Gloria Osoba

Revolutions: an Analytical Comparison Between the French Revolution and the Iranian Revolution Gloria Osoba

In 1789, a revolution occurred in France. The former King Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793, and nine months later, Queen Marie Antoinette suffered the same fate. George Jacque Danton, Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre and Jean-Paul Marat ? all prominent figures in the revolution - faced the same fate. For more than a decade, until the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French endured terror, fear, and poverty. Almost two centuries later, in 1979, there occurred in the Near East another important revolution ? this time in Iran. Mohammad Reza Shah ? popularly known as the Shah of Iran ? was forced to flee as Islamic theocrats took power. Iran of 1979 and 18th century France are two very different countries, with very different cultures, value systems, religions, and political ideologies. How were the successful insurrections in each alike? How did they differ? What are the theories that explain why revolutions occur? How can the revolution in Iran be explained from an Islamic perspective? These are the four questions addressed in this book.