Iranian Revolution 1979: Fall of the Shah 🇮🇷

Why did the Iranian Revolution erupt in 1979? What was the nature of the relationship between President Carter and the ostentatious Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi? And, who was the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a man whose militant vision for Iran would see it drastically remade?

Join Dominic and Tom, as they launch into one of the most dramatic stories of all time, with such far reaching consequences, that they still reverberate across the Middle East today: the Islamic Revolution. As they delve into the events that set this cataclysmic event in motion, they will bring to life the three men at the heart of it all.

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0:00 Intro
0:29 Carter’s 1977 toast to the Shah
5:32 Tehran’s transformation
6:44 The Shah
12:30 1953 coup (Mossadegh) + the “foreign puppet” stigma
15:30 The Shah’s court
18:34 US backing & SAVAK
21:45 The rise of Jimmy Carter
30:00 Carter’s foreign policy
32:17 Why Carter goes all-in on the Shah
35:08 New Year’s Eve 1977 in Tehran
36:31 Who was Khomeini?
47:10 Clerics + bazaars: why the religious network has real power
49:46 Shah’s modernization vs clergy: Reza Shah to the “White Revolution” backlash
52:02 Khomeini enters politics
55:18 The oil boom’s dark side
1:01:44 January 1978 spark: anti-Khomeini newspaper attack → Qom protests and deaths
1:05:34 Shah’s illness + regime drift
1:10:17 Black Friday (8 Sept 1978)
1:11:28 Autumn 1978
1:13:53 The Rest Is Classified

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Video Editor: Jack Meek
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