The Geopolitical Game

Abstract

This chapter focuses on deconstructing the causal chain that made Reza Shah view the Third Reich as a hedge against the predatory disposition of the Soviet Union toward Persia and his dynasty. What enabled Reza Shah to act on this intuition is the policy of appeasement practiced not only by Great Britain but also by the Soviet Union, yielding British-and Soviet-controlled trade routes for ready access to the Persian market. This led to a large German presence in Persia. Reza Shah buttressed this relationship by symbolic acts, crackdown on left-wing and pro-labor political activists being one of them. This strategic orientation and a host of circumstantial factors led to the fall of Taghi Erani, the collapse of his intellectual circle, and the first show trial in Iranian history.