13 ATLASES
History of Iran in maps
Iran as it appears in 13 interactive history atlases, from 264 BC to 2000: Parthia/Persia, Persia, Iran. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
WW2 is free — every chapter. No sign-up.
What was Iran before it was Iran? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
Parthia/Persia (mod. Iran) · Ancient Rome
Rome faced a powerful eastern rival first in Parthia and then in Sasanid Persia. Parthian forces destroyed Crassus’ army at Carrhae in 53 BC and recovered Trajan’s eastern conquests soon after his death. From 224 the Sasanids confronted Rome as a peer state, sacking Antioch and capturing the emperor Valerian alive (Ch. 8). Centuries of conflict ended when Arab conquests took the richest lands of both empires.
| 264 BC | Hellenistic kingdoms — the opening position |
| 146 BC | Rival great powers |
ANCIENT ROME: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Persia (Khwarazm, then Ilkhanate) · Mongol Empire
The Mongol campaign of 1219–21 annihilated Persia under the Khwarazm-shahs. The destruction of Khorasan’s golden cities was meant to carry a message to others. After Hülegü’s arrival in 1256, Persia was rebuilt as the Ilkhanate, with a capital at Tabriz and an observatory nearby at Maragha. The dynasty that burned Baghdad converted to Islam within two generations and presided over a golden age of Persian literature and historical writing. Destruction and cultural achievement belong to the same history.
| The Islamic powers — the opening position | |
| The Mongol Empire |
MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Persia (mod. Iran) · Industrial Revolution
| Opened by force or treaty — the opening position | |
| Opened by force or treaty |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Iran · Age of Revolutions
| Neutral / uncommitted — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Iran · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
| Western powers and allies — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned or stateless |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Persia · Russian Revolution
Persia’s part in the “Great Game” became a sideshow of the civil war. British and Soviet forces both operated on its soil, and a short-lived Soviet republic appeared in Gilan on the Caspian. The state was weak, and Moscow treated its north as a sphere of influence.
| Neutral or independent — the opening position |
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Persia / Iran · Indian independence
Persia was another board on which the Great Game was played. Anglo-Russian “spheres” divided it in 1907, and foreign powers occupied it in both world wars. In 1941 the Anglo-Soviet invasion deposed Reza Shah for leaning German. Oil helps explain why Persia mattered so much: D’Arcy’s 1908 strike, the Anglo-Persian company, and the navy’s need for fuel tied it to imperial interests. From Tehran, India’s independence in 1947 suggested that empires might retreat from oil last. Mossadegh tested that reading in 1951; the answer came in 1953.
| Beyond the Raj · Portuguese & French India — the opening position |
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Persia · WWI
The constitutional revolution of 1905–06 gave Persia a written constitution and an elected parliament, the Majlis. Within a year Britain and Russia had divided the country over its head into spheres of influence, each claiming the sole right to trade, lend and advise in its zone (Ch. 1). Russian pressure closed the Majlis in 1911. Persia declared neutrality in the world war, yet Russian, British and Ottoman armies crossed it at will. Oil struck in 1908 in the unassigned southwest made southern Persia vital to Britain, which added that middle zone to its sphere in 1915.
Iran (Persia) · Stalin’s Soviet Union
British and Soviet forces invaded Iran in August 1941 to secure its oil and a route for Lend-Lease supplies to the Soviet Union. Soviet troops stayed in the north after the war and supported separatist governments in Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan. American pressure and Iranian diplomacy brought their withdrawal in May 1946. The separatist governments collapsed afterwards.
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Iran · Road to WW2
| Neutral & unaligned — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Iran · WW2
In August 1941 Britain and the USSR jointly occupied Iran to secure the “Persian Corridor”. Along this truck route, 8 million tons of Lend-Lease aid reached the USSR. The needs of great-power logistics had overridden a smaller country’s sovereignty, a history Iran remembers.
| Western Allies — the opening position | |
| Western Allies |
Iran · Cold War
Iran was a prize in the Cold War’s northern tier. The country had been jointly occupied during the war; in 1953 a CIA–MI6 coup deposed its elected premier for nationalizing oil. The Shah was then armed as the Gulf’s policeman. Revolution in 1979 removed Iran from both columns at once (Ch. 10). These interventions form the first chapter of every explanation of Iran since.
| US-aligned states — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Iran · Refugee crises
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Related
THE FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE
Get a printable atlas study guide of your choice free. I’ll send you a few short letters, then one when a new atlas opens. That’s all. — Paul
NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME