Although making the railway system available to the allies was easily achievable, they used this issue as a pretense to invade Iran and get rid of him. Reza Shah's Generals told him that the Russians were coming, but the old dictator over-estimated his importance and his army's competence. The allies poured in overnight and took over the country in a week. His army was dismantled by a couple of sore generals. Rumor has it that one of the king's sons had forced himself on the general's daughter, when the father complained to Reza Shah about the Prince's behavior, the king just told him off (you just cannot do that to an Iranian father, whether a general or just a peasant). Whatever the reason, they ordered the garrisons opened and soldiers to be released to go home. Once the king heard of the treason he became so angry he looked mad. He beat the generals but the garrisons were already empty and army was gone.
People who knew him well report that he aged ten years in twenty-five days. Appealing to the patriotism of one of the politicians with strong ties to the British, he was able to get his son made king, and Reza Shah accepted exile in India. Once on the ship he ended up in San Morris Island on the coast of Africa.
He had irritated his own people so much that no one put up a fight for him. Most people were relived that he was gone. His wife told him in public that she would have had a better life if she had married a mule carriage driver.
Reza Shah had founded the new Iran, but the same characteristics that made him successful caused his demise.
On a personal note, all of my achievements and education are one way or another because of the institutions that Reza Shah founded, yet it is very difficult to say something nice when you see the totality of what he did.
Reza Khan Maxim's last picture in exile in South Africa, before dying at the age of 63 of a stroke in his sleep. His body was mummified, buried, exhumed and reburied. The last rumor I heard was that the old bones are in a bag somewhere in the U.S.
Just to make peace with him, I should say that with all of his flaws during his rule, he did more for the country than the entire group of kings from the previous dynasty combined.
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