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114 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Murad Bey |
one Egyptian Mamluk leader who led Mamluk troops against the French during their 1798 occupation |
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French administrative innovations in Egypt (1798) |
abolition of multazims; registration of property titles; Napoleon's "Islamic Policy" (claim to be friends of Islam) |
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Convention of al-'Arish |
Jan. 24, 1800 - Treaty between French and Ottomans during Egyptian occupation; the French would evacuate Egypt. But the British did not accept the treaty. |
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'Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti |
the main Egyptian source for the French occupation of 1798-1801. There are two accounts: the first covers the first 7 months; the second, the remainder. The former is available in translation by Shmuel Moreh. |
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Muhammad 'Ali |
(1769-1849), first khedive of Egypt |
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Ibrahim Pasha |
Muhammad 'Ali's son, led campaign in Hijaz after failure of previous commander, Tusun. |
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Mahmudiyya Canal |
This was a major part of Muhammad 'Ali's reform efforts in the agricultural sector. The project employed corvee labor - up to 300,000 laborers at its peak. There were many casualties. The canal improved transportation, reclaimed agricultural land, and provided fresh water to Alexandria. |
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Abdallah ibn Sa'ud |
Wahhabi commander and leader of Wahhabi revolt. Beheaded by sultan in 1818 after his capture by Ibrahim Pasha. |
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Seves/ Sulayman Agha |
ostensibly a colonel under Napoleon, this officer served under Muhammad Ali, becoming a Pasha second only to Ibrahim. He helped to restructure the army. |
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The Auspicious Event (Vaka-yi Hayriye) |
Sultan Mahmud finally succeeds in suppressing the janissaries (add more detail to this later) |
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Battle of Navarino |
Disastrous battle in which Muhammad Ali lost almost his entire naval fleet; the Ottomans lost all their fleet as well. This was perceived by the Egyptians as resulting from the Porte's mismanagement. Oct. 20, 1827. |
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new institutions created by Muhammad Ali |
military staff college; cavalry school; medical school (Abu Za'bal near Cairo); new arsenal (liman), including a new fleet; Mahmudiyya hospital for soldiers and marines in Alexandria. |
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liman |
Muhammad Ali's Alexandrian arsenal; also an infamous prison. |
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Abu Za'bal |
the site, near Cairo, of Muhammad Ali's medical school. |
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Egyptian government under Muhammad Ali |
majalis (deliberative bodies) and diwans (bureaucratic bodies) worked together to advise Muhammad Ali, who had the final say. Egypt was divided into qisms. |
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qism |
new administrative category in Egypt under Muhammad Ali |
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mudir al-mudiriyya |
director of a province |
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shaykh al-balad |
village headman |
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Muhammad Ali's new elite |
Muhammad Ali focused on recruiting relatives and personal connections. His elite was not primarily comprised of "native" Egyptians; these were Turkish-speakers, totally dependent on Muhammad Ali. |
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Dr. Clot (Clot Bey) |
French doctor who helped train Arabic-speaking doctors and develop medicine in Muhammad Ali's Egypt (he arrived in 1825). He got the title bey in 1831, after helping stem a cholera outbreak among troops headed to Syria. Initiated smallpox vaccination program and inspired opening of midwifery school. |
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Muhammad Ali's Syria campaign |
led by Ibrahim Pasha, this campaign asserted Muhammad Ali's authority, although he was not seeking formal independence . |
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Peace of Kutahya |
May 1833. reinstates Muhammad Ali as wali of Egypt, gives him control of Crete and the Hijas; names Ibrahim wali of Acre, Damascus, Tripoli, and Aleppo; makes him tax collector in Adana. but all these privileges were temporary. Fahmy: "none of the principal parties [were] satisfied" |
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Muhammad Ali's educational reforms |
medical school, midwifery school, primary focus on secondary level. |
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Bulaq Press |
published textbooks for army, but also other medical & scientific texts. |
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Rifa'a Rafi al-Tahtawi |
