Shah Rezah Pahlevi was a complex personality, showing both in his words and in his actions an ambigious understanding of his royal heir and his determination to modernize his country. Some consider him too weak a personality to lead and protect a large nation that more and more became a strategic figure in the cold war, after the it had been subject of the Great Game, the fight of England and Russia for colonial supremacy in the 19th century. But a more righteous view should consider his visions about a modern, tolerant, secular and independent Iran as simply being ahead of his time. The BBC documentary “The Last Shah” shows his life and the political conflicts he had to deal with throughout his regency untill the year 1979, when the Pahlevi dynasty was overthrown by an anti-monarchistic revolution, which quickly was captured by the inhuman regime of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Part 1, The youth of Shah Rezah Pahlevi
Part 2, Iran in the post-War era and the battles between Nationalists and the Left Party, Oil Nationalisation under primer minister Mossadegh, Reza Pahlevis inthronisation after coup d’etat in 1953
Part 3, Farah Diba and Shahs Initiative to modernize Iran
Part 4, Celebrations of the Archemenidian Empire in Persepolis
Part 5, The consolidation of royal power and the beginning of social unrest
Part 6, 1979 Revolution against the Monarchy and establishment of Islamic regime
