| West Persian Revolution of 1951 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Empire of West Persia (Pahlavi loyalists) Syria (29 February–4 March 1951)Supported by:  United States (Military support)
|  Khomeinist Republic of West Persia Socialist Republic of Kurdistan Qajar Restoration Movement People's Republic of Persia
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Khosrau IV of West Persia Gholam Ali Oveissi Hossein Fardoust
| Ardashir Qajar Ayatollah Khomeini
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The West Persian Revolution was a series of violent conflicts that took place in West Persia in 1951. They were stagnated by East Persia's Intelligence Police, which was supposed to bring the two Persias together.
Events[]
In 1951, East Persia deployed its Intelligence Police near Tehran in a mission to topple the monarchy and bring a republic to power, something they hoped would unite the two countries, which have been divided since 1712, after the dissolution of the Second Sassanid Empire. The Intelligence Police reached Tehran, and began to wreak chaos in the country, promoting republicanism and the overthrow of the ruling Emperor, or Shah, Khosrau IV.
On January 12, a large mass of 12,000 people stormed the palace and raided it. Khosrau IV was forced to flee to Isfahan with his family and loyal supporters. In Tehran, the parliament surrendered and the Republic of West Persia was declared. The loyalist forces, stationed in Isfahan, Baghdad, and many other places such as East Anatolia, Kurdistan, and Kuwait, were still loyal to the Shah.
On February 23, Ardashir Qajar, Crown Prince of the deposed Qajar dynasty, came back to Tehran and attracted more than 200,000 supporters. Many republicans left the republican faction and joined the Qajar faction. Many republican troops also joined the Qajar faction, ultimately kicking the republicans out of Tehran. Ardashir Qajar was declared Ardashir Qajar Shah in the palace, and he reestablished the Qajar dynasty.
The republicans, now only occupying the small strip of land between Tehran and the East Persian border, deployed a massive army near Baghdad and the Syrian border. Syria, for a brief moment, intervened on the side of the Pahlavi faction, loyalists to Khosrau IV, and kicked the republicans out of the borderline with Syria, and then left the war. The Baghdad Army, part of the Pahlavi faction, chased the republicans to Kurdistan, where a series of battles exhausted both sides.
Seeing the opportunity, Ardashir Qajar quickly rallied his army up and attacked the Pahlavi force near Tehran. However, even with twice as large of an army, the Qajar faction lost the Battle of Hamadan. Ardashir Qajar quickly retreated back to Tehran, and barricaded himself in the palace, while Khosrau IV and his army were capturing cities after cities, until they laid siege on Tehran.
While the Pahlavi faction laid siege on Tehran, the Republicans launched a campaign to capture the Persian holdings in Anatolia. The Siege of Tehran was successful, and the Qajar dynasty surrendered. Ardashir Qajar was executed, along with lots of Qajar supporters. Securing his position, Khosrau IV Pahlavi set out to reconquer Western Anatolia. However, the entire borderline was dug in with trenches and landmines. Syria denied military access, and with the war in an obvious stalemate, the two sides agreed to an armistice.
Originally, the republicans wanted their own state, with Kurdistan and Eastern Anatolia, as the "Republic of Greater Kurdistan". The parliament agreed, but, the Shah, who had the power to veto, vetoed the decision. The Shah suggested that the Empire continue on, but with him having limited power and the true power being lying in the parliament and the Prime Minister. The Shah was also forced to revoke the claim of a divine subject in Zoroastrianism. The Republicans agreed under one circumstance: that the country joined the capitalist bloc in the Cold War. This move shocked the communist bloc, because the revolution itself was supposed to bring West Persia towards becoming part of the communist East Persia.
Legacy[]
Today, the war is considered as one of the most bloody wars to have occurred in the Middle East. With casualties as high as 100,000, the war was a very bloody one. In Kurdistan today, there are still many trenches and land mines from the time of the Kurdistan blockade. Although very big, it was also a very useless battle. Although the war was supposed to bring the West closer to the East, historians agreed it brought the opposite. The only effects on East Persia and the communist bloc was more attempts to overthrow their own regimes. The changes in West Persia were bigger, and for the better, as the country became more leaning towards the West, unlike before the revolution, when it was a neutral nation. The reform also brought lots of economic booms, which was good for the West Persian economy. The victory of the Shah and the Pahlavi stirred anger within the Soviet Union, which made the Government of the Soviets start the Peruvian Communist Insurrection, which ultimately led to the collapse of East Persia through an economical crisis, the loss of the Vietnam War, and the victory of the capitalist bloc.
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