Had spent time in France as imam of a mission to educate young Egyptians in military, science & technology; founded school & bureau for translation. Became editor-in-chief for al-Waqa'i al-Misriya in 1842; also edited Rawdat al-madaris, a cultural magazine, beginning in 1870. Had a great influence on the Egyptian press. Wrote many books, and was fascinated by European thought. |
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al Waqa'i al-Misriyya |
organ of Muhammad Ali's administration, favorably compared his accomplishments to those of the sultan. Began publication in 1828. Edited in the 1840's by al-Tahtawi. |
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sayfi canals |
new deep canals that help irrigate long-staple cotton, even in the driest months, built under Muhammad Ali. the project went in fits and starts beginning in 1834, and concluded only in 1861. |
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ib'adiyyat |
land grants by Muhammad Ali, began in 1837, reverses previous policy of state agriculture. Control of monopolies remains in Muhammad Ali's hands. |
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Hunkar Iskelesi Treaty |
(add more info here) |
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Mustafa Reshid Pasha (1800-1858) |
Ottoman foreign minister; principle architect of the Edict of Gulhane. |
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fath |
The "opening up" of Sudan by Muhammad 'Ali, in Egyptian nationalist historiography, was occasioned by Muhammad 'Ali's concern for the welfare of the Sudanese. |
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Funj sultanate |
the sultanate in the Sudan whose dissolution left a power vacuum in the region, which one theory holds to have occasioned Muhammad 'Ali's incursion. |
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Shaykh abd al-Qadir wad al-Zayn (d. 1857) |
Sudanese notable who became Egyptian govt's chief local advisor in the region; represents Muhammad 'Ali's efforts to co-opt local elites. |
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Khedive Abbas I |
R. 1849-1854; took over from his grandfather Muhammad Ali, but was nothing special as a ruler. |
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Sa'id I (Khedive) |
r. 1854-63, son of Muhammad 'Ali |
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Isma'il Pasha |
Muhammad Ali's son, r. 1863-1879; also ran |
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Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi (1884-1885) |
leader of Mahdist rebellion in Sudan against the Egyptians. |
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Mahdist revolt |
This uprising drew on rhetoric about the purification of Islam, but also involved ridding the Sudan of the pernicious influence of the Egyptian conquerors. It was addressed with the help of the British, specifically Hicks Pasha. Eventually, the effort was abandoned and this marked the end of the Egyptian "empire" in Sudan. |
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caisse de la dette publique |
"Public debt commission" set up by the European creditors of the Egyptians. This was one of the most onerous impositions by European powers and engendered the 'Urabi rallying cry, "Egypt for the Egyptians!" |
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social constitution of 'Urabi revolts |
Like the Free Officers Coup, the 'Urabi revolts were to some extent a "revolution from above." Turco-Circassian officers, indigenous Egyptian officers, landlord, parliamentary deputies, 'ulama, merchants, etc supported the revolution. |
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Evelyn Baring/ Lord Cromer (1841-1917) |
Was on the caisse de la dette publique, then entered Egyptian government, then became the de facto ruler when Egypt became a British protectorate. |
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Nubar Pasha (1825-1899) |
first Prime Minister of Egypt under British-sponsored "constitutional" rule, important political actor during the late 19th century, generally favorably disposed toward European powers. Helped oversee some of Isma'il's projects, including the Suez Canal. |
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Mustafa Riyad Pasha (1835-1911) |
Prime Minister of Egypt under khedive Tawfiq; top priority was servicing the European debt and tax reforms. |
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newspapers around the time of the 'Urabi revolution |
al-Ahram, ed. by Syrian Christian Taqla brothers; Ya'qub Sanu' (disciple of al-Afghani) and his Abu Naddara, who claimed to coin the slogan "Egypt for the Egyptians"; Ishaq and Naqqash (also al-Afghani acolytes) and their papers Misr (1877) and al-Tijara (1878) ; Muhammad Abduh became editor of al-Waqa'i al-Misriyya. Mustafa Riyad closed papers that criticized his rule. |
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Muhammad Tawfiq (1852-1892) |
ruled as khedive from 1879 until his death; was relatively passive & compliant with the British. |
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Sir Eldon Gorst |
consul general of Egypt 1907-1911; generally considered a failure in comparison to Cromer. Introduced a system of elected provincial councils and moderate effort at self-governing institutions, but these were generally unsuccessful. |
