Iranian Civilization, History and Islamic Rebirth

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Summary
History and Civilization
Origin and Colonial Period
Revolution
Islamic Rebirth and New Global Order
Terror
Reference

Summary

Iran is nearly the same size as Western Europe and has a population of more than seventy million people (Palmer, 2006). Iran has a vast central plain surrounded by mountains. The nation has all along acted as a principal force in the Middle East politics from the ancient days. It is the strongest when judged against the Arab nations near it, particularly the Muslim nations of Asia emanating from the disintegration of the Soviet Union. However, it is weaker than Pakistan and Turkey, the fact that may change if Iran succeeds in the development of nuclear weapons.

History and Civilization

One of the aspects of the Iranian civilization that differentiates Iran from its Arab neighbors is the fact that Persians (Iranians) are non-Arabs. Together with Israel and Turkey, Iran is a segment of the non-Arab periphery that justifies a strong vice around the much segregated Arab hub in the area. Another aspect is that the residents of Iran are overwhelmingly members of the Twelver section of Shi’a Islam (Palmer, 2006). All the members of the Shi’a Islam are convinced that Ali, the son-in-law to Mohammed, ought to have risen to the caliphate after the death of the prophet. In this regard, they oppose the established line of sequence acknowledged by the Sunni and are convinced that religious succession to the Prophet was enthroned in Ali’s sons and was to be further passed to their descendants.

There was just a single principal ayatollah in the major centers of the Twelver domain: Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran. Though the ayatollahs were initially dedicated exclusively to religious matters, there was a major transformation with the ascendency of Ayatollah Khomeini, the head of the Islamic revolution in Iran. He mobilized religious leaders to unite Iran at the time of institutional failure that arose after the collapse of shah’s regime; they became the country’s new bureaucracy.

Origin and Colonial Period

The tribes in Iran arrived in the nation around 900 BCE. Apart from speaking the Indo-European language, not much is identified concerning their origin. When Cyrus assumed authority in 553 Before Christ, he paved the way to an empire that finally embraced Egyptians, Athenians, and Babylonians. When the Mongols destroyed Baghdad in the mid 19^th century, Iran was segregated from the rest of the Islamic world. In this regard, it became vulnerable to a sequence of attacks, mainly by the Turkish people who ultimately took up Persian culture. The Safavids transformed Iran to Shi’a doctrine hence widening the cultural divide that cut Iran off its Sunni and Arab neighbors (Palmer, 2006).

Iran did not get colonized as such by the European powers though European impact had turned out to be so insidious in the course of the Qajar Empire that every new shah was accompanied to his coronation by the diplomats from Russia and Britain. Russia and Britain exploited well-paid concessions from the spendthrift and weak shahs with the most disreputable being tobacco control awarded to the British. This offered a British group power over the production and sale of tobacco in the nation and resulted in a remarkable increase in the cost of the product. The attempts by Reza shah to gain independence from Britain caused closer collaboration with the Soviet Union and Germany. The three departed from Iran after the Second World War (Palmer, 2006).

Revolution

Reza Shah continued to act as the symbolic head of Iran even after the Second World War where he took full authority after the departure of the Allied forces (Palmer, 2006). Shah was sincerely concerned with the realization of modernization that could boost the life of the Iranians. Shah was as well conscious that fiscal and social reforms were vital to counteract the increasing recognition of the communists, as well as nationalists. The increasing oil prices following the Arab-Israel war of 1973 multiplied the oil reserves of Iran and opened new doors of prosperity. Attributable to the newfound affluence, shah swore to change the country to a key industrial power. Due to the influence of the US, shah’s regime collapsed. The outcome was strategies that wasted the nation’s oil riches and burst the foundation of Iranian society.

Islamic Rebirth and New Global Order

After the destruction of the shah’s regime by the United States, it appears that its supremacy diminished. Nevertheless, Ayatollah Khomeini went backed to Iran riding a signal of trendy sentiment that swept all ahead of it. His strength soon overpowered shah’s (Palmer, 2006). Ayatollah’s overriding objectives were to consolidate his power internally, change Iran into a religious nation, and shift the Islamic upheaval to Iran’s close neighbors, and possibly the Middle East at large.

The passing away of Ayatollah in 1989 came one year before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The result was a new global order controlled by America and its allies (Palmer, 2006). The advent of the United States domination in the global platform coincided with an increase in the supremacy of Islamic groupings across the Middle East. A conflict arose between apparently incompatible forces; one had its power anchored in its control of the international monetary and political networks, and the other was founded on spiritual radicalization.

Terror

The US attacks that occurred in September 2001 were carried out by the al-Qaeda group under the leadership of Osama (Palmer, 2006). Though not explicit during the attacks, it is evident that Iran could have played some role. Iran and al-Qaeda seem to have past connections. The two could have had similar objectives in the establishment of Islamic regimes across the region and were convinced that the transformation of the Middle East would only have been possible after getting rid of America from the area.

Reference

Palmer, M. (2006). The politics of the Middle East (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Click Here To Order Now!