Friday 21 November 2008
Iran - the short history
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Introduction
In 1935, the Iranian government sent out letters to all countries it had diplomatic relations with, asking them to now call the country Iran instead of Persia.
It was bold move and signalled the change in the status and independence of the country which had once been effectively run by Britain and Russia - narrowly missing becoming a British protectorate in 1919.
The name change took time to be accepted - even by Iranians - and in Britain Iran was still being called 'Persia' into the 1950s.
Today, most westerners identify Iran with the "axis of evil" tag George Bush gave it in 2002, than with a history which stretches back to the 6th century BC.
Modern-day Iran is a country of over 68 million people, covering 1.6 million sq km (6.7 times larger than the UK) and bordered by eight countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey, and three bodies of water. It has a GDP per capita of $2,863 (UK is $31,400) and a 79% literacy rate.
Ancient history
The name Persia was derived from the nomadic tribe of the Parsua (Parsuash; Parsumash; Persians), who settled in the area from Central Asia in the 7th century BC.
Ancient Iran was occupied by various Indo-European nomadic groups, (the Aryans) including the Persians, the Scythians, the Medes and the Elamites, with the area of ancient Susiana, present-day Khuzestan Province, occupied by the Elamites from around 4000 BC, becoming the most advanced techinically and culturally during the period.
The Persians were established on the northern border of the kingdom of the Elamites and in the area of modern Shiraz, which would be their eventual settling place and to which they would give the name Parsa.
The Scythians established themselves in the northern Zagros Mountains while the Medes settled over a huge area, reaching as far as modern Tabriz in the north and Esfahan in the south.
The Median dynasty (728–550 BCE) is credited with the foundation of Iran as a nation and established the first Iranian empire, until Cyrus the Great established a unified empire of the Medes and Persians leading to the Achaemenian Empire (648–330 BC).
The Empire became the largest and most powerful empire in ancient history until that point, ruling and administrating over vast areas - the first global 'super power'.
By 546 B.C., Cyrus had defeated Croesus, the Lydian king of fabled wealth, and won control of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, Armenia, and the Greek colonies. He took Parthia, Chorasmis, and Bactria. He besieged and captured Babylon in 539 and released the captive Jews, earning a place in the Book of Isaiah.
His successors were less successful. His son, Cambyses II, conquered Egypt but later committed suicide during a revolt led by a priest, Gaumata, while Darius I (Darius the Great) was defeated at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, losing new territory.
However, Cyrus and Darius were resonsible for, in less than thirty years, taking the Achaemenids from an obscure tribe to a world power. But the death of Darius, in 486 BC, signalled the fall of the Achaemenids as rulers began to disintegrate.
In 333 BC, Persia was conquered by Alexander of Macedon, destroying many cities including the capital Persepolis in the process.
Alexander sought to build a new world empire based on a fusion of Greek and Persian culture and ideals, taking control of Greece, Persia, Egypt and Babylonia. In 324 BC, he commanded his officers and 10,000 of his soldiers to marry Persian women in a mass wedding to consummate the union of Greece and Persia.
However, his death in 323 BC, leaving no heir, precipitated war and division after his empire was split among four of his generals. One, the Greek Seleucus, gradually reconquered most of Persia.
He was defeated by the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia, who reunited and ruled over the Iranian plateau and intermittently controlled Mesopotamia.
The Parthian empire (250 BC - 226 AD) had been established in the region for five centuries, but their rule came to an end in 226 AD, when the last king was defeated by one of the empire's vassals, the Persians of the Sassanian dynasty, establishing the Sassanian dynasty (226 - 650).
The Sassanian era is one of the most important historical periods in Iran and constituted the last great empire before the adoption of Islam. The empire's territory included all of today's Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Afghanistan, eastern parts of Turkey, and parts of Syria, Pakistan, Caucasia, Central Asia and Arabia.
Sassanid rulers adopted the title of shahanshah (king of kings), as sovereigns over numerous petty rulers, and worked to revive Persian traditions and obliterate Greek influences.
The first ruler, Ardashir I, began sweeping reforms of the country both economically and militarily, beginning a period of centralization, ambitious urban planning, agricultural development, and technological improvements under successive Sassanid kings. Society was divided into four classes: the priests, warriors, secretaries and commoners.
