The Causes and Effects of the Iranian Revolution Religiously and Politi

A revolution is a mass movement that intends to violently transform the old government into a new political system. The Iranian Revolution, which began in 1979 after years of climax, was an uprising against the Shah’s autocratic rule resulting in much religious and political change. Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi made efforts to remove Islamic values and create a secular rule and â€Å"westernize† Iran through his White Revolution. In addition, his tight dictatorial rule and attempts at military expansion felt threatening to the people, who desired a fairer governmental rule immensely influenced by Islam. Afterwards, governmental affairs became extremely influenced by Islamic traditions and law which created changes religiously and politically for years to come. Although the Iranian Revolution was both a political and religious movement in that it resulted in major shifts in government structure from an autocracy to a republic and that Islamic beliefs were fought to be preserved, it was more a religious movement in that the primary goal of the people was to preserve traditional ideology and in that the government became a theocracy intertwined with religious laws and desires of the people. Although the Iranian Revolution was caused by combination of political and religious motivations and ideas, the desires of the people supporting the movement were more dominantly religious ideas that were wished to be imposed in society and in a new government. The Shah, or king, of Iran at the time was Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, who had developed relations with nations in â€Å"western† world, specifically with the United States. The United States supported the White Revolution, which was a series of social reformations the Shah made to remove Islamic v... ...e were these political results mostly noticed were the religious changes. Though the White Revolution’s efforts were made to remove Islamic values, create a secular rule and â€Å"westernize† Iran by Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the people desired a fairer governmental rule immensely influenced by Islam. The Shah’s tight dictatorial rule and military expansion attempts were viewed as threats as well and resulted in the overthrowing of the government to create religious and political change. Although the Iranian Revolution was a religious and political movement that ended an oppressive rule to established a republic and which was fought to maintain Islamic beliefs, it was more a religious movement in that the movement was a result of desires to create a society influenced religiously and politically and that the result was a republic based on Islamic values and law.