[b]Name:[/b] The Shahdom of Persia [img]http://i.imgur.com/KSUdR7P.png[/img] [b]Location:[/b] [img]https://i.imgur.com/XxiMUWL.png[/img] [b]History:[/b] Since the ancient times, Persia has been ruled by a single King. Their decisions were absolute, their word law. Since 1502, the Shahdom had been ruled by the Qajar dynasty. However, this was to change at the turn of the century. Their downfall started when a great famine swept through the nation in 1870, leading to the deaths of some 2,000,000 people. The Shah did nothing, and the people resented this inaction. Many felt as though the Shah had too much power and not enough interest in protecting his citizens. Accusations of corruption and decadence spread through Persia like wildfire, and revolutionaries were demanding action. The revolution started in 1905 and what followed was a series of victories and failures for both sides. The rebels would force the king to abdicate, only for his son to take up arms and defeat them. A parliament was set up in 1906, but was bombed under the king's orders in 1908. Things were further intensified when in 1908, petrol was discovered in the south west. Foreign eyes looked towards Iran, particularly those of the British and the Russians. The rebels began to crumble, as different sides of communists, nationalists and Mujtahids failed to agree on their ultimate goals, while the Shah found British and Russian aid. The rebellion was finally put down in 1911, with an incredibly limited constitution and a weakened parliament of only 30 members. The rebels did not go quietly into the night, however. When war broke out in Europe, revolutionaries saw their chance and began the Jungle Movement of Gilan, led by communist [color=red]Mirza Kuchik Khan[/color], an experienced veteran of the Constitutional Revolt in Gilan. This was not a violent movement at first, but maintained policies of anti-imperialism, nationalism and anti-monarchism. But this changed when the Russians bowed out. When the Czar returned home, he took his armies with him, establishing the British as the major power in the region. Bolshevik communists lost support in Russia and some turned their eyes to the Jungle Movement. Many moved to Persia, hoping to influence the Jungle Movement towards a more Soviet bent - and they succeeded. The [color=pink]Qajar Shah[/color] became desperate. These radical reformers had managed to take control of Gilan, turning it into a soviet, Socialist and independent nation. To make matters worse, the Persian Cossack Brigade, Persia's only standing army for the time, had been led by Russian officers - Russian Officers who went home after the Czar's withdrawal. Rather than promote ethnic Persians, [color=pink]Shah Qajar[/color] begged for British aid. The Cossacks were infuriated, but were led by [color=silver]Edmund Ironside[/color], the British General, to a resounding victory over the Communists. The British were dismayed at the [color=pink]Shah's [/color]weakness and over-reliance on their forces. They saw the army was resentful of the weak [color=pink]Shah[/color], and they desired a change. So within a month of their victory over the Communists, [color=silver]General Ironside[/color] promoted [color=purple]Reza Khan[/color] to Brigadier General and together they marched on Tehran. The Coup was bloodless, since [color=purple]Khan's [/color]brigade was the only standing military force in Persia. The [color=pink]Shah [/color]became a prisoner in his own palace and the Majilis was dissolved. For the next four years, [color=purple]Reza Khan[/color] led Iran through a military Junta, which he claimed was to stabilise Persia before the re-election of the Majilis. He faced four rebellions during this time, one from Qajar loyalists who attempted to regain the Shah's power, the second from his second in command, [color=orange]Mohammad Taghi Pessian[/color], who demanded an immediate reform to democracy, one from Kurdish Tribesmen who were attempting to use the confusion to gain independence and finally from the communists in Gilan, who had partially recovered from their loss and were attempting to fight again. He successfully defended his regime against all four uprisings, establishing himself as the legitimate ruler of Persia. He forced the Shah to restart the Majilis and expand the number of seats from 30 to 290. When the election was called and the seats filled, the Majilis almost unanimously voted for the immediate abdication of Shah Qajar and made Reza Khan the new Shah. Thus began the era of the Azada Bekheshi dynasty - a name chosen for its connotations of freedom. [color=purple]Shah Reza Khan Azada Bekheshi's[/color] first prime minister was[color=violet] Hamzeh Mansour[/color]. It was a match made in heaven. Together, they establish an authoritarian regime that valued nationalism, militarism, secularism and anti-communism combined with strict censorship and state propaganda. The aggressively atheistic government forced the majority Muslim population to do many things it found contemptible - banning wearing the Hijab, Mosques forced to integrate the sexes and provide seats, abolishing the call to prayer. [color=purple]Shah Reza's[/color] regime was marked by a rapid and overwhelming social and technological change. The country was remilitarised, western values were forced upon the people and as a result, the power of clerics rose exponentially as devout Muslims flocked to them. Peaceful protests emerged, calling the king a tyrant and demanding he roll back his reforms, all of which were violently put down. However, under [color=purple]Reza Shah[/color], the nation also flourished. One of his controversial decrees was that many of the Iranian Minorities, such as Azerbaijanis, Assyrians and Kurds, were declared "Iranian" and therefore were not to be considered minorities. It was a backhanded compliment, simultaneously eliminating the cultural uniqueness of these minorities but at the same time calling them brothers. Khan was able to manipulate the war to his advantage, selling Oil to the Allies and particularly Britain as thanks for their aid overthrowing their incompetent leader, and he used the money from the Oil revenues to develop and industrialise Persia. His aggressive militarisation, nationalism and development saw Persia going through a sudden boom, funded by fuel money. [color=purple]Reza[/color] fought to keep a strictly Persian Persia, though he made special dispensations for the UK - they were the only country outside of Greater Iran permitted to set up oil refineries in Persia. [color=purple]Reza[/color] also started a trend of uniting with the Greater Iranian nations, such as Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. When Azerbaijan declared independence from the Russian Empire, Persia immediately entered a military union with the breakaway state, combining two nations' armies into one. Indeed, Persia has sought to protect all of its Iranian neighbours and to "bring them into the future" [color=purple]Reza Khan[/color] died in 1958 due to heart complications. The old man left his son [color=lightblue]Mohammad[/color] the new Shah. [color=lightblue]Mohammad[/color] thinks different from his Father. For one, he was raised in the hands of his mother and older sister, alongside his female twin. [color=lightblue]Mohammad[/color]'s mother was a superstitious woman with an infatuation with the old Persian religion, Zoroastrianism. As a boy, the prince was given all kinds of medallions to protect him from the Evil Eye, a practice that earned him the scorn of the ruling Shia clerics. As he reached young adulthood, his father sent him away to England for an education. The effects were twofold - firstly, young [color=lightblue]Mohammad[/color] graduated from Cambridge with a degree in Economics. Two, for five years he was subjected to British culture, awed and inspired by the nations people, fashions and politics. He took this inspiration home, vowing to put it to good use. [color=lightblue]Mohammad[/color]'s reign so far has attempted to mend some of his father's more zealous decisions. He has loosened the laws on Islamic clothing, making it optional to wear the Hijab. He maintains his father's military and industrial overhauls, and has expanded protection for religious and ethnic minorities [hider=National Anthem] [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsBKYMSr3YI[/youtube] [/hider]