Book SummaryThe Fall of Heaven, by Andrew Scott Cooper

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Fall of Heaven

The Rise and Reign of the Pahlavi Dynasty

This section details the origins and evolution of the Pahlavi Dynasty, starting with the convulsive unrest in Persia around the beginning of the 20th century that led to the rise of Reza Shah, and culminating with the breathtaking economic boom engineered by his son, Mohammad Reza Shah, in the early 1970s.

Reza Shah's Transformation of Iran

This subsection focuses on Reza Shah's ambitious program of reforms that laid the groundwork for a modern Persian state to come into being, a state whose transformation into a regional power was further advanced by his son decades later.

Consolidating Power and Updating a Country

While the 1906 Constitutional Revolution aimed to curb the autocratic powers of Persia's Qajar Dynasty and introduce a more Western-style parliamentary democracy, in practice it opened up 20 years of instability. In 1921, following the devastation of World War I, Reza Khan, a military commander, seized power to restore order and establish a new political order. Cooper highlights how, after a short stint as prime minister, in 1925 Reza Khan was crowned Reza Shah Pahlavi, formally ending the Qajar Dynasty after almost 150 years. The creator of the Pahlavi line adopted this specific name to invoke the glories of pre-Islamic Persia and to make it clear he intended to revive national pride by erasing the "humiliations" incurred during centuries of foreign invasions and occupations.

Reza Shah swiftly advanced modernization initiatives in Persia. Cooper emphasizes how, emulating modernizers such as Kemal Ataturk and Peter the Great, Reza Shah used his country's oil wealth to build roads, railways, hospitals, schools, universities, libraries, factories, and dams. Vaccinations eradicated diseases. Labor and property laws were overhauled and in 1935 Reza Shah renamed Persia ‘Iran’. Inspired by the social reforms sweeping Europe, the King was a passionate advocate for women’s rights and his bold decision to ban the veil in 1936 and allow women to work and receive an education triggered a major social and political revolution that redefined the very foundation of Iran's society and family life. Reza Shah consolidated his powers by transforming the Majles into a formality and jailing political opponents. Mohammad Reza, his child and successor to the throne, watched with great interest while studying in Switzerland, where he was being trained to rule as a 20th-century monarch. But the onset of World War II shattered his hopes for a smooth transition.

Context

• The movement was driven by a coalition of intellectuals, merchants, and clerics who were frustrated with the Qajar rulers' inability to protect the country from foreign domination and economic decline.
• The instability fueled a rise in nationalist sentiments, with increasing calls for a strong, centralized government to restore order and assert independence from foreign domination.
• His new political order included efforts to reform the economy, reduce corruption, and increase state control over resources, particularly oil.
• The end of the Qajar Dynasty marked the conclusion of a period characterized by decentralization and tribal autonomy, which Reza Shah sought to replace with a strong, centralized state.
• Part of the oil revenue was allocated to modernizing the military, which was essential for maintaining internal stability and asserting Iran's sovereignty in the face of foreign influence.
• Libraries played a key role in promoting literacy and education, serving as centers for learning and cultural exchange.
• The successful implementation of vaccination programs laid the groundwork for future public health policies in Iran, contributing to the country's ongoing efforts to combat infectious diseases and improve healthcare access.
• The renaming was announced to the international community and was intended to foster a sense of unity and national pride among Iranians.
• Similar reforms were taking place in other countries, such as Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who also implemented policies to reduce the influence of religion in public life and promote gender equality.
• The Majles, or the Iranian parliament, was established as part of the 1906 Constitutional Revolution, intended to limit royal power and introduce democratic governance.
• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi attended the Institut Le Rosey, a prestigious boarding school in Switzerland known for educating many members of European royalty and elite families. This environment exposed him to Western ideas and governance models.
• The war placed a heavy economic burden on Iran, with resources diverted to support the Allied war effort. This economic strain further complicated Mohammad Reza's efforts to consolidate power and implement reforms.

Mohammad Reza Shah's Vision for a Contemporary Iran

This section outlines Mohammad Reza Shah's successes and failures in ruling a nation with a lengthy history of societal and political turbulence. The primary difficulty he encountered, argues Cooper, was how to reconcile a paternalistic style of leadership with a modernizer's urge to propel the country ever faster toward what he believed was its inevitable future -- one that embraced the concepts of liberal politics and economics but also accorded women full equality.

Balancing Autocracy With a Drive for Advancement

When Reza Shah was forced into exile after Iran was invaded by the Allies in 1941, his son ascended the throne. As the new figurehead of the Pahlavi Dynasty, Mohammad Reza Shah confronted a formidable set of difficulties. From the start, the young monarch was surrounded and manipulated by powerful personalities in the government and parliament, who took it upon themselves to put the 1906 Constitution's reforms into action and establish Iran as a multiparty democracy. But the chaos of the late 1940s and early 1950s, when assassins gunned down his prime ministers, and...

The Fall of Heaven Summary The Growing Opposition and Unrest That Sparked Revolution

This section describes the forces opposing the Shah's rule by 1977. Cooper emphasizes that the real danger came from two very different sources: fundamentalist Islamic clerics who saw the Shah’s modernization program as a betrayal of their faith, and young secular socialist activists and their sympathizers in the universities and among the Iranian middle class who believed that the Shah was controlled by America. Each group saw chances to capitalize on the country's political and economic woes. The initial indications of a movement that few in Iran thought possible surfaced in 1976 at the oil sites. In early 1978, the revolutionaries took action. They triggered riots to exploit the death of a prominent Shia leader; by now even the Shah spoke of needing to act decisively to quell the disorder.

Khomeini's Rise as a Leader of the Revolution

This section outlines the life and evolution of Ruhollah Khomeini, a grand ayatollah and exiled religious leader whose hatred for the Shah was at first ignored, then underestimated, and finally exploited by everyone from leftist Iranian student rebels to the leaders of terrorist organizations looking for opportunities to build up their...

The Fall of Heaven Summary The Pahlavi Regime's Downfall and Exile

This section details the Shah's last agonizing choices, culminating with his departure for exile in January 1979. Caught between the rising tides of Islamic fundamentalism and revolution, the collapse of confidence among his supporters at home and abroad, the defection of old friends and the intrigue and double-dealing of his generals, the Shah, his health failing, retreated from the political scene. “The Shah,” Cooper argues, “made his mistakes but ultimately he didn't cause his own fall, as it was thrust upon him by forces he was unable to conquer, let alone control.”

The Americans' Role in the Shah's Collapse

Cooper argues in this section that the Nixon and Ford administrations made the mistake of showering their ally in Tehran with billions of dollars in advanced weapons systems, which the Iranian military could not possibly absorb. But the Carter administration overcorrected when it imposed restrictions on arms sales to Iran, publicly criticized the Shah's regime for human rights abuses, failed to understand the threat from Islam posed by Khomeini, and undermined their ally to such a degree that the Shah began to suspect a conspiracy by the U.S. government to oust him....