Iran: As Timeless As Zurvan
By Ben Galbraith
Date: 23 August 2022
Iran protesters burning photos of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in protest against the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist.
Courtesy of Atta Kenare (2020)
From the epoch of the Assyrian Empire to the reign of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and the subsequent institution of Ruhollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader, Iran’s tumultuous past plagued by the evils of colonialism, populism and extremism has situated it in a particularly unique position within the Middle East. Over the course of this article, I believe that it can prove interesting to briefly explore the history of what we know today as Iran.
It must be specified, of course, that this is simply an extremely condensed means through which one can understand Iran and begin to grasp the complexities of the country. While not every event in the country has been explored at length, these are for reasons of space management, and is by no means to discredit certain actors or periods of time, rather this article attempts to form a holistic narrative across the entirety of Iranian history.
The Achaemenid Empire: Beginning of a Civilisation
Believed to have begun to form the basic basis of a state during the beginning of the iron age, the modern cities of Iran largely hold their roots in locations that exhibited a wealth of resources that correlated around the locations of settlements that were likely established in prehistoric history, such as Susa (estimated to have been founded in 4395BC) (Potts, 2015: 50).
With the developments of agriculture came the blending of the dominant Mesopotamian culture (which originated in modern day Iraq) into Elamite culture (which was significantly smaller and located in South-Western Iran), which would ultimately be infused with the Assyrian influences that came from its domination that jumpstarted the creation of a (somewhat) homogenised culture that would later come to constitute the primary tenets of Persian day-to-day life.
As is so often the case, the smaller Elamite civilisation was eventually driven from their bountiful lands, being replaced by immense numbers of tribes-people originating from the Iranian Plateau (this being the rather logical etymology of the country’s name). This process is well known to have taken several years to have truly culminated in a cultural conquest of Iran, and thus one ought to recall that deep foundations were laid for the routines and cultural attitudes that would deeply affect the peoples’ attitudes (this will be elaborated on later in this work).
The first empire that truly subsumed Iran, at least in the opinion of the author, was the Achaemenid Empire, one that presided over vast swathes of the central Middle East (notably Turkey, Northern Iraq, Iran, and Central Asia) which was led by Cyrus the Great, though it is better known today as the First Persian Empire. It is worth noting that this truly was the culmination of centuries of conflict and turmoil within this part of the world, and became an instance in which a dominant culture formed pockets of localised language and ideology, thus enabling its ‘gentle’ expansion and consolidation within the habits of millions of citizens.
Iranian Propaganda Poster with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the figure head.
Courtesy of RNW (2004): https://flic.kr/p/5xoU1z
Conquest and Division: The Mongolian Empire and Islamic Split
To move over a few centuries of Iranian history, this area saw both the rapid growth of Alexander the Great’s empire, as well as its downfall, before the Parthian Empire grew from its ashes within what we could consider to be Northwest Iran, that is now best known for being the arch-enemy of sorts of the Roman Empire, as neither had the skills required to conquer one another with ease (Bivar, 2008: 52; Greatrex & Lieu, 2002: 31-35; and Ball, 2017: 151-164).
The Sasanid Empire which grew out of this period would have a great deal of cultural influence, arguably greater than any other Iranian Empire, spreading the Persian culture across the entirety of the Middle East and South Asia, while deeply rooting it within its own lands. Following inadequate leadership, internal turmoil, and economic collapse, this empire gave way to the Umayyad Caliphate, an Islamic Empire that would bring the religion, as well as Arabic, to the country through the attempted replacement of the language by Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, yet Persian customs would survive through being assumed into the broader administrative framework (Hawting, 2002: 63-64, 105).
While initially extremely dominant, largely thanks to the religious and military might that it bared, the collapse of this Arab empire was, as had been the case so many times beforehand, due to regional instability that resulted from power-struggles that plunged the country into civil war (Ibid.). Within this anarchy, several regional power-groupings began to develop their own control over territory, posing a direct threat to the Abbasid caliphate that had attempted to consolidate its control following the Umayyads, ultimately meaning that Islamisation, and Persianisation, was utilised by several factions to consolidate political dominance, and portraying their rulers as being capable of recovering the national culture and heritage of the great Persian Empires of old (Tor, 2009).
The rapid developments of these kind of techniques were particularly used under the subsequent Samanid and Ghaznawid dynasties (Tor, 2009). At this time, a growing power was beginning to expand across the entirety of Asia, dominating the local cultures and striking fear into even the most well-armed forced – the Mongol Hordes.
The second largest empire ever after that of Britain, Iran was brought into its dominion, an action that can be proposed to have led to the eventual collapse of the empire, with Chinggis Khan’s (often mistakenly known as Genghis Khan) grandson establishing a breakaway faction of the Mongolian Empire within Iran, a process that enabled the mass re-integration of Persian culture within the country, reversing the damage done by the Abbasids and Umayyads (Aigle, 2006).
This squarely Mongolian empire would transition into the ensuing Timurid Empire, whose brutality was particularly extreme, thus enabling the state to dominate much of the Persianate world through complete military domination, though this did not stop groups such as the Kara Koyunlu, a regional power, from attempting to conquer Tehran only to collapse from infighting.
