Changes

==World War II==

==World War II==

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi became the [[Shah]] of [[Iran]], after the abdication of his father [[Reza Shah Pahlavi]] in 1941.<ref>Tripartite Treaty of Alliance, 29 January 1942,  Philip W. Ireland, ed., ''The Near East'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942; 2d impression, 1945); also in ''The Middle East'', 1948 (London: Europa Publications, Ltd., 1948), pp. 29-30.</ref>   

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi became the [[Shah]] of [[Iran]], after the abdication of his father [[Reza Shah Pahlavi]] in 1941.<ref>Tripartite Treaty of Alliance, 29 January 1942,  Philip W. Ireland, ed., ''The Near East'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942; 2d impression, 1945); also in ''The Middle East'', 1948 (London: Europa Publications, Ltd., 1948), pp. 29-30.</ref>   

[[Image:Lendleasemap.jpg|thumb|400px|left|[[Lend-Lease]] aid was shipped to the Persian Gulf and through Iran to Russia to help defeat the Nazis. ]]

[[Image:Lendleasemap.jpg|thumb|400px|right|[[Lend-Lease]] aid was shipped to the Persian Gulf and through Iran to Russia to help defeat the [[Nazi]]s. ]]

When Hitler reneged on  the[[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]] and attacked his former ally the [[Soviet Union]], [[Winston Churchill]] flew to [[Moscow]], assured [[Josef Stalin]] of assistance, and the fate of Reza Shah was sealed.  A joint Anglo-Soviet military action began on 25 August 1941 when 40,000 Soviet troops entered Iran from the north and headed for Tehran. On the same day about 19,000 British Commonwealth troops, mostly in Indian brigades, entered from various directions. There was slight resistance on the part of Iranian troops, but no force in Iran could have withstood the power of the occupying armies of British Empire and the Soviet Union.  German assistance by air was now as far away as Crete. On 30 August 1941 identical notes were submitted by the invading powers to the Iranian Government which accepted their terms on 9 September. On 16 September the Reza Shah abdicated in favor of his son, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, and left the country. The next day Tehran was jointly occupied by the British and Soviet troops without show of military force.

When Hitler reneged on  the[[Molotov-Ribbentrop pact]] and attacked his former ally the [[Soviet Union]], [[Winston Churchill]] flew to [[Moscow]], assured [[Josef Stalin]] of assistance, and the fate of Reza Shah was sealed.  A joint Anglo-Soviet military action began on 25 August 1941 when 40,000 Soviet troops entered Iran from the north and headed for Tehran. On the same day about 19,000 British Commonwealth troops, mostly in Indian brigades, entered from various directions. There was slight resistance on the part of Iranian troops, but no force in Iran could have withstood the power of the occupying armies of British Empire and the Soviet Union.  German assistance by air was now as far away as Crete. On 30 August 1941 identical notes were submitted by the invading powers to the Iranian Government which accepted their terms on 9 September. On 16 September the Reza Shah abdicated in favor of his son, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, and left the country. The next day Tehran was jointly occupied by the British and Soviet troops without show of military force.