The Shah of Iran was the hereditary ruler of the Iranian monarchy for over four and a half centuries. It may help to think of an analogy to the pre-parliamentarian monarchy in Britain, with its famous Kings and Queens. By a royal order of precedence, the Shah of Iran was granted the absolute power of an emperor.

The modern Iranian monarchy was established in 1502, after an era of political fragmentation (the "fourth era," as it is called in histories). The Safavid Dynasty was the founding dynasty of the modern monarchy; Ismail I was the first Shah. The absolute monarchy remained the same for over four hundred years, until the turmoil of this past century caused several attempts to reform it.

Pahlavi, the Last Shah of Iran

After World War II, there was an aborted attempt to turn the monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. Though this failed, the turmoil never fully abated through the rule of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was the Shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979. Pahlavi greatly modernized Iran, and was open to many social reforms and what we in the West would consider more liberal ideas, including women's rights.

Pahlavi's modernizations greatly angered fundamentalist religious leaders. Ultimately in 1979, those angry fundamentalists, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, initiated a violent rebellion and drove Pahlavi into exile. While Khonmeni established the Islamic Republic, Pahlavi sought medical aid and sanctuary in the U.S, causing the infamous hostage crisis at the U.S Embassy in Teheran. Pahlavi then lived in exile in Panama, and then Egypt, before his death on July 27, 1980.