During Khosrau II's rule in 590-628, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon were annexed to the Empire, which was named Iranshahr or Dominion of the Aryans
The empire was eventualy toppled by beduin Arabs, under Abu Bakr, in 642, propelled by a new religion, Islam.
The Prophet Muhammad proclaimed his prophetic mission in 612, winning over the city of his birth, Mecca, to Islam. Within a year of Muhammad's death in 632, Abu Bakr, Arabia's first caliph, had launched his campaign against the Byzantine and Sassanid empires.
He defeated the Byzantine army at Damascus in 635, and in 637, occupied the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon before defeating the Sassanid army at Nahavand in 641-42, leaving the country wide open.
The conquering Muslim power promised fair treatment to populations that accepted Islamic rule without resistance, but it was not until around 650, that resistance was finally quelled, and the majority of Iranians did not become Muslim until the ninth century.
Iran and Islam
(needs writing)
Revolution and the Republic
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In 1979, Iran became an Islamic republic after the ruling monarchy (names???) was overthrown and the shah was forced into exile. (needs more detail on what happened)
Conservative clerical forces established a new government, led by a Supreme Leader - a religious scholar as head of state and accountable only to the Assembly of Experts. The government day-to-day would be led by a president. (needs verification).
Subsequent years saw tussles between reformists and conservatives - notably the reformist Hojjat ol-Eslam Mohammad KHATAMI, elected president in 1997 - which floundered as the conservatives made electoral gains against the reformers in 2004-5.
The Islamic Revolutionary Party (IRP) was Iran's sole political party until its dissolution in 1987 but the country now has a variety of groups engaged in political activity. (examples??)
Groups that generally support the Islamic Republic include Ansar-e Hizballah, Muslim Students Following the Line of the Imam, Tehran Militant Clergy Association (Ruhaniyat), Islamic Coalition Party (Motalefeh), and Islamic Engineers Society.
Pro-reform groups include the Office of Strengthening Unity, Freedom Movement of Iran, the National Front and Marz-e Por Gohar. (needs verification)
Relations with the US and UK
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Iranian-US relations have been strained since a group of Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran on 4 November 1979 and held it until 20 January 1981.
During 1980-88, Iran fought a war with Iraq that eventually expanded into the Persian Gulf and led to clashes between US Navy and Iranian military forces between 1987 and 1988.
Government
(needs editing and checking)
chief of state: Supreme Leader Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI (since 4 June 1989)
head of government: President Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD (since 3 August 2005); First Vice President Parviz DAVUDI (since 11 September 2005)
cabinet: Council of Ministers selected by the president with legislative approval; the Supreme Leader has some control over appointments to the more sensitive ministries
note: also considered part of the Executive branch of government are three oversight bodies: 1) Assembly of Experts, a popularly elected body of 86 religious scholars constitutionally charged with determining the succession of the Supreme Leader - based on his qualifications in the field of jurisprudence and commitment to the principles of the revolution, reviewing his performance, and deposing him if deemed necessary; 2) Expediency Council or the Council for the Discernment of Expediency, is a policy advisory and implementation board consisting of permanent members, who number over 40 and represent all major government factions and include the heads of the three branches of government, and the clerical members of the Council of Guardians (see next); permanent members are appointed by the Supreme Leader for five-year terms; temporary members, including Cabinet members and Majles committee chairmen, are selected when issues under their jurisdiction come before the Expediency Council; the Expediency Council exerts supervisory authority over the executive, judicial, and legislative branches and resolves legislative issues on which the Majles and the Council of Guardians disagree and since 1989 has been used to advise national religious leaders on matters of national policy; in 2005 the Council's powers were expanded, at least on paper, to act as a supervisory body for the government; 3) Council of Guardians of the Constitution or Council of Guardians or Guardians Council is a 12-member board made up of six clerics chosen by the Supreme Leader and six jurists selected by the Majles from a list of candidates recommended by the judiciary (which in turn is controlled by the Supreme Leader) for six-year terms; this Council determines whether proposed legislation is both constitutional and faithful to Islamic law, vets candidates for suitability, and supervises national elections
Sources
http://www.parstimes.com/history/persia_iran.html source
http://www.opec.org/aboutus/member%20countries/iran.htm
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/ir.html
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9059347/Persis
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/historic_periods.php
http://web.archive.org/web/20001210054500/http://www.tamasha.com/information/Iran_General_Information/History.htm