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Iran has been inhabited by humans since pre-historic times and recent discoveries have begun to shed light upon what these ancient cultures were like in Iran, centuries before the earliest civilizations arose in nearby Mesopotamia. The Silk Road, connecting Persia with China was significant not only for the development and flowering of the great civilizations of China, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and Rome but also helped to lay the foundations of our modern world.
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History of Iran - Republic of Iran it’s People
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History of Iran
Pre-Islamic Iran - Early history and the Median and Achaemenian Empires (3200 BCE – 330 BCE):
Iran has been inhabited by humans since pre-historic times and recent discoveries have begun to shed light upon what these ancient cultures were like in Iran, centuries before the earliest civilizations arose in nearby Mesopotamia.
The written history of Persia (Iran) begins in about 3200 BCE with the Proto-Iranian civilization, followed by the Elamites. The arrival of the Aryans (Indo-Iranians) in the third and second millennium BCE and the establishing of the Median dynasty (728–550 BCE) culminated in the first Iranian Empire. The Medes are credited with the foundation of Iran as a nation and empire, and established the first Iranian empire, the largest of its day until Cyrus the Great established a unified empire of the Medes and Persians leading to the Achaemenian Empire (648–330 BCE), founded by Cyrus the Great.
Cyrus the Great created the Cyrus Cylinder, considered to be the first declaration of human rights. He was the first king whose name has the suffix "Great" and the first Shah of Iran to be known by that title. Cyrus also banned slavery in all of the conquered areas that became the Persian Empire. Cyrus' seminal ideas greatly influenced later human civilizations; Cyrus' principles of ruling – advocating "love" rather than "fear" – influenced the original U.S. Constitution.
After Cyrus' death, his son Cambyses ruled for seven years (531-522 BCE) and continued his father's work of conquest, making significant gains in Egypt. A power struggle followed Cambyses' death and, despite his tenuous connection to the royal line, Darius was declared king (ruled 522-486 BCE). He was to be arguably the greatest of the ancient Persian rulers.
Darius' first capital was at Susa, and he started the building programme at Persepolis. He built a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, a forerunner of the modern Suez Canal. He improved the extensive road system, and it is during his reign that mention is first made of the Royal Road (shown on map), a great highway stretching all the way from Susa to Sardis with posting stations at regular intervals.
Major reforms took place under Darius. Coinage, in the form of the daric (gold coin) and the shekel (silver coin) was introduced to the world, and administrative efficiency was increased. The Old Persian language appears in royal inscriptions, written in a specially adapted version of cuneiform.
Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Persian Empire eventually became the largest and most powerful empire in human history up until that point, ruling and administrating over most of the then known world. Their greatest achievement was the empire itself. The Persian Empire represented the world's first global superpower, and was based on a model of tolerance and respect for other cultures and religions.
Alexander of Macedon, also known in the Zoroastrian Arda Wiraz Nâmag as "the accursed Alexander" (due to his conquest of the Persian Empire and the destruction of its cities, including the capital Persepolis), conquered Persia in 333 BCE only to be followed shortly by two more vast and unified Iranian empires that shaped the pre-Islamic identity of Iran and Central Asia: the Parthian (250 BCE-226 CE) and Sassanian (226-650 CE) dynasties. The latter dynasties also defeated the Roman empire at the height of its power on several occasions.
The Silk Road, connecting Persia with China was significant not only for the development and flowering of the great civilizations of China, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and Rome but also helped to lay the foundations of our modern world.
Third Iranian Empire: Parthian Empire (248 BCE – 224 CE): Parthia was led by the Arsacid dynasty, who reunited and ruled over the Iranian plateau, after defeating the Greek Seleucid Empire, beginning in the late 3rd century BCE, and intermittently controlled Mesopotamia between ca 150 BCE and 224 CE. It was the second native dynasty of ancient Iran (Persia). Parthia was the arch-enemy of the Roman Empire in the east; and it limited Rome's expansion beyond Cappadocia (central Anatolia). The Parthian armies included two types of cavalry: the heavily-armed and armoured cataphracts and lightly armed but highly-mobile mounted archers. For the Romans, who relied on heavy infantry, the Parthians were too hard to defeat, as both types of cavalry were much faster and more mobile than foot soldiers. On the other hand, the Parthians found it difficult to occupy conquered areas as they were unskilled in siege warfare. Because of these weaknesses, neither the Romans nor the Parthians were able to completely annex each other.