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Lord Kitchener |
consul general of Egypt 1911-14. like Gorst, expanded elected gov't, but not much; paid special attention to agriculture and irrigation. |
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Hizb al-Watani, led by Mustafa Kamil |
anti-British party; Mustafa Kamil, a student of Muhammad Abduh's, died in 1908. |
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Umma Party, led by Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid |
gradualist: advocated cooperation with British until Egypt was ready for independence. |
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Constitutional Reform Party of Shaykh Ali Yusuf |
defended the khedive |
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Sir Henry McMahon |
of McMahon-Hussein Correspondence fame. Also was consul general of Egypt from 1914-17, but lacked much experience. |
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Wafd Party |
Wafd (Arabic for 'delegation') - initially, a nationalist party that was excluded from the peacemaking process after WWI. Led by Sa'd Zaghlul. Came to lose credibility toward the end of the liberal age due to association with British interests. |
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Ismail Sidqi |
Ambitious politician who founded Egyptian "People's Party" in 1930, important during the liberal age of Egyptian politics - the People's Party dependent on Sidqi's own networks. Botman: "more a clique than a party." Was prime minister beginning in 1930. (this was considered a "palace coup." |
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Sa'd Zaghlul |
Founder of the Wafd party and consummate Egyptian politician during the liberal age. He did rely on a "system of patronage" that continued after his death. |
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Opposition parties during the Egyptian liberal age |
Sa'dists ("urban industrial & financial interests"); Unity (Ittihad), to promulgate the king's interests; Liberal Constitutionalist Party, founded 1922, was a moderate nationalist party - favored a gradualist approach to independence. |
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Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU) |
founded by Huda Sha'rawi in 1923, this group comprised mostly elite women & focused on charity and suffrage. Later generations of Egyptian feminists challenged the Europeanizing, upper-class tenor of this movement. |
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Mustafa al-Nahhas |
Zaghlul's successor as head of the Wafd; was prime minister multiple times, interspersed with others. Was unable to restore constitutionalism or make an agreement with the British. |
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Abdulmecit II (Efendi) (1868-1941) |
last caliph (1922-24), son of Sultan Abdulaziz, supported Nationalists during Turkish War of Independence. |
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Ahmet Riza Bey (1859-1930) |
Son of a member of the first Ottoman parliament. Studied agriculture in France. On his return he was appointed Director of Education in Bursa. Fled to France in 1889, from where he started a campaign for the restoration of the constitution and parliament. Published the main opposition organ Meşveret in Paris from 1895 on. He led the most radical nationalist wing of the emigre opposition (the CUP), but his positivist convictions estranged him from many of his fellow agitators. After the 1908 revolution he was elected to the central committee of the CUP and to the presidency of the second chamber of parliament, but he did not wield any real power. In 1912 he was made a senator. After the 1918 armistice, he was involved in attempts to create a 'national congress'. |
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Yusuf Akçura (1878-1935) |
Volga Tatar, deported to Tripolitania for his Young Turk activities while studying at the military academy in Istanbul. Fled to France and graduated from the political science faculty in Paris. Contributed Turkish nationalist and pan-Turkist articles to opposition newspapers. Author of the pan-Turkist manifesto 'Three Types of Policy' (1904). Driving force behind the Turkish Hearth movement. Joined the nationalists in Anatolia. Elected to the national assembly continuously from 1923 to 1939. |
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Mehmet Akif (Ersoy) (1873-1936) |
After the 1908 revolution, he became interested in literature and published poems and articles. Taught literature at Istanbul University and at the same time gained fame as a preacher committed to pan-Islamic unity. In 1913 he left his job at the Directorate-General of Veterinary Affairs. Worked for the 'Special Organization' (teshkilat-e mahsusa) in WWI, disseminating Islamic propaganda. Member of the first national assembly and author of the Turkish national anthem, but left Turkey in 1926 because of the secularist tendencies of the republic. |
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Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) |
