Why was Iran Neutral in WW2?

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Reza Shah didn't "change" the name of the country to Iran, he asked the western world to start using the endonym Iran instead of the exonym Persia.

You know the world was fucked when you have to ask why a country was neutral

I don't know if the map has "United Kinkdom" as a mistake or on purpose, but I love it! 😂

The Great Reza Shah had partnership relations with Nazi Germany prior to the start of WW2. At the time, almost no political leader outside of Germany really knew about the true intentions of Adolf Hitler including Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, President Franklin Roosevelt or even Josef Stalin even though his book Mein Kampf had been published throughout Europe. This partnership slowly helped Iran to put its paralyzed economy back on track. But the combined British and Soviet invasion of August 1941 which took place despite Great Reza Shah not having any involvement with the war in Europe, disrupted this progress and Iran was occupied, and the Great Reza Shah was taken to South Africa by the British where he passed away in 1944.

In WW1 around 11 million Iranians were killed by the allies as they took all the food and prevented food from getting imported (over 40% of the population). In WW2 2-4 millions Iranians were killed by the allies for the same reasons. The allies would even force the farmers to work on the railways instead so it improves their war effort. At the time when both the soviets and Germans would send polish jews to forced labor camps, iran welcomed hundreds of thousands of poles to their country even though they had so many issues of their own caused by the allies. Unfortunately, NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THE CRIMES/GENOCIDE COMMITED BY THE ALLIES

Stay strong Persia ! Greathings from Poland . Thank you for help us durring WWII, saving thousands polish childrens, and people from Stalinnism

I have watched 1 one your videos (collapse of Yugoslavia) and your videos are so good and simple that I am watching all your videos now!
Great explanation of videos keep going!

1:09 There's an error here. The request of the Persian government to the Russians regarding the withdrawal of occupational forces was about Iranian Azerbaijan, which at the time was the only Azerbaijan since what is now the republic of Azerbaijan (which is marked here) was known by other names, only in 1918 the new government in Baku, the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic, appropriated the name Azerbaijan.
Also modern day republic of Azerbaijan had been part of Russia back then for like more than a century, it doesn't make sense for the weak Persian government to ask Russia about the forces there, while [Iranian] Azerbaijan was Iranian territory under Russian influence and military occupation so it makes sense to at least make a the demand, even though it was futile.

been watching you over three years now congratulations on your continued success

great video!
Altough Iran has always been Iran for the local people. Its exactly like if Germany starts asking countries to call them "Deutschland" instead of "Germany". 🙏🏻

I love Persian and the old Iran before 1979 ❤

This video is very inaccurate in multiple areas. Foremost, Reza khan was not sympathetic to the 3rd Reich, he simply wanted to diversify his economy and be less dependent on the British, so he used German equipment and consultants in some cases, but the British government used it as justification for the invasion. He was also the one who started improving the living conditions of religious minorities, not his son. His modernizing effort was also quite successful. Universities, railroads, banks, posts, and many industries entered or developed under his leadership, not to mention significant improvement to women and minorities rights. Probably the best ruler of Iran in the last 500 years.

There multiple mistakes in here:
• First and most important, Iran was always Iran. The word Persia is a word given by ancient Greeks to a province in the southwest of Iran which we still have today a province with the same name. It is like you refer to the country America California. Reza shah just asked that during the international Communications, use the name Iran. That's all.
• There is only one city named Zahedan in the south east of the country
• The city in the north east of Iran is named Mashhad not Mechhed. Also it is not on the border as depicted here (although it is near)
• The word Bandar means Sea Port & there is no city Bandar in Iran. We have cities like Bandar Abbas, Bandar Boushehr,.... but not simply Bandar

Also, Reza Shah wasn't on friendly terms with Hitler as it is suggested. He had hired some foreign advisor from different countries including Germany, United states, ... for modernizing Iran. He was really against communism and Hitler saw that and tried to convince Reza shah and even sent him some gifts for different occasions to join him but Reza shah was also very concerned about what Hitler was doing and preferred to be neutral. By a little googling you can also find documents and archives about Radio Berlin always attacking Reza shah because of his Refusal to join Hitler.
At the end the Allied forces attacked Iran with claiming that the German Advisors were Hitler's forces and they are setting up bases of operation which in fact was not right at all and the real reason was partly Reza shah's refusal to join the war and also the best and almost only way to send weapons to Soviet Union at that time.

The truth is that the country has always been referred to as "Iran" from millenniums ago and was only called Persia by western states and later became the official name on the maps. But in all the centuries it was always called "Iran" by the locals, even during the Qajar era the name Iran was the only term used by the governments. What Reza Shah the great did was to only make the change for international scene.
P.S: Also to remember, if Reza Shah was that much of a close friend to Hitler, then there wouldn't probably be thousands of Jewish people finding refuge in Iran during his reign.

This was a really informative and engaging video. I learned a lot about the historical context and political dynamics that shaped Iran's decision to remain neutral.
Thanks for sharing this well-researched video! It helped me understand the complexities of Iran's neutrality during WW2 in a much clearer way.

the Iranian Famine caused by British and Russians is one of the worst disasters in Iran's history btw

Well done, but the name of Iran has never changed for the Iranians.

Thanks. 👍

Thanks!