Who called the country Persia and why is it called Iran today?
Iran or Persia: what is the oldest name?
The inhabitants of this country from ancient times called it "the country of the Aryans" (Iran). The ancestors of the Iranians, like the white Indians, came to these lands from the north, their ancestral home was the lands of the present southern part of Russia, from the Black Sea region to the Urals. Its neighbors, the Greeks, called it Persia; other peoples also adopted this name for the Greek authors. The Greeks transferred to the country the name of the historical region of Pars (Fars) on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Parsis (Persians) were one of the ethnic groups in Iran. The Pars region was the center of political power during the Achaemenid and Sassanid empires.
The Achaemenid Empire (existed from 550 BC to 330 BC) was officially called the "Aryan Empire" (Aryanam Xsaoram). During the Sassanid empire, which existed before the Arab conquest of Islamization, the Iranians were Zoroastrian fire-worshipers. The state was called Eranshahr, i.e. "Iranian empire" or "kingdom of the Aryans". After Islamization, Iran retained its name, language and culture. During the period of the Turkic Qajar dynasty, which ruled the country from 1795 to 1925, the country was officially still called Iran: the Highest State of Iran. True, in other countries Iran was called Persia. The Greek tradition has passed through the centuries. The Iranians themselves, under the influence of Western tradition, began to publicly use the term "Persia" for the name of their country in a new and recent historical period.
During the Pahlavi dynasty, which ruled from 1925 to 1979, Iran was officially called the Shahanshah State of Iran. Since 1979, after the revolution and the fall of the monarchy, the country is officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Official name change
Thus, the Iranians themselves have always called their country Iran. It was called Persia abroad, and the Persians themselves were influenced by Western tradition in a number of publications and books in modern times. In the world, the official name of Persia was changed to Iran in 1935, when the first Iranian ruler from the Pahlavi dynasty, Reza, wrote to the League of Nations with a request to use the word "Iran" instead of the term "Persia" for the name of his country. Reza Shah Pahlavi substantiated this with the requirement that the word "Irani" is used inside his country to designate the state that was known in the world as Persia. And this term comes from the ancient self-name of the Aryans and the "country of the Aryans."
In Iran itself, this decision provoked resistance from part of the public. The official name change was believed to rob the country of some of its great past. Therefore, in 1959, the government allowed the use of two names in parallel in world practice.
Country of the Aryans
Reza Pahlavi's position was linked to two main reasons. First, he tried to mark a new period in the history of the country, the rebirth of a great power. At the end of the XIX beginning of the XX centuries. Persia was in deep crisis. The country lost a number of territories, experienced a series of uprisings and revolutions, and the British occupation. The collapse of Iran was planned. In 1918-1919. Persia, in fact, became a semi-colony of Britain. The British controlled the army and the economy of the country.
In February 1921, Reza Khan Pahlavi overthrew Ahmed Shah and in 1925 was declared the new Shah. Reza Pahlavi headed the right-wing nationalist circles, the right-wing officers, who tried to save the country from collapse. The new government embarked on a course of reviving a strong central government under the banner of the idea of Iranian nationalism. Britain, in conditions of strong anti-British sentiment in Iranian society, was forced to abandon the direct colonization of Iran. However, it retained its leading positions in the country's foreign policy, economy and finance. At the same time, the British military, leaving Iran, handed over to the Shah and his entourage most of the weapons, ammunition and equipment. Also, Britain through the English Shahinshah Bank (the most important financial institution of Iran) financed the formation of the Iranian army. Strong anti-Soviet power in Iran suited London. In addition, the British retained control over the country's raw materials.
The government of Reza Pahlavi suppressed the democratic movement, separatism of semi-nomadic tribes and outlying provinces, where power actually belonged to local feudal lords. So the troops of Reza Khan restored the power of the central government in the Gilan province, Iranian Azerbaijan, Kurdish lands, the Kurds fought for the creation of a "Kurdish state (the Kurds were also supported and armed by the British - the eternal principle of" divide and rule "). Then Reza Khan suppressed the uprising of the Bakhtiar and Lur tribes, establishing control over the tribal zone in southwestern Iran. Also, government troops were brought into Arab Khuzestan, where Sheikh Hazal, who was supported by the British, ruled. Soon the Arab sheikh was arrested.
In the 1920s and especially in the 1930s, Iran made a quantum leap in development. A regular army was created, positive trends were observed in socio-political and economic development. In particular, the transition to a secular education system was carried out, the University of Tehran was opened, reforms were carried out in legal proceedings, a stable financial and monetary system was created (the National Bank of Iran was established, which became an emission center), steps were taken towards the development of secular principles (improvement of the social status of women), a public sector is being created in industry. The policy of state capitalism is being pursued, industry is developing, an autonomous customs tariff has been introduced, capitulations have been abolished, a trans-Iranian railway from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian is being built, etc. The industrialization and electrification of Iran began.