It is roughly at this period that we begin to see the theological divisions in texts from the period, with the divisions between Sunnism and Shiism being driven by both sects seeking to establish themselves as major influences within the region, eventually resulting in Ismail I’s categorical success in founding the Shi’a Safavid dynasty that has continued to influence Iran’s current religious makeup (Babayan, 1994: 136-37). This is one of the contributing factors as to why there is continued conflict within the Middle East today, as one can understand sectarian tensions stemming from the period to have become squarely implicated in the (seemingly) inherent differences that we perceive.
The Safavid Empire is unanimously understood to have been one of the most significant dynasties in Persia, paving the groundwork for Iran as we know it today, with the specific trait of the empire aiming at the development of the country’s borders (particularly in the Caucuses), an action that would bring Iran to the fore as an economic power in the Middle East, allowing it to form connections with the Dutch East India Company and European Royal families (such as the Habsburgs) (Alpers, 2013: 112).
It is perhaps quite interesting to note that at around this period of time, Portugal sought to colonise Iranian lands in the Persian Gulf so as to monopolise trade in the Indian Ocean, though following other such antagonising actions (e.g., building forts and attempting to extend control) Iran (with some naval support from the British) squarely beat the Portuguese, pushing them from Hormuz.
Territorial Changes of Iran in the 19th and the 20th Centuries.
Courtesy of Charter for Compassion (2008)
Modern Iran: A Story of Colonialism and Extremism
From here, we are brought to the heart of modern Iranian history, with it beginning with the Qajar dynasty that extended from 1796 until 1925, a period which saw the reduction of Iran’s territory and the onset of profound civil strife, all the while the continued promulgation and integration of Persian culture continued, squarely separating the country from others in the Middle East (Keddie and Amanat, 2008: 174-176).
The plurality of conflicts that took place in a bid to regain the lost territories would ultimately contribute to the eventual diminishment of the Shah’s power, with a catastrophic famine ultimately forcing the leader to accept his new role as a constitutional monarch in 1906 (Hambly, 2008a: 213-224).
From this point onwards, we see the means through which the sovereignty of Iran was repeatedly violated by both the British Empire and the Soviet Union, with both countries aiming to gain access to the vast quantities of oil (amongst other resources) within the country, with an ill-fated attempt to render Iranian territory a protectorate by the British ultimately cementing a distrust of international politicking within the country (Ibid).
These political manoeuvres would, rather conveniently, culminate in an initiative in 1941 named ‘Operation Countenance’, a joint Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran that ultimately toppled Reza Shah from power, though sources are conflicting as to whether this was the direct objective of the invasion, or whether it occurred incidentally as a means of securing power over the oil fields, but this author personally believes the latter argument, given that the Shah’s son was placed into power, rather than an allied council as had been done in other countries (Hamly, 2008b: 242-244).
Interestingly, this amounted to a situation in which the Shah gradually increased his control of state power, a situation that led to international political tensions when Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq (also written Musaddiq) sought to nationalise the British-owned oil industry, a decision that would lead to a CIA and Mi6-backed coup that would remove him from power (Ibid: 256-263). If the previous tensions with the West amongst the people weren’t already justified, this action sowed a deep distrust of American and British involvement in Iranian political affairs.
Interestingly, the Shah was unopposed, at least publicly, to the decision, which some propose was due to his awareness of how allying himself with the west could serve to consolidate his power, an idea that is backed up by his ‘White Revolution’. One ought to pay particular attention to this event, as it was a key instance in which the Shah sought to modernise the country along Western lines despite the vociferous anger of Islamic groups, which would culminate in the arrest of the extremely senior preacher Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was arrested for criticising the Shah.
In 1979, tensions with the groups headed by Ayatollah Khomeini reached a boiling point, and an Islamic Revolution took place which dragged Iran from the auspices of an absolute monarchy, to a deeply theocratic Islamic Republic that is presided over by a Supreme Leader. In the West, this form of ruling is viewed with a deep suspicion, and is often unfortunately characterised by associations with bloodshed.
Two particularly key events that have defined contemporary relations between Iran and other nation-states was the catastrophically bloody Iran-Iraq war (in which Iran Is understood to have sent human wave attacks of conscripts towards the more material-rich state). This conflict was particularly striking for Middle Eastern pundits, but the Iranian hostage crisis would draw in the wider world’s attention on the country, as the assault by students on the US embassy led to great support for Ayatollah Khomeini who utilised the event as a means of consolidating the anti-American rhetoric, something that was rendered all the more potent when the United States botched a rescue of the hostages (Wolf, 2006).
Iranian soldier wearing a chemical mask during the Iran-Iraq War.
Courtesy of Wikimedia Common (2007): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chemical_weapon1.jpg
As has hopefully been demonstrated in this article, Iran’s history is wonderfully vast, with the transitions between its varying empires being of unique brilliance in understanding how states all over the world were formed. It is the author’s perspective too that through such conflicts, we may ultimately glean a greater insight into how the country’s ostracization world-wide ultimately reflects a broader cycle that is indicative of periods of Iranian ‘booms and busts’, though further research on this topic is required.
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