Reza Shah

Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941 and founder of the Pahlavi Dynasty

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Lived 1878–1944, aged 66

Wikipedia
75 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1878–1944
Aged 66
Awards
6
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-09-01

A Cossack officer who marched into Tehran and didn't leave until he'd crowned himself shah, founding the dynasty his son would lose in 1979.

Biography

About

Reza Khan joined the Persian Cossack Brigade at 14 and climbed to brigadier-general. In February 1921, commanding the Cossacks from Qazvin, he marched on the capital, forced the government's dissolution, and installed a new prime minister—first taking the war ministry for himself. Two years later he was prime minister; by 1925 the assembly had deposed the last Qajar shah and amended the constitution to elect him in his place. He sought American and Weimar German partnerships to counter British and Russian sway, then after 1931 turned to Czechoslovakia and Denmark, drawing on Škoda Works and Ka…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Reza Shah

Reza Shah

saidundated

If only I had a thousand rifles of the same calibre!

— Muhammad Reza Pahlavi (1961) Mission for my Country, London, page 41

Reza Shah

saidundated

The inhabitants of Tehran are invited to keep quiet.

— Gérard de Villiers (1975) The Imperial Shah, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, page 29

Reza Shah

saidundated

I know you can be strong, but I want you always to be strong for your brother. Stay close to him and tell him to stand firm in the face of dangers of any kind.

— Ashraf Pahlavi (1980), "Faces in a mirror: Memoirs from Exile", Prentice-Hall

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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