Iran - 20th Century History
Tehran
Capital of Iran
Mohammad Mosaddeq
Iranian prime minister who tried to nationalize the oil fields and was ousted with the help of the USA
Ayatollah Khomeini
Iranian religious leader who participated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and became the country's Supreme Leader
Shah
Persian word for king
mullah
a Muslim learned in Islamic theology, religious leader
theocracy
a government controlled by religious leaders
coup d'etat
a sudden overthrow of the government
Baghdad
capital of Iraq
Persepolis
capital of the ancient Persian Empire
Saddam Hussein
dictator of Iraq
Pahlavi Dynasty
family (father, than son) that ruled Iran between 1926 and the Iranian Revolution
Shia Islam
one of the two main branches of Islam; majority belief in Iran
Farsi
the modern Persian language