THE WHOLE HISTORY OF IRAN
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Welcome to Countries Facts so Today in this Article I will show you the whole history of Iran this is asia and here's iran now let's run through it all shall we not many nations are as ancient as iran and its story stretches way back to those indistinct eons of stone in the tantalizing outskirts of archaeological knowledge as the centuries slipped by civilizations sprang up curious cryptic cultures of clever craftsmen creating curios like cup-bearing anthropomorphic bulls but the first major civilization of iran was ilam which popped up in the 3rd millennium bc the elamites spoke a language not related to any other and made the already ancient city of souza their capital like all kingdoms the elamites fought their neighbors but also traded as well now the elamites were not iranian and if you're wondering where the iranians were they were up here they called themselves aryans and were a nomadic people who spoke the dialects from which the indo-european languages would be born some aryans had migrated to distant lands centuries earlier but around the 1000 bc mark maybe earlier other aryans descended from the steps of the north and began entering the vast expanses that would come to be known as iran this may have been the time of prophet zoroaster or zarathustra the founder of the dualistic religion zoroastrianism which would become the majority faith of iran for over a thousand years now the iranians were not united in the country they seized but rather divided into different tribes the most prominent being the persians and the medes but for over two centuries they were subjugated by the assyrians around 612 bc the medes under keaksaris teamed up with the babylonians and sacked a syria's capital but as assyria had been declining the medes had been growing in strength and came to rule a large if empire that ended up taken over by their cousins the persians with the rise of cyrus the great in 550 bc one of the very best kings in all history cyrus himself half-median truly thrust the iranian people into greatness by setting out and conquering the largest empire the world had ever known the achaemenid empire cyrus's foreign policy was not at all as brutal as the assyrians had been rather he was a tolerant man generous and wise famed for freeing the jewish captives in babylon to return to jerusalem and rebuild their temple cyrus governed his extensive domains by an efficient system of administration in which the empire was not run as a single unit but as a patchwork of states called satrapis that were each managed by regional governors called satraps who had a bustling civil service beneath them cyrus was followed by his son kombices whose reign was short but still saw him conquer egypt darius the great not from the royal line managed to win the throne but made sure to tell everyone that it was actually the great god ahura mazda who had given him the kingdom darius expanded the empire to its maximum extent and further refined its efficiency by improving the network of roads which of course meant swifter acquisition of texas however not all the nations subject to persia were happy at being subjugated and after the greeks of ionia revolted with athenian support darius after quashing the revolt vowed to punish the athenians but his forces met a shock defeat at marathon and he died before he could prepare another campaign the mission passed to his son xerxes who organized a massive land and naval invasion herodotus says when the bridge xerxes commissioned across here was wrecked in a storm he ordered the sea to be whipped xerxes fulfilled darius's desire to chastise athens and burned it to the ground but was unable to conquer greece itself and persia went home after losing the battle of platya in 479 bc xerxes was not cut out to be a conqueror but he was an able builder and beautified the cities of persia with palaces gates and halls the long reign of artaxis ii saw persia putting down revolts in egypt and amongst select satraps and one gets the idea that persian power was diminishing an idea confirmed with darius iii who saw his empire swallowed up by alexander the great who invaded in 334 bc in revenge for the persian invasion of greece and who torched the glittering city of persepolis greek rule in persia continued after alexander with the seleucid empire but in the 200s bc an iranian people called the parani conquered the section of iran called parthia marking the ascent of the parthian empire and if you ever wonder why the romans didn't expand further east it's mostly because the parthians were there to stop them but too much war tends to weaken and parthia did just that and a fellow iranian called ardashir the first beat them in battle and established the sasanian empire and the romano rivalry continued with the byzantines for centuries under the sassanid shahs such as josro the first the iranians produced some truly magnificent art and architecture but all that incessant conflict with the west exhausted the empire just as the arabs inflamed with the zeal of the new religion of islam were storming out of the desert after several victories against persian forces the arab caliph umar ordered the conquest of iran in 642 and while it wasn't an easy task the forces of islam eventually conquered the country and as the centuries accumulated most iranians became muslim persian culture was too strong to die however and the arabs like so many others borrowed the persian style of art government court etiquette and so on in what's called the iranian intermezzo the caliphate began wilting in the 9th century and iranian dynasties began gaining more autonomy the samanid state being the most impressive producing geniuses like the physician philosopher mathematician astronomer alchemist and theologian avacena and the magnificent poet ferdau see whose enormous epic the me was an exuberant celebratory evocation of persian myth and history the turks meanwhile had been sweeping in from the east and iran was taken over completely by their seljuk empire but once again persian culture was too strong to die and the turks ended up persianized like the arabs before them another turkic dynasty followed and one day in the early 1200s its leader muhammad ii chose to have the diplomats sent by an eastern leader executed this was a