ABSTRACT
For Iranians, the summer of 1941 is associated with two events, giving rise to opposite feelings of sorrow and joy. In late August, the Soviets, from the north, and the British, from the south, entered Iran: Allied Powers occupied the country. In mid-September, Reza Shah resigned and left Iran. Iranians lost their sovereignty until the end of the Second World War, but gained freedom from despotism. It could be argued that these events symbolized the irony that Iranians could not have both freedom and self-determination at the same time, a pattern dominating the history of Iran in the twentieth century.
