In 1921 Reza Khan, a military officer in Persia’s Cossack Brigade, staged a military coup against the crumbling Qajar Dynasty, and declared himself ‘Shah of Persia’. After a civil war, in 1925 Persia witnessed the fall of Qazar and rise of Pahalvi dynasty headed by Raza Khan. With his ascendance to throne, Raza Khan, in order to stabilize his power, introduced reforms, curtailing power of Shia clergy. While Qazar dynasty was adhered to British imperialists, Pahalvi dynasty took to the US Imperialists.
The new regime was no less oppressive than the old one, except that it started opening Persia more and more to foreign markets and offering its natural and human resources to global capital.
