The History of the Qajars and Pahlavi Dynasties: Not So Black and White

In her novel Persepolis, Satrapi describes her family history by retelling the story of her grandfather (Ahmad Shah Qajar), her great grandfather, and how Reza Shah Pahlavi, who began the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran, overthrew their family’s dynasty.  Satrapi’s father briefly retells their family history through a biased point of view against Reza Shah Pahlavi.  He describes him as an “illiterate low-ranking officer.” (20), and describes him as becoming king under the help and guidance of the British and gave them oil in return.  It is understandable that Satrapi and her family member’s are relatively sympathetic towards the Qajar dynasty being suddenly overthrown by Reza Shah.  However, the research that I did on the Qajar and Pahlavi dynasty shows a different story.  For example, Mozaffar al-Din Shah, grandfather to Ahmad Shah was a relatively ineffectual ruler, and irresponsibly spent portions of borrowed money from Russia on trips to Europe, and was known for his overly generous payments to his officials and granting concessions to Europeans.  Ahmad Shah Qajar (overthrown by Reza Shah) came to throne at the age of eleven and proved to be unable to rule effectively.  None of this information was communicated through Satrapi’s brief story about her grandfather in the beginning of the novel.  However, events that reflected the actions and protests of the current shah Mohammed Reza Shah in Satrapi’s time seemed pretty accurate in my research.  He overstepped his power with the parliamentary government, which went against the rules set in place by the Constitutional revolution.  His support for reform policies, called the White Revolution angered religious leaders who did not agree.  Mohammed Reza Shah used suppressive tactics to silence people who were opposed to his policies and beliefs, which is seen through the protests throughout the novel and the event of the police locking innocent citizens into the movie theatre on fire.  Although Satrapi’s account of Mohammed Reza Shah’s regime was relatively accurate, her portrayal of Reza Shah Pahlavi and her grandfather was biased in favor of the Qajar dynasty. 

 Mozzafar al-Din Shah

 Ahmad Shah at the age of 11

 Reza Shah Pahlavi

Here are the links for more information: 

http://www.iranchamber.com/history/pahlavi/pahlavi.php

http://persepolis.free.fr/iran/history/pahlavi.html

http://www.iranchamber.com/history/qajar/qajar.php