Son of a low-ranking customs official in Salonica. Graduated from military academy in 1904. Joined the CUP when posted to Macedonia in 1907. Member of the inner circle of Unionist officers. Played a prominent part in the Action Army of 1909. Seems to have belonged to Cemal Pasha's faction in the CUP. Served in Tripolitania in 1911 and in the Balkan War (1912-13). Military attache in Sofia (1913-14). Gained fame through his defense of the Anafarta front in Sofia (1913-14). Promoted to brigadier (and made pasha) in 1916. Ended the war in command of the Syrian front. Launched as the head of the national resistance movement in Anatolia, when the gov't appointed him inspector of the Third Army (eastern Anatolia). From April 1920 onwards president of the national assembly in Ankara. Brought together the regional resistance organizations into one national one, which he then proceeded to lead to victory in the war of independence (1920-22) against the Armenians, Greeks, Italians, French, and British. During the years 1923-25 he established a power monopoly for his new party, the People's Party, and himself. Abolished the sultanate (1922) and established the Turkish Republic (1923) with himself as first president (1923-38). Embarked on an ambitious scheme of reforms aimed at modernizing and secularizing Turkey and building a new national identity. |
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Nihal Atsız (1905-75) |
Trained as a military doctor. High-school teacher and assistant at the faculty of arts of Istanbul University. Banished to Malatya in 1933 for racist articles in the journal Atsız. Promoted political pan-Turkism in the journal Orhun he published there and in Edirne. Pan-Turkists such as Atsız were quite influential between 1939 and 1943 and again during the cold war. Tried and convicted of racism in 1944, but released in 1945. He influenced radical soldiers and politicians such as Türkeş. Still considered a father of radical nationalist movements in modern Turkey. |
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Mehmet Ali Aybar (1910-1995) |
Graduated from Law School of Istanbul University in 1939. Went to France to study, but returned when war broke out. Lecturer in international law at Istanbul University (1942). Removed in 1946 for his political activities. In 1947, sentenced to three and a half years' imprisonment. Chairman of the Labour Party of Turkey, 1962-69. Elected to the National Assembly in 1965. resigned as chairman and left the party in 1969 as a result of the quarrel over his condemnation of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Stood as a candidate for the Unity Party in 1971, but was not elected. |
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Talat Aydemir (1917-64) |
Soldier. Made commander of the army academy in Ankara after his return from Korea in 1960. Active since the 1950's in plots against the DP government, but outside the country at the time of the may 1960 coup. Tried a military coup of his own on 22 Feb 1962. When it miscarried he was retired, but on 20 May 1963 he tried again; he was executed this time, in July 1964. |
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Bahaettin Şakir (1877-1922) |
Medical doctor. Worked with Ahmet Rıza and Dr Nazim in Paris to revitalize the CUP. Edited the party newspaper Şurayı Ümmet (Council of the Umma). Although he never held an official political post after the revolution, he was one of the most influential of the Unionists. Member of the central committee, 1912-18 and chief of the political bureau of the Special Organization, 1914-18. Often seen as the man behind the Armenian deportations. |
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Special Organization (Teşkilat-e mahsusa) |
"Unionist shock troops who did the Committee's dirty work." - a group of volunteer officers around Enver Pasha, often considered to be responsible for the Armenian massacres. Led by Bahaettin Şakir. Helped to organize the national resistance in Anatolia. |
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Celal Bayar (1884-1987) |
Son of immigrants from Bulgaria. First made a career in banking. Joined the CUP in 1907. From 1908-1918 he was the responsible secretary (effectively the head) of the Izmir branch of the CUP. Worked in the 'Special Organization'. Helped to organize the nationalist resistance in Izmir and joined the guerrilla forces in 1919. Commanded the national forces in Bursa. Was elected to the last Ottoman parliament in 1919. Held several commissariats in Ankara during 1920-23. First director of the Business Bank in 1924, economic affairs minister 1932-37, and prime minister 1937-39. One of the founders of the Democratic Party in 1946. Third president of the republic 1950-60. Received the death penalty in 1961, but the sentence was commuted because of his age; released in 1966. |
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Bekir Sami Kunduh (1865-1933) |
Of Ossetian extraction. Studied at Galatasaray and at the poli sci faculty in Paris. Worked first for the Foreign Ministry in several different embassies, then as gov of Van, Trabzon, Bursa, and Aleppo. Elected to the last Ottoman parliament in 1920. Joined the nationalists after the closure of parliament. Commissar of foreign affairs 1920-21. Resigned when the assembly rejected the compromise he reached at the London conference. Arrested after the discovery of the Izmir conspiracy in 1926 but released. |