The Parthian empire lasted five centuries, longer than most Eastern Empires. The end of this long lasted empire came in 224 CE, when the empire was loosely organized and the last king was defeated by one of the empire's vassals, the Persians of the Sassanian dynasty.
Zoroastrianism (est. c. 1800 BCE): Before the Islamic conquest of Persia, Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the Sassanian Empire of Persia (224-651 AD) and played an important role in the earlier Median, Achaemenian and Parthian dynasties. The Iranian Prophet Zoroaster is considered by numerous scholars as the founder of the earliest religion based on revealed scripture. Many scholars point out that Judaism and subsequently, Christianity and Islam have borrowed from Zoroastrianism in regards to the concepts of Eschatology, Angelology and Demonology, as well as the fallen angel Satan, as the ultimate agent of evil. The foundation of human existence is the cosmic struggle between Asha, The Truth, and Druj, The Lie
Zoroastrian monotheism has had major influence on the religions of the Middle Eastern monotheisms in adaptations of such concepts as heavens, hells, judgment day and messianic figures. These concepts, amongst many others reflect the extreme dualism of Persian culture which has influenced Eastern and Western civilization. According to Professor Mary Boyce, who was the world's leading doyenne of Zoroastrian studies and Iranology, Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed credal religions, and it has probably had more influence on mankind, directly and indirectly, than any other single faith.
Despite its persecution of certain "Christians" during the fourth century, fifth century Zoroastrian Iran became a haven for Nestorians fleeing Christian territories that supported the Council of Ephesus. As a result, the Assyrian Church of the East was formed.
Fourth Iranian Empire: Sassanian Empire (224 – 651 CE): The first Shah of the Sassanian Empire, Ardashir I, started reforming the country both economically and militarily. The empire's territory encompassed all of today's Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Afghanistan, eastern parts of Turkey, and parts of Syria, Pakistan, Caucasia, Central Asia and Arabia. During Khosrau II's rule in 590-628, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon were also annexed to the Empire. The Sassanians called their empire Erânshahr (or Iranshahr, "Dominion of the Aryans", i.e. of Iranians).
A chapter of Iran's history followed after roughly six hundred years of conflict with the Roman Empire. According to historians, the war-exhausted Persians lost the Battle of al-Qâdisiyah (632 CE) in Hilla, (present day Iraq). The Persian general Rostam Farrokhzad had been criticised for his decision to face the Arabs on their own ground, suggesting that the Persians could have prevailed if they had stayed on the opposite bank of the Euphrates. The first day of battle ended with Persian advances and the Arab force appeared as though it would succumb to the much larger Sassanian army. In particular, the latter's elephants terrified the Arab cavalry. By the third day of battle, Arab veterans arrived on the scene and re-enforced the Arab army. In addition a clever trick whereby the Arab horses were decorated in costume succeeded in frightening the Persian elephants. When an Arab warrior succeeded in slaying the lead elephant, the rest fled into the rear, trampelling numerous Persian fighters. At dawn of the fourth day, a sandstorm broke out blowing sand in the Persian army's faces resulting in total disarray for the Sassanian army and paving way for the Islamic conquest of Persia.
The Sassanian era, encompassing the length of the Late Antiquity period, is considered to be one of the most important and influential historical periods in Iran, and had a major impact on the world. In many ways the Sassanian period witnessed the highest achievement of Persian civilization, and constituted the last great Iranian Empire before the adoption of Islam. Persia influenced Roman civilization considerably during Sassanian times, their cultural influence extending far beyond the empire's territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India and also playing a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asiatic medieval art. This influence carried forward to the Islamic world. The dynasty's unique and aristocratic culture transformed the Islamic conquest and destruction of Iran into a Persian Renaissance. Much of what later became known as Islamic culture, architecture, writing and other contributions to civilization, were taken from the Sassanian Persians into the broader Muslim world.
