ABSTRACT
Riza Khan led the Cossacks in the coup d’état of 1921 when it looked as if the country was doomed to brigandage, civil war and probable disintegration. The period between 1921 and 1926 may be described as a transitional period, a period of interregnum and power struggles, which he won by a series of successful operations, both political and military. It is also the period when he had the highest political legitimacy and widest support of his career. The next five-year period, from 1926 to 1931 was a period of growing dictatorship and autocracy, when the Shah became absolute ruler, though there was still some consultation and participation, and he still had some support among the modern middle classes. Finally, over the next ten-year period, from 1931 until the allied occupation in 1941, the Shah’s power became not just absolute but arbitrary as well, and he lost the support of all the social classes, both high and low, both modern and traditional.