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London Conference (1920) |
This conference was intended to revise the Treaty of Sevres, but it was unable to come to an agreement that was acceptable to the Turkish nationalists (and their National Pact). Bekir Sami Kunduh was the Turkish delegate. The breakdown of these negotiations led to the War of Independence. |
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Ataturk's Six Arrows (Alti Ok) |
republicanism, secularism, nationalism, populism, statism, and revolutionism (or reformism: İnkılapçılık) |
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Mihri Belli (1915-) |
Graduated from university as an economist. Thereafter worked in the same department. One of the leaders of the outlawed Turkish Communist party. sentenced to seven years in 1954 because of his underground work. Came to the fore in 1960's as the main exponent of the 'national democratic revolution', which held that a revolution in Turkey was possible only through the actions of a progressive elite. Left the country after the coup of 12 March 1971. |
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Behice Boran (1911-87) |
Trained as a sociologist in the US. Taught sociology at Ankara U. Fired because of her contributions to left-wing periodicals. Sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in 1950 for protesting against the sending of troops to Korea. Returned to writing and publishing in 1960. One of the founders of the Labour Party of Turkey in 1961. Ideologue of that party. Elected to the assembly in 1965. Secretary-general of the party in 1970. Succeeded Aybar as chairperson of the party in the same year. Sentenced in absentia to 13 yrs' imprisonment in 1971 after banning of the party. Died in exile. |
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Mahmut Esat Bozkurt (1892-1943) |
Graduated from law school in Istanbul and completed his studies in Lausanne and Freiburg. When the Greeks occupied his native Izmir in 1919, he returned to the country and joined the resistance. From 1920 until his death in 1943 he served as representative for Izmir in the national assembly. Economic affairs commissar and justice minister after that. Introduced the new (Swiss) family code in 1926. Held professorships of constitutional law and international law alongside his political positions. |
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Mehmet Cavit (1875-1926) |
Son of a Sabbatean (donme) merchant from Salonica. Graduated from the civil service academy in 1896. One of the earliest members of the ottoman Freedom society, which later merged with the CUP. Member of parliament for Salonica after the revolution. Fled the country in 1919. Involved in attempts to restart the CUP after the independence war. Executed in 1926 for his alleged role in the Izmir conspiracy. |
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Izmir conspiracy |
(add more info here) |
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Ahmet Cemal Pasha (1872-1922) |
Early member of Ottoman Freedom Society, later the CUP, when he was a major in the Macedonian army. Elected to the CUP central committee after the constitutional revolution. Prefect of Uskudar (1909), governor of Adana (1909), Baghdad (1911). An instigator of the 1913 coup. Minister of public works and of navy. Commander of the fourth army (sinai front) and gov of Syria during WWI. Fled to Germany in 1918. Served in Afgh as a military adviser. Assassinated by an Armenian in Tbilisi in 1921. |
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Tansu Çiller (1946-) |
Born in Istanbul. Studied econ at the Bosphorus Univ in Istanbul. Received grad degrees in US, studied at Yale for some time. Built a fortune in banking and real estate. Was prof of econ at Bosphorus U when Demirel persuaded her to go into politics in Nov 1990. In Oct 1991 she was elected party leader of the PTP as successor to Demirel, making her prime minister. After the elections of Dec 1995, she ended up becoming vice-premier to Erbakan in a coalition with Welfare Party (Refah). |
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Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) |
Disciple of al-Afghani's. Supported the 'Urabis, after which he was imprisoned and exiled (during which time he went to Beirut and Paris). Published emigre paper, Al-'urwa al-wuthqa (The Firmest Bond). Parted ways with Afghani in 1884. Teacher of Sa'd Zaghlul. Under the British, he focused on reform tasks rather than nationalist goals: juridical reform, "modernizing koranic studies and furnishing fatwas on such matters as marriage, divorce, polygamy, the status of women, religious rites, capital, labor, social and individual conditions, and superstitions." |
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D'Arcy Concession |
This 1901 concession by Muzaffar al-Din Shah Qajar grants oil rights to British for everywhere in Iran, except the 5 northern provinces. upsets bazaaris, ulama. |
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Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 |
This agreement between the Russian Empire and the British delineated spheres of influence for the two powers: Russia in the North, Britain in the South. |
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Anglo-Persian/ Anglo-Iranian Oil Company |