Islamic Iran - From the fall of the Sassanian Dynasty to 1500 CE: Persia was conquered and incorporated into the Arab Empire. But its defeat was to transform itself into a special kind of victory: Iranian political thought, especially, but also Persian literature, philosophy, medicine and art became major elements of the newly-forming Muslim civilization that would soon stretch from Cordoba to Delhi, from Guinea to Samarkand. A great proportion of the most important contributors to the new disciplines of Arabic grammar, and the study of prophetic Traditions or Hadith were Iranian.
In addition to this undisputed intellectual superiority, the result of thousands of years of civilization, Persia also had the benefit of its craftsmen’s mastery, the skill of its traders (who became the bankers of the new Islamic world) and of facilities it enjoyed because of its traditional position as a crossroads of the major "highways" of that period.
Thanks to this renewed importance and to their clear and distinct position on religious matters, the Persians were fairly rapidly able to regain their independence in their relations with the Arab invaders. It was a Persian, Abu Moslem, who, as the leader of troops from the Khorasan region, expelled the Umayyads from Damascus and helped the Abbasid caliphs to conquer Baghdad. They frequently chose their "wazirs" (viziers) among Persians and Persian governors acquired a certain amount of local autonomy. In the year 822, the governor of Khorasan, Tahir, proclaimed his independence and founded a new Persian dynasty of Thaheids. Others followed in a somewhat complicated pattern, but Persia was once again the master of its own destiny.
Also a cultural movement emerged during the ninth and tenth centuries. There was a resurgence of Persian national identity. It was not against Islamic identity but against Arabization of Islam and Muslims. The most notable effect of the movement was the decision of the continuation of the Persian language, the language of the Persians and the official language of Iran to the present day. Ferdowsi, Iran's greatest epic poet, is regarded today as the most important person in maintaining the Persian language. During this period, Persia and Persian scientists created an Islamic Golden Age (see List of Iranian scientists and scholars). Persia was at this point of history a world center of scientific inquiry, with philosophers, scientists, engineers and historians contributing enormously to technology, science and medicine, later influencing the rise of European science in the Renaissance.
Scholars made significant advances in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, engineering, and many other fields. During this time Islamic philosophy developed and was often pivotal in scientific debates—key figures were usually scientists and philosophers. Persian scientist Ibn Sina played a major role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of the Christian and Muslim worlds. Speculative thinkers such as al-Farabi and Abű ‘Alî Avicenna, combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam.
The late Middle Ages, however, had brought many critical events in the region from 1220 Persia was again invaded and destroyed by wave after wave of calamity starting with the Mongol invasion followed later by Tamerlane. During this period more than half of the population were killed and didn´t reach its premongol levels until the twentieth century. During the following century this revival of nationalism was to find its finest ferment in the "Shahnameh", the "Book of Kings", by the epic poet Ferdowsi.
Turkish Invasion: During the 11th century, the invaders came in from the Northwestern provinces of the former Sassanian Empire. The Turks gradually infiltrated the Khorasan region along the Caspian coast and arrived in Iran.
In the year 999, they were sufficiently powerful to dominate local Persian dynasties. Mahmud-a Ghaznavi founded a vast empire, with its capital at Isfahan, and helped to propagate new Islamic-Persian civilization of which he was the principal protector.
The Seljuqs, his successors, asserted their domination from the Mediterranean Sea to Central Asia. These sovereigns usually named Persians as viziers and Persia was a hotbed of intense cultural activity. Due to the Persianization of the Seljuq's, some historians regard them as an authentic Iranian dynasty.
The Mongol Invasion: At the beginning of the 13th century Genghis Khan united scattered tribes of Mongolia and started attacking the neighbouring countries. In 1218, he came down from the Altai mountains, marched through Iranian territories in Transoxiana to Khorasan, occupied mainland-Persia, then turned east through India and China. Most of the countries he conquered never really recovered from the bloodshed and destruction he wrought upon them. Holaku, one of the conqueror's grandsons, was left behind to reign over Persia. He very soon became "Iranized/Persianized". Settled in Maragheh (South of Tabriz), he called Persian men of letters to his court and encouraged the sciences and arts.
