The Making of Modern Iran (Part 2) | The Red-Green Alliance

About this episode

This episode explores the role of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Red-Green Alliance in the Iranian Revolution.

In our last episode, we traced the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and the forces building toward Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. In Part 2, we turn to the man who brought that monarchy to an end: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. From exile in a quiet French chateau, Khomeini launched a revolution that shattered 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. But he didn’t do it alone. Liberals and leftists, both inside Iran and across the West, played a crucial role in legitimizing his cause, a dynamic that feels familiar today. This is the story of the first Red-Green Alliance, a tactical partnership between Islamists and the progressive left, and the cost of that alliance once power changed hands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Topics covered

• Iranian history
• Islamic Revolution
• Pahlavi dynasty
• political alliances
• Khomeini
• leftist movements

Keywords

• Khomeini
• Iran
• Islamic Revolution
• Pahlavi dynasty
• Red-Green Alliance
• political history
• leftists

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Pahlavi dynasty

Places: France, Iran

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