Founded 1909. The main focus of the nationalists' ire and the entity from whom Iranian oil was nationalized. |
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Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919 |
A devastating concession made in 1919 by Lord Curzon, Britain's foreign minister. Granted a 2 million pound loan in return for a host of monopolies and the right to a great deal of administrative/ educational responsibilities. The agreement resulted in immediate resistance, creating deadlock between the shah and the Majles. |
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Components of Muhammad Reza Shah's White Revolution |
land reform measures, which did not benefit the laborers, but created many more sharecroppers and decimated the power of noble landowners. Sedentarization of nomads, new education/ social welfare in the countryside. 5-yr plans for industrialization: energy, steel, textiles, cars, etc. Women's issues, incl. Family Protection Law, suffrage, and the right for women to serve in judiciary. |
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Reza Shah's reforms |
Main goal: strong, centralized state. Monitored parliament. Etatist economic policy; launched media efforts (Radio Iran, etc); controlled foreign trade, built infrastructure, including roads and railways; instituted nationwide draft; abolished aristocratic titles; introduced metric system; sartorial reform (Pahlavi cap, unveiling); unified educational system banned languages other than Persian; brought Islamic education under state supervision; made Persia Iran; expanded judicial system; expanded incarceration over corporal punishment; created sharbani and Rokhn-e Dovom. Abrahamian says he failed primarily in public health. Focused on Mazanderan, and used land to curry favor among elites (and to enrich himself). |
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Sartorial reforms in the Middle East |
Under Reza Shah: forced unveiling for women in 1936; "Pahlavi cap" and European dress for men, except ulama. In Ottoman Empire, in 19th century (check dates in quataert), sartorial reforms are supposed to equalize the populace, eliding confessional distinctions. |
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Ahmad Shah (1896-1929) |
The last Qajar monarch. He ascended the throne in 1909 while still a minor. Lacking real power and fearful for his life, he left the country soon after the 1921 coup. He died in Paris and was buried in Karbala. |
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Mahmud Ahmadinejad (1956- ) |
The conservative president elected in 2005. Son of a blacksmith and veteran of the Iraq war, he won the pres election campaigning on populist themes. He promised to distribute the oil wealth to the people, revive the revolutionary ideals of Khomeini, and deliver a final blow to the "one thousand families" who have supposedly ruled the country for centuries. Supported by some of the most conservative ulama. |
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Jalal al-e Ahmad (1923-69) |
The initiator of the "back to roots" movement. He began his career as a Marxist in the Tudeh party and remained to his last days a skeptic, but increasingly in the 60's searched for the cultural roots of Iran in Shi'ism. His best-known work is Gharbzadegi. He was one of the few intellectuals openly praised by Khomeini. |
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Taqi Arani (1902-40) |
The father of Marxism in Iran. Educated in Germany in 1922-30, he returned home to launch the journal Donya and form an intellectual circle whose members later founded Tudeh. Sentenced to ten years' imprisonment (among the 53) for advocating "socialism" and "atheism," he died in prison. |
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Princess Ashraf (1919- ) |
Muhammad Reza Shah's twin sister. A forceful personality, she played an important role behind the scenes and helped many young Western-educated technocrats attain wealth and high office, especially cabinet posts. Some feel that she epitomized the worst features of the regime; others claim this is a misogynist's view. |
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Muhammad Taqi Bahaar (1885-1952) |
Poet laureate of classical Persian literature. He began his political life as an active member of the constitutional movement and died as the president of the pro-Tudeh Peace Partisans. In addition to his prolific poetry, he wrote a well-known work entitled Short History of Political Parties in Iran. |
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Sayyed Abul-Hassan Bani-Sadr (1933-) |
Iran's first president. Although son of an ayatollah who had supported the 1953 coup, Bani-Sadr sided with Mossadeq and spent much of his adult life in Paris active in the National Front and the Liberation Movement. He returned with Khomeini in 1979 and briefly served as his president before accusing the clergy of scheming to establish a "dictatorship of the mullahtariat." He had to escape back to Paris. |
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Mehdi Bazargan (1907-95) |
