Iran: A Short Political Guide

Iran: A Short Political Guide

Throughout its two thousand-year history, Iran has kept its cultural identity intact and eluded foreign domination. Now an uneasy neighbor of the Soviet Union and one of the richest oil-producing countries in the world, it occupies a position of great strategic importance to both East and West. Threatened internally by ideological divisions among the intelligentsia, the aftermath of uncontrolled inflation, and the great gap between rich and poor, Iran is extremely vulnerable to the external pressures of the competing ColdWar giants. This clear, concise, and objective study of the complexities of the Iranian political scene, written by the author of ARAB NATIONALISM AND BRITISH IMPERIALISM and THE PERSIAN GULF IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY is prefaced by both an able description of the country and a brilliant short discussion of its history. This book should prove invaluable to all those who wish to understand this Western stronghold in the Middle East.

CONTENTS

I LAND AND PEOPLE / 7
II HISTORICAL BACKGROUND / 20
III THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR / 32
IV REZA SHAH / 47
V THE ANGLO-RUSSIAN OCCUPATION / 68
VI THE NATIONAL FRONT / 86
VII THE WESTERN ALLIANCE / 101
VIII A BIRD'S EYE VIEW / 126

A Short Reading List / 137
Index / 139
A Map of Iran by G. R. Versey will be found on pages / 72-73

LAND AND PEOPLE

The country of Iran, or Persia, within its present political boundaries, occupies a surface area of approximately 1,645,000 square kilometres. It extends for about 2,600 kms. from north to south and about 2,100 kms. from east to west. It is situated between latitude 37° and latitude 25° north and between longitude 44° and longitude 61° east. It is bounded on the north by the U.S.S.R. and the Caspian Sea, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, and on the west by Turkey and Iraq.

The physical configuration of the country is determined by two mountain ranges which extend into Persia from the hinge of Mount Ararat at the north-western corner of Persia near the junction of the Russian, Turkish and Persian frontiers. One range extends more or less due east along Persia's northern frontier; the highest part of this range, along the south coast of the Caspian, is known as the Elburz and rises to a maximum height of 5,604 m. at Mount Damavand. The other range, called the Zagros, the highest part of which runs parallel to the Persian Gulf, runs south-east from the Ararat hinge along Persia's western frontiers with Turkey and Iraq, and then parallel to the Persian Gulf as far as the Straits of Hormuz. The peaks of the range, towards the southern end, rise to a height of up to 4,700 m. Central Persia consists of the large triangle between these two ranges, with its apex on Persia's north-western frontier and with its base along the eastern frontier; it is a vast plateau lying at an average height of about 1,000 m. above sea level...

IRAN
A Short Political Guide

John Marlowe

Frederick A. Praeger,
Publisher, NewYork

Published in the United States of America in 1963
by Frederick A. Praeger, Inc.,, Publisher,
64 University Place, New York 3, N.Y.

All rights reserved

Copyright: John Marlowe, 1963

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-13660

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