Thus, Reza Khan restored the unity of Iran, reassembled the country after the almost complete collapse of the Qajar state. He was called the revivalist of Iran, the defender of Islam, compared with the ancient kings of the Achaemenids, Shah Abbas the Great (ruled 1587-1629) from the Safavid dynasty, who carried out a number of major reforms, created a regular army, and restored the collapsed Safavid state he inherited, turning into her powerful regional empire. The official name "Iran" emphasized the continuity and connection of Pahlavi with the previous Iranian powers and dynasties. Over the years, when Pahlavi's striving for sole power intensified, the desire to emphasize his continuity from power with the ancient, pre-Islamic dynasties of the Achaemenids and Sassanids also strengthened.
The second reason for the renaming of the country has to do with the Third Reich. The 1920s - 1930s were the heyday of fascism and Nazism in the world, authoritarian, fascist and Nazi dictatorships. This trend has not passed by Iran either. As early as 1923, Reza became close friends with the leaders of the right-wing nationalist Tajaddod (Renewal) party. Its leaders and activists came from wealthy social groups who were educated in the West (many Iranian immigrants were based in Germany). Part of the program of the leaders of the "Renewal" was progressive and met the interests of society: the creation of a regular army, industrialization, the development of a secular society - the judicial system, education, separation of religion from politics, etc. At the same time, Renewal activists propagated about the revival of the greatness of the ancient Iranian empire (in Italy, the Nazis dreamed of the glory and revival of the Roman Empire, the German Nazis dreamed of the “Eternal Reich”, etc.), the strengthening of the monarchy and the persification of all Iranians. As a result, the regime of Reza Shah's personal dictatorship is taking shape in Iran.
In the second half of the 30s, the government of Reza Shah is looking for a new patron on the world stage. Tehran was defeated in the fight with London over the activities of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) in the country, as well as in territorial disputes in the Persian Gulf. The point was that the APNK had the exclusive right to produce oil and gas in Iran (the concession was concluded in 1901 for 60 years). Tehran's attempts to revise the agreement did not lead to serious success, the British lion was not going to give up rich booty. In April 1933, after multilateral pressure from the British government, the Shah of Iran Reza agreed to sign a new concession agreement with the APOC for a period until the end of 1993. The APOC now had to transfer 16% of its net income to the Iranian government, and the concession area was reduced. But on the whole, the British monopoly only strengthened its position in Iran.
Therefore, Tehran is leaning towards an alliance with Hitlerite Germany. The Third Reich was ready to break the old world order and push the British Empire out. Iran was interested in cooperation with Germany in the military, economic and technological fields. In addition, the Shah and his entourage liked the ideas of the German Nazis about the superiority of the Aryans over other races. A number of Iranian nationalist and monarchist-minded publicists, historians and philologists at that time made great efforts to correlate the ideological foundations of the Aryan theory of German Nazism with the interpretation of the history of the pre-Islamic Iranian empires. Especially the kingdoms of the Achaemenids and Sassanids. This tendency especially intensified after the formation of the first Tehran University in 1933.
At first, the university paid great attention to the study of the history and philosophy of ancient and medieval Iran. For work in this area, foreign specialists were attracted. A large group of scientific and teaching personnel and metropolitan publicists worked on the development of the Iranian national idea. The ancient Iranians were viewed as "pure" Aryans, and the idea of "restoring" a single linguistic and cultural space throughout the country (persification) was promoted. Shah and his entourage fully shared this idea. Paniranism and the idea of the superiority of the "Aryan-Iranians" over other races and peoples became the basis of the state ideology. In particular, all educational institutions where they taught not in the Iranian language were gradually closed, the entire press was in Persian. Iran was transformed into a nation-state (as in the Third Reich), for this a line was carried out to persify the entire population, disarm semi-nomadic tribes and transfer them to a sedentary life. Suppressing the resistance of the tribal nobility, the authorities resorted to repression and terror, the top of the tribes was physically destroyed.
Iran became the "fiefdom" of the German special services, which promoted the interests of the Third Reich in the region. As a result, during the Second World War, in order to prevent Iran from going over to the side of Germany, Britain and the USSR brought troops into the country (Operation Concord. Soviet troops entered Iran in 1941), which remained in Persia until the end of the war. German agents were suppressed, power was transferred to Reza's son, Mohammed. Iran found itself in the sphere of influence of Britain and the United States. At the same time, Tehran developed friendly relations with the USSR, and carried out cooperation in the economic and technical spheres.
