Reza Shah Pahlavi
1878 – 1944 Iranian army officer, Shah of Iran
The founder of the Pahlavi dynasty, a modernizing autocrat pushed out by the Allies in 1941.
- Religion
- Shia Muslim
- Affiliations
- Pahlavi dynasty
Reza Shah rose through the military and seized power in Iran in the 1920s, founding the Pahlavi dynasty and crowning himself Shah in 1925. He modernized the state and army but ruled autocratically and squeezed oil concessions with Britain. The Allies forced his abdication in 1941 over his ties to Germany, and his son Mohammad Reza succeeded him.
In the timeline
- 1953 The Shah's Iran as the West's Gulf policeman mentioned