Khomeini's first prime minister. A deputy minister under Mossadeq, he was much more religious than most of his National Front colleagues. In 1961, he founded the Liberation movement, committed to the ideals of Iranian nationalism, Western liberalism, and Shi'i Islam. Secularists deemed him too religious; the religious deemed him too secularist. He resigned his premiership to protest the students taking over the US embassy in 1979. |
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Sayyed Abdallah Behbehani (1844-1910) |
One of the two ayatollahs prominent in the Constitutional Revolution. In the subsequent fights between secular Democrats and the religious Moderates, he was assassinated. His son, Ayatollah Muhammad Behbehani, actively supported the 1953 coup. The money spent in the bazaar for the coup was known as "Behbehani dollars." |
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Ayatollah Aqa Hajj Aqa Hussein Tabatabai Boroujerdi (1875-1961) |
The last paramount Shi'i leader. After a long seminary career in Najaf and Boroujerd, in 1944 he moved to Qom where he soon gained the reputation of being the supreme marja-e taqled. Although he frowned on clerics participating in politics, he turned a blind eye to those who helped the 1953 coup. His death prompted younger grand ayatollahs to compete for his paramount position. It also prompted the shah to launch the White Revolution. (? why would he support those who helped the coup?) |
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Bozorg Alavi (1904-95) |
A leading figure in modern Persian literature. Educated in Germany, he returned home in the 1930's, co-edited Donya, was imprisoned for belonging to Arani's circle, and, on his release in 1941, helped found the Tudeh Party. Among his works are his prison memoirs, the Fifty-Three. He was influenced by Kafka, Freud, and Hemingway as well as by Marx. He was a close friend of Sadeq Hedayat. |
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Lord George Curzon (1859-1925) |
The British foreign minister so enamored of Iran that he tried to incorporate it into his empire. As a grad student he traveled to Iran and published his classic Persia and the Persian Question. His Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919 created a nationalist backlash in Iran. |
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Ali Akbar Dehkhoda (1879-1956) |
A leading intellectual in modern Iran. A biting satirist during the Constitutional Revolution, he aroused much opposition, esp from the clergy and the landed class. He withdrew from politics and devoted his life to his dictionary. In the chaotic days of Aug 1953, some radical nationalists offered him the presidency of their prospective republic. |
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Shiren Ebadi (1947-) |
Iran's sole Nobel Prize Winner. A young judge in the last years of the old regime, she, together with all women, was purged from the judiciary. She opened her own law firm specializing in human rights, esp cases involving women or children. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. |
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Firuz Farmanfarma (Nosrat al-Dowleh) (1889-1937) |
Prominent notable. A scion of the famous Farmanfarma family and descendant of Fath Ali Shah, he headed numerous ministries after WWI and was one of the triumvirate that helped Reza Shah establish a strong centralized state. The latter eventually imprisoned and murdered him. |
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Sayyed Hussein Fatemi (1919-54) |
Mossadeq's right-hand man executed by the shah. A French-educated journalist, he was a vocal and early supporter of the campaign to nationalize the oil industry. He served Mossadeq in a number of capacities, including foreign minister. After the coup, he was arrested and executed for "insulting the royal family" and plotting to establish a republic. He is regarded as a hero of the nationalist movement. He is one of the few National Front leaders to have a street named after him in the Islamic Republic. |
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Shaykh Fazlollah Nuri (1843-1909) |
Leading cleric opposed to the Constitutional Revolution, A prominent theologian in Tehran, he initially supported attempts to limit royal power, but, growing fearful of the secularists, ended up siding with the royalists. He issued fatwas accusing reformers of being secret Babis, atheists, and freethinkers. Some were killed and executed in the Civil War. After the war, he was hanged for issuing such lethal fatwas. The modern Islamist movement regards him as one of their very first "martyrs." |
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Abbas Hoveida (1919-79) |
The shah's longest-lasting premier. A career public servant, he was raised in a Bahai family - although he was not a practicing Bahai - and was appointed premier in 1965, when his patron, the previous premier, was assassinated by religious fanatics. He remained in that post until 1977, when the shah, in an attempt to mollify the opposition, first dismissed him and then had him arrested. He was one of the first to be executed by the revolutionary regime. |
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Mirza Sulayman Iskandari (1862-1944) |
