The Pahlavi Dynasty

The Pahlavi Dynasty was the ruling house of Iran from 1925 until 1979, when the monarchy was overthrown and abolished as a result of the Iranian Revolution. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1925, a former Brigadier-General of the Persian Cossack Brigade, whose reign lasted until 1941 when he was forced to abdicate by the Allies after the Anglo-Soviet invasion. He was succeeded by his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. The Pahlavis came to power after Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last ruler of the Qajar dynasty, proved unable to stop British and Soviet encroachment on Iranian sovereignty, had his position extremely weakened by a military coup, and was removed from power by the parliament while in France. The National Assembly, known as the Majlis, convening as a Constituent Assembly on 12 December 1925, deposed the young Ahmad Shah Qajar, and declared Reza Shah the new monarch of the Imperial State of Persia. In 1935, Reza Shah instructed foreign embassies to call Persia by its ancient name, Iran, so the official name became the Imperial State of Iran since then. Faced with growing public discontent and popular rebellion throughout 1978, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi went into exile with his family in January 1979, sparking a series of events that quickly led to the dissolution of the state on 11 February 1979, officially ending the 2,500-year-old tradition of monarchy in Iran.[2] At the death of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi on 27 July 1980, his son Reza Pahlavi became the head of the Pahlavi royal family.