But yet another conqueror, Tamerlane (Teymur-e Lang), was to be seduced by the mirage of an Empire of the Orient. In 1370, he entered into Iran. Over a period of thirty years, he conquered Iraq, Syria, Anatolia, Russia and northern parts of India; he was about to invade China when he died in 1404. He chose Samarkand as his capital and his kingdom, while administered by Turkmen, was of distinctively Persian culture.
Shi'a Islam, Safavid Empire and Qajars (1501 – 1920): Persia's first encompassing Shi'a Islamic state was established under the Safavid dynasty in 1501 by Shah Ismail I. The Safavid dynasty soon became a major power in the world and started the promotion of tourism in Iran. Under their rule Persian Architecture flowered again and saw many new monuments. The fall of the Safavid dynasty was brought about by the Afghans, who overthrew the weak Shah Sultan Hossein, in 1722. In 1736 Nader Shah expelled Afghan rebels and established the Afsharid dynasty. He invaded India in 1738 and brought many treasures back to Persia. He was assassinated in 1747. The Afshar dynasty was followed by the Persian Zand dynasty (1750–1794), founded by Karim Khan, who established his capital at Shiraz. His rule brought a period of peace and renewed prosperity. However, the country was soon again in turmoil, which lasted until the advent of Aga Muhammad Khan, the founder of Qajar dynasty. After his death Iran turned into an arena for the rising new powers of Imperial Russia and the British Empire, which wielded great political influence in Tehran under the Qajarid kings. Iran however, managed to maintain its sovereignty and was never colonized, making it unique in the region.
Modern Iran: From Pahlavi to Islamic Revolution (1921 – 1979): The rise of modernization and encroachment of stronger Western powers in the late nineteenth century led to the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911. Reformers hoped the constitution would strengthen Iran against imperial Russia and Britain by centralizing and modernizing it. Ultimately the constitution became law, but its provisions were seldom followed during most of its history. In 1921, Cossack army officer Reza Khan (known as Reza Shah after assuming the throne) staged a coup against the weakened Qajar dynasty. An autocrat and supporter of modernization, Reza Shah initiated the development of modern industry, railroads, and establishment of a national education system. Reza Shah sought to balance the influence of Russia and Britain by seeking out assistance and technology from European powers traditionally not involved in Iranian affairs, but when World War II started his closeness to Germany alarmed allied powers Russia and Britain, Germany's enemies.
In summer of 1941 Britain and the USSR invaded Iran to prevent Iran from allying with the Axis powers. The Allies occupied Iran, securing a supply line to Russia, Iran's petroleum infrastructure, and forced the Shah to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1951, a nationalist politician, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh rose to prominence in Iran and was elected Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, Mossadegh became enormously popular in Iran by nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (later British Petroleum, BP) which controlled the country's oil reserves. In response, Britain embargoed Iranian oil and began plotting to depose Mossadegh. Members of the British Intelligence Service invited the United States to join them, convincing U.S. President Eisenhower that Mossadegh was reliant on the Tudeh (Communist) Party to stay in power. In 1953, President Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax, and the CIA took the lead in overthrowing Mossadegh and supporting a US-friendly monarch.
The CIA faced many setbacks, but the covert operation soon went into full swing, conducted from the US Embassy in Tehran under the leadership of Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. Iranians were hired to protest Mossadegh and fight pro-Mossadegh demonstrators. Anti- and pro-monarchy protestors violently clashed in the streets, leaving almost three hundred dead. The operation was successful in triggering a coup, and within days, pro-Shah tanks stormed the capital and bombarded the Prime Minister's residence. Mossadegh surrendered, and was arrested on 19 August 1953. He was tried for treason, and sentenced to three years in prison.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi returned to power greatly strengthened and his rule became increasingly autocratic in the following years. With strong support from the US and UK, the Shah further modernized Iranian industry, but simultaneously crushed all forms of political opposition with his intelligence agency, SAVAK. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became an active critic of the Shah's White Revolution and publicly denounced the government. Khomeini, who was popular in religious circles, was arrested and imprisoned for 18 months. After his release in 1964, Khomeini publicly criticized the United States government. The Shah was persuaded to send him into exile by General Hassan Pakravan. Khomeini was sent first to Turkey and then to Iraq. While in exile, he continued to denounce the Shah.
