The Iranian Revolution (also known as the Islamic Revolution or the 1979 Revolution;[4][5][6][7][8][9]) refers to events involving the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was supported by the United States[10] and its eventual replacement with an Islamic republic under the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution, supported by various leftist and Islamist organizations[11] and Iranian student movements.
Demonstrations against the Shah commenced in October 1977, developing into a campaign of civil resistance that included both secular and religious elements[12][13][14] and which intensified in January 1978.[15] Between August and December 1978 strikes and demonstrations paralyzed the country. The Shah left Iran for exile on January 16, 1979, as the last Persian monarch, leaving his duties to a regency council and an opposition-based prime minister. Ayatollah Khomeini was invited back to Iran by the government,[16][17] and returned to Tehran to a greeting by several million Iranians.[18] The royal reign collapsed shortly after on February 11 when guerrillas and rebel troops overwhelmed troops loyal to the Shah in armed street fighting, bringing Khomeini to official power.[19][20] Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979,[21] and to approve a new theocratic-republican constitution[12][13][22][23] whereby Khomeini became Supreme Leader of the country, in December 1979.
The revolution was unusual for the surprise it created throughout the world:[24] it lacked many of the customary causes of revolution (defeat at war, a financial crisis,peasant rebellion, or disgruntled military),[25] occurred in a nation that was enjoying relative prosperity,[16][23] produced profound change at great speed,[26] was massively popular, resulted in the exile of many Iranians,[27] and replaced a pro-Western semi-absolute monarchy[16] with an anti-Western authoritarian theocracy[16][22][23][28][29] based on the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (or velayat-e faqih). It was a relatively non-violent revolution, and helped to redefine the meaning and practice of modern revolutions (although there was violence in its aftermath).[30]
Its outcome – an Islamic Republic "under the guidance of a religious scholar from Qom" – was, as one scholar put it, "clearly an occurrence that had to be explained"
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