Middle East — the Iranian Revolution and after

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Iran's democratically elected prime minister (1951–1953) who nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company; overthrown in the 1953 coup.

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The August 1953 CIA/MI6-backed coup that removed Mosaddeq and restored full power to Mohammad-Reza Shah.

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The Shah's top-down reform programme — land redistribution, women's suffrage, a literacy corps, and industrialization — meant to modernize Iran.

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Land reform hit clergy-owned estates and women's suffrage clashed with conservative religious views on gender roles.

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The Shah's secret police, notorious for surveillance, censorship, and torture of dissidents.

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Exiled Shia cleric whose smuggled sermons rallied opposition to the Shah; returned to Iran in February 1979 and became Supreme Leader.

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The constitutional principle making the Supreme Leader Iran's highest religious and political authority — the basis of its theocracy.

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Troops fired on protesters in Tehran, killing dozens and radicalizing opposition to the Shah.

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Growing protests (1977–78) → Black Friday (Sept 1978) → general strikes → the Shah flees (Jan 1979) → Khomeini returns (Feb 1979).

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November 1979–January 1981: militant students held 52 Americans hostage in Tehran for 444 days, breaking US–Iran relations.

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Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980 hoping to exploit post-revolutionary chaos; the war lasted until 1988, killing hundreds of thousands with no major territorial change.

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Losses: compulsory hijab, narrower divorce/custody rights. Gains: rising female literacy and university attendance by the 2000s — a genuinely contested picture.