big big big mistake because that eastern leader was none other than genghis khan who now led his furious forces thundering into iran terrorizing the country sacking cities and slaughtering everyone in their way ultimately killing around three quarters of the population however once again you won't believe it persian culture was too strong to die and iran's mongol overlords succumbed to persian ways just as the turks and arabs had but while iran was getting back on its feet along came the turko mongol conqueror who ruthlessly conquered it in the 14th century after more turkic rule iranians finally got back control of iran in 1501 after the conquests of ismail the first a crucial figure in iranian history for proclaiming shia islam to be the nation's religion as well as establishing the safavi empire shia muslims disagree with sunnis on various points but one difference is on who the prophet muhammad's true successor was when he died sunnis believed it was his companion abu bakr whereas the shia believe it was muhammad's cousin ali who unlike abu bakr was a blood relative anyway safavir iran saw a wondrous resurgence of persian artistry exquisite carpets and beautiful buildings many of the best built under arbos the great such as the shah mosque and the extraordinary nars square our boss led persia to victory against their rivals the ottoman turks here we see the persians proudly displaying severed turkish heads to the shah but persia was surrounded by enemies and war waged its weakening effect and persians were pummeled by pashtuns from afghanistan and russians from russia who were expanding into the persian occupied caucasus iran speedily bounced back with the great conqueror norder who regained lost lands with many stunning victories but war is very costly and nader needed money so he went over to india and took as much as he wanted after crushing the mughal armies and massacring the citizens of delhi norder became worryingly cruel over the years and not even looted indian diamonds could pay for his constant wars so he ended up assassinated with the ensuing xander dynasty blood-drenched iran desperately needed a breather and thankfully got it with karima khan who promulgated a period of peace and plenty from his capital in shiraz as the dynasty subsided the turkic gajar clan who was crowned in 1796 after a brutal punitive campaign in georgia whose king dead ally with russia he moved to the capital to tehran where it still is he was assassinated and followed by beard sorry i mean beardy mcbeard beard i mean fat alisha though he lost wars and lands to russia that didn't stop him from fathering over a hundred children and having an awesome beard nasraldin began as a reformer but then got tangled in a war with britain in 1856 discontent ballooned in iran over the faltering economy and lack of reform and desire grew for a western representative government where the people could have a say in how the country was run a time of political volatility ensued alongside famine and unrest which resulted in a coup and in 1925 a new leader arose rezasha who while a right-wing dictator pushed for modernization discouraged women from wearing the hijab and chador promoted secular education and got foreign governments to call the country iran not persia then in 1941 during world war ii britain became uneasy over the possibility that the germans could pinch the abadan refinery on the persian gulf you see 40 years earlier the british had managed to secure oil rights in iran and did not want anyone shaking their money-maker when iran refused to expel german residents the british and soviet russians invaded and swiftly forced iran's surrender with russia occupying the north britain the south and the shah abdicating and being replaced by raza patlavi after the war the foreign forces exited and in 1951 the prime minister muhammad mosaddeq nationalized the oil industry basically making iran in charge of its oil this prompted britain and the u.s to organize a coup yes the cia was involved and a pro-western government was installed in 1963 unleashed his white revolution aiming to further modernize iran infrastructure was improved education and industry increased and to the horror of iran's religious leaders women were given the right to vote desperately wanted iran to be like europe and america and was often harsh in his methods of molding his subjects into that ideal the regime's corruption and the economy slipping into recession sparked protest after protest and after 1978's black friday where scores of protesters were shot dead by government troops the nation's dissidents were inflamed the more the following year saw the iranian revolution in which the shah was overthrown and the people voted for an islamic republic and the popular ayatollah khomeini became supreme leader the american embassy was stormed and its staff taken hostage finally being released in 1981 but the two nations cut all diplomatic ties with each other and have been at odds ever since meanwhile iraq worried that iran's revolutionary sentiments would spread and thirsty for iranian oil invaded their next-door neighbor and it was war hundreds of thousands died and as the military stalemate persisted both sides agreed to a u.n brokered ceasefire in 1988 and the rafsan jonny iran sought to heal and basically stay out of trouble and president khoutami aimed to further tolerance in peace and economic growth but that was scrapped with mahmoud ahmadinejad and relations with the west worsened after refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program iran was hit with international sanctions his successor rouhani was more moderate widespread anger at deteriorating conditions provoked protests and then more protests anyway iran's tenuous place on the world stage makes it difficult to foresee its future and precisely what awaits this ancient land in the days and years ahead i'll leave for more astute analysts to decide but i think iranians can take courage from their history that iran really is too strong to die and it's worth noting the achievements of the iranian people who have accomplished so much amidst the many upheavals of their nation in science literature art and architecture cinema and sport and if you haven't tried their food what on earth are you waiting for anyway that's it for iran and that's all from me for now bye you