Qajar prince prominent in the socialist movement for half a century. Opponent of royal despotism, he participated in the Constitutional Revolution - his eldest brother fell victim to the Civil War; helped lead the Democrat Party, 1909-21; was imprisoned by the British in WWI; headed the Socialist party in 1921-26; and returned to politics in 1941 to chair the Tudeh Party. |
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Ayatollah Sayyed Abul-Qasim Kashani (1885-1961) |
The main cleric who first supported and then opposed Mossadeq. A refugee from Iraq where his father had been killed fighting Britain after WWI, he was arrested by the British in WWII. He threw his weight behind Mossadeq when the campaign for the nationalization of the oil industry began. He broke with Mossadeq in 1953 avowedly because the latter did not implement the shari'a. His supporters vehemently deny that he actively supported the 1953 coup. |
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Sayyed Ahmad Kasravi (1890-1946) |
Leading historian of modern Iran, esp of the Const Rev. A staunch advocate of national solidarity, he persistently denounced all forms of communalism and sectarianism, including Shi'ism. His most controversial work is Shi'igari (Shi'i-mongering). Denounced as an unbeliever, he was assassinated. Khomeini, however, continued to keep on his shelves Kasravi's History of the Iranian Constitution. |
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Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei (1939-) |
Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader. From a minor clerical family in Azerbaijan, he studied theology first in Mashhad and then in Qom with Khomeini. He did not attain prominence until after the revolution when he held a series of high positions, including, briefly, the presidency. Immediately after Khomeini's death, the regime elevated him to the rank of ayatollah and hailed him as the new Supreme Leader. He inherited Khomeini's powers but not his charisma. |
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Hojjat al-Islam Sayyed Muhammad Khatemi (1944-) |
Liberal president. Son of an ayatollah who was a close friend of Khomeini, Khatami studied theology in Qom and philosophy in Isfahan U, in the process learning some English and German. At the beginning of the revolution, he was administering the Shi'i mosque in Hamburg. After the Revolution, he headed the gov publishing house, sat in the Majles, and as a culture minister aroused conservative anger by relaxing the censorship on books and films. Running on a reform platform, he won the presidency twice - in 1997 and in 2001 - both with landslide victories. |
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Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Khomeini (1902-89) |
Entered politics in 1963; drastically expanded the traditional Shi'i concept of velayat-e faqeh to clerical supervision over all citizens. Combined clerical conservatism with radical populism. Took title "Imam of the Muslim World" - a title Shi'is in the past had reserved for the Twelve Sacred Infallible Imams. |
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Sayyed Hassan Modarres (1870-1937) |
The main ayatollah opposed to Reza Shah. A member of the Majles since 1914, he was known chiefly as a parliamentary politician. He participated in the national gov't that opposed the Allies in 1914-18, was a vocal opponent of the 1919 Anglo-Iranian Agreement, and tried to stem the rise of Reza Shah. Banished to the provinces, he was eventually murdered there. Modern Islamists view him as one of their forerunners. |
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Muhammad Mossadeq (1881-1967) |
The icon of Iranian nationalism. From a long line of notables, he studied in Europe and had a successful career in gov't service until forced into retirement by Reza Shah. Returning to politics in 1941, he gained fame first as an "incorruptible" deputy, and then as leader of the National Front campaigning for the nationalization of the British-owned oil company. Elected prime minister in 1951, he promptly nationalized the oil industry and thus sparked off a major international crisis with Britain. He was overthrown by the military coup organized by the CIA in Aug 1953. Islamists distrusted him because of his deep commitment to secular nationalism. |
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Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1919-80) |
Monarch overthrown by the Islamic Revolution. Ascending the thrown in 1941, he successfully warded off generals and notables who tried to gain control of the armed forces. Consolidating power after the 1953 CIA coup, he ruled much like his father, using oil revenues to expand drastically the state as well as the armed forces. He died soon after the revolution from cancer. |
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Ahmad Qavam (1877-1955) |
Most notable of the old notables. A court-supporter of the 1906 revolution, he gained the aura of a highly successful wheeler and dealer both in the Majles and the gov't. He headed four cabinets in the years before Reza Shah and six after him. He had little regard for the young shah. Some credit him for keeping Iran intact by persuading Stalin to withdraw the Red Army from Azerbaijan. He died with his reputation much tarnished, since in 1952 he had offered to replace Mossadeq as PM. |
