led when police broke updemonstrations. As time went on, protests became more radical. To try and quiet dissent, the Shah became more of a dictator. As a result, those who had been moderate in demands for reform became more radical. In the fall of 1978, strikes against the oil industry, the post office, government factories, and banks demolished the economy. This pattern continued throughout most of 1978 (Orwin 45). As these protests became more frequent there were more and more people killed. This reflects the Shah's loss of power over his government and his people. In late 1978, the Shah came to the conclusion that he would and could not rule a country in which he had to stand in the flowingblood of his people. In short, he understood that he could not militarily occupy his own country. The Shah's early mistakes hadbeen devastating as the years went on. His forceful actions did not work and it's no wonder that his grip weakened and his mid wavered.These events all led to the march against the government of the Shah, in which eight million Iranians protested on December 10, 1978 (Bill 25). One-fifth of the Iranian government was willing to join in a massive and nonviolent manifestation of opposition even though most of them knew that thousands of their countrymen had been shot in previous demonstrations. The banners and slogans made clear the religious and political essence of the revolutionary movement. This massive demonstration was the turning point from symptoms to rising fever. It clearly reflected the weakness of the Shah, and the inevitability of revolution in Iran. After a year of public demonstrations against him, the Shah of Iran left Tehran on January 16, 1979, for an "extended vacation"(Orwin 46). He left the country in the hands of a regency council and Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar, who was a former member of the National Front. The opposition leader, Khomeini, was to become the new ruler, and he returned ...
