostensibly to block Nazi Germany from seizing control of Iran’s land and rail routes. Reza Shah abdicated in his son’s favor on September 16, 1941, and ended his days in exile in South Africa.

Advocacy for Free Iran

-Preservation of Iran’s territorial integrity and unity.
-Annulment of the Capitulation Regime.
-Creation of a modern judiciary and ending the influence of the clerics over judicial and legal matters.
-Establishment of a secular system of education, building new schools, colleges for training teachers, and a modern university system.
-Modernization and reform of the bureaucracy.
-Laying the foundation for modern industries and workshops.
-Creation of a modern financial and tax order.
-Ordering the unveiling of women as the first step toward the realization of women’s freedoms and rights, empowerment of girls to attend schools and universities, and their participation in social arenas.
-Providing funds to build the country’s economic and social infrastructures, especially the national rail system.
-Providing scholarships for students to study in advanced countries to gain knowledge in various fields and serve their country.

Reza Shah Kabir

His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah Pahlavi was born in Mazandaran Province in 1878 to Abbas Ali and his wife Noush Afarin.

bottom of page