Decolonization and the Global Cold War in the 1970s

In January 1978, protests from a variety of opposition groups that were both secular and religious, left wing and more conservative coalesced and began a year long protest against Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the western backed King (Shah) of Iran. The protests would come to be called the Islamic Revolution due to the popularity and appeal of the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his secret service, known as Savak had terrorised the people of Iran since the American-british led coup against the democratically elected Prime Minister Mossaddegh in 1953. The Shah corroded his popularity through dismissing parliamenet and disallowing opposition parties. By 1978, popular protests erupted froma variety of social classes and the Shah would be forced into exile in 1979.