The Chinese and Iranian Revolutions

1
The Chinese and Iranian Revolutions

• Money and Monarchs,Peasants and Protests,Shahs
  and Shiites,Ayatollah and all that jazz

2
Time Period

• Chinese RevolutionAKA Xinhai Revolution
• October-December 1911

• Iranian RevolutionAKA Islamic Revolution
• January 1978-December 1979

3
Background and Causes

• China 1911
• Young Chinese have begun to call for a paradigm
  change
• The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was one cause of this
• Old animosities between the Han and Manchu had
  begun to resurface
• 11 rebellions against the Qing dynasty had
  already taken place in the recent past
• Gentry in government positions were not pleased
  with the Qing government
• Military
• Controlled by powerful regional warlords
• Central government doesnt hold the loyalty of
  the military
• All it takes it one rebellion

• Iran the 1970s
• The shah of Iran was applying American capitalist
  principals to Iran. Very unpopular, as well as
  detrimental to the working classes.
• The shah failed to cater the Shia Muslim faith
  of 90 of Iranians
• The public, especially the youth, were
  conditioned by leaders such as Ayatollah Khomeni
  to see corruption in the government
• A spike in oil prices increased the wealth of the
  country. Even so, the shah enforced a policy of
  retrenchment, and the wealth was squandered.
• The government cut back on industrial expansion,
  and the proletariat was rocked by unemployment.
  The working class felt deprived.
• Terrible inflation in 1977
• Further hurts proletariat

4
Major Players

• Chinese
• Sun Yat-sen (top)
• Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang)
• Yuan Shikai (bottom)
• Influential warlord who refused to defend the
  Qing dynasty and later ruled the new China
• Puyi
• The young last emperor of China, who abdicated
  his position

• Iranian
• Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and Iranian government
• The Iranian working class (proletariat)
• Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
• ?(see left)
• SAVAK
• Oppressive security officers and policemen

5
Major Events

• Chinese
• Cixi dies in 1908
• With the Empress Dowager gone, Sun Yat-sen could
  begin to plan to take over
• October 1911 Wuchang Uprising
• Spawned from Railroad Protection Movement to save
  independence of regional railroads
• Literature Society and Gong Jin Hui elect leaders
  for the rebellion
• Rebellious army captures city of Wuchang and
  establishes the Military government of Hubei of
  Repubblic of China (see right)
• In Nanjing, Sun is elected president on December
  28, 1911
• National assembly elects Yuan president
• Early 1912 Puyi abdicates the emperorship of
  China

• Iranian
• February 18, March 29, May 10 protests against
  shahs regime
• Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari, a religious
  leader, abandons his neutrality to oppose the
  shah
• 8 September 1978 - Black Friday
• Thousands of protesters killed by government
  troops
• The next day, oil refinery workers began to go on
  strike across the nation
• Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi fled from Iran in
  January 1979
• Royal troops defeated by rebellious forces in
  February 1979
• End of Pahlavi Dynasty
• 12 February 1979 official transfer of power to
  Ayatollah Khomeni
• New theocratic constitution ratified in December
  1979

6
Short Term Results

• Chinese
• The end of the dynasties of China, the beginning
  of the Chinese Republic
• People have the new government they have been
  waiting for
• Formation of a national assembly
• Representative form of government in China
• Elections among representatives
• Military power rules in China

• Iranian
• End of monarchy of Iran. An Islamic Republic
  takes its place in the Referendum of 12 Farvardin
• Now a theocracy that supports terrorists
• Ayatollah Khomeni becomes the supreme leader
• Iran was hurt economically by the rebellions
• Revolutionary guards replace SAVAK

7
Long Term Results

• Chinese
• Laid foundation for the Chinese Republic
• The Third Revolution to protect the original
  Constitution of 1912, 1917-1922
• When Chiang Kaishek tried to modernize China, it
  fell even deeper into poverty
• The Chinese republic was later to be challenged
  and overthrown by Communists in the Chinese Civil
  War from 1927-1950
• (communists entering Beijing) ?

• Iranian
• Iran became a model Islamic state after which
  many other Fundamentalist Islam states followed
• Iranian government credited with helping
  organizations such as Hezbollah
• Encourages Muslims around the war. Uprisings in
  Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon
• Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)
• caused in part because Iran was calling for the
  overthrow of monarchies and formation of Islamic
  republics

8
Long-Term ResultsThe Expansion of Communism,
1946-50
9
Similarities

• Both happened as a result of uprisings of the
  neglected and downtrodden majority
• Both ended monarchy and began a republic in their
  countries
• Both revolutions resulted in bloody wars later
  for the countries
• Wealth in the country did not increase after the
  revolutions (the proletariat was not really
  helped in either case)
• Neither resulted in political unification

10
Differences

• The Xinhai Revolution was much quicker than the
  Iranian Revolution (several months for China
  versus two years for Iran)
• Time period (early 1900s to 1970s)
• Iran became an example followed by many other
  countries, but China was itself following other
  countries (such as Japan)
• The Chinese was more complex and involved more
  influential rulers than just Ayatollah Khomeni

11
Differences (cont.)

• Leaders of the revolution besides Sun Yat-sen
  (Jiang Yiwu and Sun Wu)

12
Works Cited

• Zayar, Dr. Iran . . . Revolution in Resilience.
  Lahore, Pakistan The Struggle Publications,
  2000.
• Various authors. Iranian Revolution. and
  Xinhai Revolution. www.Wikipedia.org. 7-9 April
  2007 lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolut
  iogt
• White, Matthew. China Chinese Civil War,
  1945-59. Historical Atlas of the Twentieth
  Century. 2001. 7 April 2007 lthttp//users.erols.co
  m/mwhite28/chin-cw2.htmgt
• Bulliet, Richard, Pamela Kyle Crossley, Daniel R.
  Headrick, Steven W. Hirsh, Lyman L. Johnson, and
  David Northrup. The Earth and Its Peoples A
  Global History. Boston Houghton Mifflin Company,
  2001.