Welcome to an excerpt of Empire of Terror, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, written by Mark Silinsky and published by Potomac Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press. This is presented by Kensington Security Consulting, which brings education to national security.
“I am Cyrus, who founded the Persian Empire and was King of Asia. Grudge
me not, therefore, this monument.” —Inscription on the tomb of Cyrus the Great
Iran sits at the strategic center of the greater Middle East. Once boasting the most powerful kingdom of its day, Iran’s influence waned over the centuries. By the nineteenth century, its military and industrial capabilities could not match those of Western empires. In the twentieth century, many powers courted Iran until Iranian leaders broke from the Western orbit in 1979 to create a unique political philosophy rooted in fundamentalist Shia Islam. A newly formed Praetorian Guard would seek to export this philosophy worldwide. Iran is perched between two large oil fields in and around the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf and is awash in fossil fuel resources. In land area, it is second only to Saudi Arabia in the greater Middle East. It is twice the size of Texas and has a population of more than 70 million. Iran has been linguistically and ethnically diverse for many centuries. Persian is the mother tongue of only half of Iran’s population; one quarter is ethnic Azeri; the remaining quarter comprises Arabs, Baloch, Kurds, Turks, and others. Iran is a mountainous country, and its rugged terrain has served as a strategic barrier to would-be invaders.
The earliest traces of human civilization in Iran date to about 8,000 BCE. Cyrus I established the Achaemenian dynasty and laid the foundation for the Persian Empire in 630 BCE. His grandson, Cyrus the Great, conquered much of Greece. In the fifth century BCE, Persia was a global superpower. Many Iranians are proud of their ancient heritage and travel to King Cyrus the Great’s tomb in southwestern Fars Province to pay their respects to this legendary figure. The Greeks referred to “the West” as all land west of Persia, and the Greeks and Persians clashed for decades. The ancient Greeks forged many of their democratic freedoms in response to the Persian challenge.
The Greek dramatist Aeschylus wrote The Persians in 472 BCE, casting civilized Greece against authoritarian Persia. In 338 BCE, Alexander the Great’s army reached Persepolis and was astounded by its beauty. Nonetheless, he leveled much of the city in retaliation for the Parthenon’s torching years earlier.
A Glorious Past
The ravages of the Greek army did not extinguish Persia’s artistic and literary beauty. The stories of Omar Khayyam and iconic Persian poetry, such as Ferdowsi’s “Shahnameh,” recall the glories of pre-Islamic Persia. In the arts, the Parthians excelled in miniature painting and carpet weaving. The Mongols ravaged all lands under their control, including Persia. Yet artistic creativity survived and thrived, and the works of Rumi and Hafez are still praised for their magnificence. Today in Iran, the works of the golden age are censored and redacted by the Guards to protect moral piety.
The Persian Empire declined and was conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century, and its inhabitants converted to Islam. But Persians retained their language and much of their culture. By the nineteenth century, the West had become militarily, economically, scientifically, and technologically dominant worldwide. Britain and Russia expanded their imperial and commercial reach to the borders of Persia.
Persia’s oil reserves made the country a central focus of international relations from the early twentieth century. Western oil firms tapped the country’s petroleum wealth, and Western cultural influence grew more prominent there. During World War I, rival Western powers competed for Muslim support. As part of the “Kaiser’s Jihad,” Germans spread the rumor that Kaiser Wilhelm had converted to Islam. For their part, the British circulated a story that an ancient Muslim holy figure would reemerge to lead Muslims in battle against German armies.
Some Iranians took sides in Western power jockeying, but many more avoided foreign meddling. The more pious Persians sought to resist the advance of European and American values by retreating into Islam and mysticism. To escape harassment by Iranian authorities, leading ayatollahs quietly moved to Najaf in newly created Iraq. They, like nationalists, embraced a romantic nostalgia for a long-lost empire and its prestige. Some intellectuals turned to Western dictatorial philosophies, such as those of Nazi Germany. Then called “the German Lawrence of Arabia” for promising a Pan-Arab state stretching from Casablanca to Tehran. He built ties between Persian elites and the Nazi foreign office. One of those smitten by the Third Reich’s pomp and power was Reza Pahlevi.
