238 • 14 MODERNIZING RULERS IN THE INDEPENDENT STATESdismissal of all Russian officers left in the brigade. Reza, seeing how easily
he had gained control of his country's strongest force, was encouraged to
enter the political arena. Working with an idealistic young journalist,
Sayyid Ziya ud-Din Tabatabai, Reza led his cossacks into Tehran and top¬
pled the existing ministry on 21 February 1921. Ziya became the new pre¬
mier and Reza the commander-in-chief of the Persian army. A vigorous
and comprehensive reform program began, but Ziya held power for only
three months. Opposed by many of his own ministers and probably by
Reza himself, he resigned and went into exile.
Persia's politics lapsed into their customary anarchy. The Majlis opened
a new session with demands from the deputies for financial and bureau¬
cratic reform. The last of the Qajars, Ahmad Shah, kept trying to leave the
country. The old politicians were divided and dispirited. Reza, who by
now was war minister, became the real power behind the throne. He con¬
centrated on uniting Persia by restoring public security, consolidating the
various armies, and suppressing tribal rebels, communists, and other dis¬
sidents. After an attempt on his life in 1923, Reza arrested the premier and
made Ahmad Shah appoint him instead. The shah left for Europe, never
to return.
Reza now intended to declare Persia a republic, following Kemal's exam¬
ple in Turkey, but the Shi'i ulama, fearing a secular regime, mobilized na¬
tionwide opposition. After threatening to resign, Reza finally gave in. He
evened the score by replacing the cabinet, putting in ministers who,
though more competent, were also more compliant with his own wishes.
He then set out to quash a tribal revolt in Khuzistan, followed by a pil¬
grimage to the Shi'i shrines at Najaf and Karbala to mollify the mollahs.
He returned to Tehran determined to strengthen his hold on the govern¬
ment. As the Majlis dithered, he acted alone to forge major reforms. One
of these now stands as his greatest achievement—the Trans-Iranian Rail¬
way, which connects the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf. Aside from being
an engineering marvel, this railway is notable because it was financed
without foreign loans. Its costs were met by taxes on sugar and tea, two
staples of the Persian diet.
In a nationalistic spirit, the Majlis in 1925 adopted the old Persian solar
calendar in place of the Muslim lunar one and required everyone to take a
family name. Reza took the surname Pahlavi, the name of the pre-Islamic
Persian language. The Majlis proceeded to depose Ahmad Shah, abolish
the Qajar dynasty, and proclaim Reza Khan as Persia's new ruler. He offi¬
cially became Reza Shah in December 1925 and then crowned his own
head in a formal ceremony.