Early Life
Mohammed Palhavi was born in Tehrān, Iran in 1919. He was the oldest son of Reza Shah Palhavi, an army officer who worked his way up to the leader of Iran and founded the Palhavi dynasty in 1925 (Britannica Palhavi 2018). He traveled to Sweden to get an education from prominent schools. Six years after he returned in 1935, Great Britain and Soviet Russia occupied Iran because of their worries that Palhavi's father would side with Germany in World War 2. Palhavi's father was then exiled from Iran and Palhavi became the new ruler on September 16th, 1941 (Britannica, 2018).
Rule before the revolution
Mohammed Palhavi's time as ruler was quickly thrown into turmoil in the early 1950s when Mohammed Mosaddeq, an Iranian nationalist and rival to Palhavi gained rapid power in the country after securing a bill in British parliament that allowed petroleum interests to enter Iran. Mosaddeq's popularity forced Palhavi to appoint him to premier in 1951 (Britannica, 2018). Two years later as their relationships further strained and Palhavi attempted to dismiss the now even more popular Mosadeqq from office, but this proved to be a mistake. Mosadeqq's supporters forced Palhavi out of Iran and into exile. This exile only lasted a few days before Palhavi regained his role as leader with assistance of the U.S. and the U.K. (Britannica, 2018). Throughout his rule, Palhavi nationalized the Iran oil industry and split the profits with the U.S.
Role During the Revolution
Mohammed Palhavi started a "white revolution" in the late 1960s. From the beginning his goal of westernizing Iran met heavy criticism from both people who thought the reform wasn't going fast enough and Muslims who disliked the adaptation of western culture which they felt was antithetical to Islam. General members of the public disliked Palhavi's autocratic rule, the unequal distribution of oil wealth, government corruption, forced westernization, and most importantly, the role of Palhavi's secret police in suppressing opposition to his rule and dissent against his government (Britannica, 2018). Tensions among the public rose to a breaking point and this resulted in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Palhavi thought that the increased wealth he was bringing to Iran would be enough to quell the riots that occurred daily in the streets, but because the poorer citizens received very little of the new fortune Iran received the protests continued to grow stronger. Ultimately, Palhavi was forced to flee Iran for his own safety and take refuge in several countries throughout his remaining lifetime. His government was brought down days after him leaving and replaced with the Islamic Republic of Iran lead by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (Britannica, 2018).
Historical Significance
From the beginning of his rule in 1941, Mohammed Palhavi made decisions that attempted to move Iran is a secular and global country with good U.S. relations, but ultimately his decisions caused the country to become a nationalistic theocracy. Mohammed Palhavi's U.S. backed coup of a popular Iranian prime minister, as well as the controversial policies he passed afterwords and his use of secret police to arrest protestors caused the Iranian public to become discontent with his dictatorship and began the 1979 Iranian Revolution. This lead the way for Ruhollah Khomeini to become Iran's leader and for the U.S. to become hostile with Iran's new government.
The inside of Mohammed Palhavi's palace during his rule.