The 1979 Iran Revolution: How It Happened

Forty years ago, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini spearheaded a revolution that deposed a monarchy in Iran. A repressive theocracy had replaced an authoritarian monarchy. We explain some of the key events of that revolution.

***

[Crashed]

Overnight Iran went from 1979 to 779 AD.

[amirhosein]

The Iranian people are now regretful from that revolution

[petechandanatural]

They never say how the Shah was installed.

[alexandertsilas]

All I'm gonna say is thank you for helping me on my history homework on this complicated complex topic! :)

[JustSayinStuff]

Weird how she doesn’t tell about how prior to the 1979 revolution, women could wear normal clothes, after the revelation, women had to wear hajib from head to toe, its illegal for them not to, if they do, then the they’ll face criminal charges. 😂

[brandon]

Replace one autocrat with another, sounds like a great idea!

[Erizu.]

I say this as someone holding no sympathies for the current Iranian regime:
This really leaves out a lot of important details...
Like the fact that the "modernization" was really just a make-believe for foreigners - there was widespread illiteracy and poverty everywhere.
Or that Iran wanted to take control of their own oil industry back from the British in 1951 but the BP really didn't like that idea so they (with USA who saw that move as a potential overture to communism, or at least that's the excuse) deposed the prime minister Mosaddegh and supported the Shah who would then give most of the oil profits back to BP and US.
Or that the Shah's secret police Savak used brutal torture methods (boiling in oil, slowly burning someone on an electric table, tearing out nails, throwing people into a sac with hungry snakes/wild cats, etc.) on anyone they deemed and opponent of the monarchy. A lot of the intellectuals were either dead from these "interrogations", in prison or they escaped the country.
Or that most of the revolting people weren't religious fanatics, they were simply desperate.
I would recommend the book Shah of Shahs by Ryszard Kapuściński to anyone that wants to read about the revolution and everything leading up to it.

[safwanzidan]

What a sad story for iran as modern country in 60s and 70s became now under regime of medieval ages

[nostalgia]

The Shah was the best thing to happen to Iran. He had a vision to make Iran the best country in the world. He gave women the right to vote in 1963, what kind of dictator gives women the right to vote? He was no dictator. He made it illegal for a man to have more than one wife. He made the Hijab illegal. He built a colony for those with leprosy so they could live in peace without infecting others. If you are going to talk about him please do some research!

[TheAurelianProject]

This will happen in Europe if Europeans don’t stop the threat as soon as possible.

[raminshakeri]

Prior to 1979 revolution in Iran every king or prime minister of Iran were assigned by eighter British or United states of America. Iran lost so much of its territories during both Ghajar and pahlavi dynasty . Iran were invaded without a war both at the time of Ghajar and pahlavi . When the 3 leaders of the United states, England and the Soviet union gather in capitol Tehran, Shah of Iran didn't even know about the meeting . Iran lost 9 million of its population to famine at the Ghajar and 4 million at the pahlavi time . Prior to 1979 revolution only 32 percent of female of Iran were able to read things like address, or the pill bottles but today 30 percent of Iranian women have at least one university degree. Today Iran is a major regional power and the country is totally capable of producing its defense.

[joecraig]

In 1979 The U..S.S.R. also invaded Afghanistan.I was 18 and the draft registration was required under President Carter.I felt very uneasy remembering 1967 and 1974.I was relieved when Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980.

[AhmadHassan-wbdw]

This video should be titled:

''How to twist history in 3 minutes ??'' Or
''How to whitewash America's crimes against humanity by lambasting a popular theocracy''

[lightningvolt]

Upon further research on this, life was actually really nice before the revolution. Everything was nice and quiet and women actually wore bathing suits to the beach.

[SukaFree]

I was born in Tehran in 1970s so I witnessed this and the Iran/Iraq war firsthand….scary times growing up as a kid in the middle of chaos…. I suffer from ptsd and have a lot of anger issues….but I think witnessing so much suffering also made me compassionate….don’t fall for political b.s. just love your brothers and sisters.

[umidnazarov]

Like or not there is something incredible about this country.

[texx]

You only need to ask one question to all the people who helped overthrowing the system. Are your lives better now? Is this what you wanted?

[benmercer]

People always seem happy before 1979 and stories back that up as well especially masih alinjad's accounts of her neighborhood

[Rurik]

Thank you for sharing - Daste dard nakone 🙏🏼 🇨🇦

[fpz]

The Shah transformed Iran into a powerful nation, however we were taken apart by the Islamists