Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

1906 Religious leaders help force the ruling shah to accept a

legislative governing body and a constitution; though

short-lived, the arrangement signals effective opposition

to the established government by Islamic influences

1908 Oil is discovered in the Khuzistan region of the country

1914 World War I begins; Russia and England establish

presences in Persia

c. 1920 Ruhollah goes to Arak to study under Ayatollah Abdul

Karim Haeri

1922 Haeri relocates to Qom, followed by Ruhollah and other

students; Ruhollah in time becomes a teacher at the

religious school in Qom

1926 After years of internal struggle and the ousting of foreign

occupation forces, Reza Shah Pahlavi takes control of an

independent Persia

1935 Pahlavi decrees that the former Persia will become known

as Iran; he sets about to modernize the nation

1937 Ayatollah Haeri, Khomeini’s mentor, dies; he will be

replaced in 1944 by Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn

Borujerdi

1941 Reza Shah Pahlavi is forced to abdicate; his twenty-

one-year-old son, Muhammad Reza, succeeds him

1951 –1953 Prime Minister Muhammad Mosaddiq threatens the

authority of Muhammad Reza; after Reza briefly is

frightened into fleeing the country, Mosaddiq is ousted

and Reza is restored to power

1963 Khomeini and other religious leaders instigate riots

against Pahlavi’s “White Revolution”

1964 Khomeini goes to Turkey in exile; he relocates to Iraq the

following year

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CHRONOLOGY

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