Islamic Revolution and Iran-Iraq War (1979 – 1988): Starting in late 1977, protests began to build against the Shah and his autocratic, secular, pro-Western policies. By December 1978 millions of Iranians were in the streets and the country's economy was paralyzed. The Shah left the country in mid-January 1979 and two weeks later the Revolution's pre-eminent leader, Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to tumultuous, adoring crowds. The final collapse of the old regime came on February 11 when royal troops were defeated by guerillas and rebel troops in armed street fighting. Iran officially became an Islamic Republic on April 1 after Iranians overwhelmingly approved a national referendum declaring the country so.
The 1979 revolution was populist, nationalist and most of all Shia Islamist. It reversed the Shah's close political, social and cultural relationship with America and the West. Beyond that, Khomeini and his supporters worked to implement his vision of an Islamic state with sharia, or conservative Islamic laws, and clerical rule. Iran's unique new theocratic constitution included the post of Supreme Leader for Khomeini and his sucessors, and other bodies of clerics to veto new laws and vet candidates for public office.
Iran's relations with the United States became deeply antagonistic following the revolution. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized US embassy personnel labeling the embassy a "den of spies" and accused its personnel of being CIA agents plotting to overthrow the revolutionary government, as the CIA had done to Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. Khomeini did not stop the students from holding embassy employees hostage and instead supported the embassy takeover, under the slogan, "America can't do a damn thing." Fourteen of the 66 hostages were released and the remaining 52 were held for 444 days. The students demanded the handover of the shah in exchange for the hostages, and following the Shah's death in the summer of 1980, that the hostages be put on trial for espionage. Attempts by the U.S. administration to negotiate or rescue the hostages were unsuccessful until January 1981 when the Algiers declaration was agreed upon. The U.S. promised (among other things) in the accord to release Iranian assets that had been frozen, but as of 2007 those assets still remain frozen.
Meanwhile, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein decided to take advantage of what he perceived to be disorder in the wake of the Iranian Revolution and its unpopularity with Western governments. The once-strong Iranian military had been disbanded during the revolution, and with the Shah ousted, Hussein had ambitions to position himself as the new strong man of the Middle East. He also sought to expand Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf by acquiring territories that Iraq had claimed earlier from Iran during the Shah's rule. Of chief importance to Iraq was Khuzestan which not only boasted a substantial Arab population, but rich oil fields as well. On the unilateral behalf of the United Arab Emirates, the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs became objectives as well. With these ambitions in mind, Hussein planned a full-scale assault on Iran, boasting that his forces could reach the capital within three days. On September 22, 1980 the Iraqi army invaded Iran at Khuzestan, precipitating the Iran-Iraq War known as Saddâm's Qâdisiyyah in Iraq and the Imposed War in Iran. The attack took revolutionary Iran completely by surprise.
Although Saddam Hussein's forces made several early advances, by 1982, Iranian forces managed to push the Iraqi army back into Iraq. Khomeini refused a cease-fire from Iraq, demanding huge reparation payments, an end to Saddam's rule, and that he be tried for crimes against humanity. Khomeini also sought to export his Islamic revolution westward into Iraq, especially on the majority Shi'a Arabs living in the country. The war then continued for six more years until 1988, when Khomeini, in his words, "drank the cup of poison" and accepted a truce mediated by the United Nations.
Tens of thousands of Iranian civilians and military personnel were killed when Iraq used chemical weapons in its warfare. Iraq was financially backed by Egypt, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact states, the United States (beginning in 1983), France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, and the People's Republic of China (which also sold weapons to Iran). All of these countries provided intelligence, agents for chemical weapons as well as other forms of military assistance to Saddam Hussein. Iran's principal allies during the war were Syria, Libya, and North Korea.
With more than 100,000 Iranian victims of Iraq's chemical weapons during the eight-year war, Iran is the world's second-most afflicted country by weapons of mass destruction, only to Japan. The total Iranian casualties of the war were estimated to be anywhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000. Almost all relevant international agencies have confirmed that Saddam engaged in chemical warfare to blunt Iranian human wave attacks, while unanimously announcing that Iran never used chemical weapons during the war.
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