ساختار دستگاه سركوب و فروپاشي رژيم شاه

The Oppression Structure and Demise of the Shahʹs Regime

The Islamic Revolution of Iran embraced victory in 1979 in circumstances where sovereignty was divided among different groups who could take the society in their power. The Imperial Army was just one of those groups, which had the opportunity to rule in such time of turmoil. The present article seeks to explain reasons of the armyʹs declaration of impartiality. Such an explanation requires a survey on the Pahlaviʹs structure of oppression. This article takes such a declaration as an index of weakness, the Shahʹs structure of oppression was experiencing. The article further investigates the relationship of such a weakness with mutiny within the army, fleeing from barracks by military personnel, and solidarity declaration of the army corps with the late Imam (may God bless his soul), among other developments occurring within the disintegrating army. Based on findings of this research the main reasons of weakness of structure of oppression of the regime were: 1. The command structure was centralized and dependent on the ruler. This would cause inertness in the Shahʹs presence and disintegration in his absence. The disintegration was further intensified by the revolutionaries and had weakened the structure of oppression. 2. The role change of the Imperial Army from custodian of the (internal) national security to an agent of international politics, acting as a regional gendarmerie-which was a function of the US-Iran relationship-which resulted in the armyʹs inability to dominate the internal turmoil and control the Revolution.