IMPERIAL IRANIAN ARMY - ارتش شاهنشاهی ایران

After Reza Khan's takeover, the Persian military apparatus underwent thorough reform. The only posts left open to foreigners were those of riding instructors or technicians of the imperial arsenal. The Persian Cossack division, the South Persian Rifles,the Gendarmerie (a militarized police contingent) and other military contingents became united in the armed forces. By 1924 Reza Shah commanded a well-ordered army of 80,000 men. A year earlier, Persian career officer students were for the first time sent to France for their training, and within a year 500 were being trained there.

In 1924 Germany was commissioned to install and modernize the Iranian war arsenal. Once Germans had been put in charge of the Iranian war arsenal, large numbers of rifles and machine guns, as well as equipment to build a munitions factory and an iron foundry, were bought in Germany. At this time co-operation between the Persian army and the Reichswehr was at its peak, and the Persian general staff proceeded to structure its training system according to the German pattern and to recruit German instructors. The Persian chief of staff asked von Schulenburg, the German ambassador, to provide copies of the programs of German military academies and information about various weapons systems. In the mid-1920s, Persian officers were sent to Germany for their training, but this was regarded as unsatisfactory, and with the help of the Council for the training of students of the Imperial Iranian Government, Iran turned to the artillery school in Juterborg and the infantry school in Dresden. Germany, however was not particularly interested in training Iranian cadets, and introduced strict requirements: no more than five or six cadets were to be admitted, and they had to speak fluent German. By 1941 the army stood at 125,000 troops (five times its original size) and was considered well trained and well equipped. In this year, when the army faced its first challenge in WWII, the Iranian army fought with courage against the British and Soviet forces. Iran's location was so strategically important to the Allied war effort, however, that London and Moscow chose to overlook Tehran's claim of neutrality.

Against the Allied forces, the Iranian army was decimated in three days, the fledgling air force and navy were totally destroyed, and conscripts deserted by the thousands. After that, Reza Shah abdicated in favor of his young son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Organization of the Imperial Iranian Army:

The shah was constitutionally designated supreme commander of the armed forces, and important decisions regarding Iran's defense needs were made by him. He was exercise operational control through the supreme commander's staff, a joint organization that loosely was coordinate the activities of the three services. The chief of the supreme commander's staff, was second in command; the staff included a vice chief of staff and directors of personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics, plans, communications, and fiscal matters. Though within the chain of command, the supreme commander's staff served more as coordinating than a command body, and the three service chiefs were encouraged to consult directly with the shah. The minister of war, as a cabinet minister, was not in the military chain of command. He had legislative and budgetary roll. The vice minister of war (General Toufanian) was in charge of implementing the shah's decisions regarding arms procurement and thus was a highly visible and important figure during the 1970s.

Army Manpower
The armed forces experienced spectacular increases in manpower during the mid-1970s. From just under 200,000 in 1972, total armed forces personnel increased to some 500,000 by 1977 (According to official data, there were 300,000 men in the Iranian armed forces in 1977. If the Gendarmerie, Police and SAVAK were added the number of men under arms ready to fight was well above the 500,000 mark). This figure did not include foreign military personnel in Iranian service. In addition to active -duty personnel, some 300,000 ex-servicemen were subject to recall to duty, though in 1977 there were no organized reserve units. The majority of army personnel were conscripts, in the air force and navy, some 90 percent were volunteers. Iran's 1977 population of more than 34 million gave the armed forces a large pool from which to fill its manpower needs. Compulsory conscription laws have been in effect since 1925. All males were begin their military service at age eighteen and were finish it after two years of active military service. The total period of service was twenty-five years, draftees spend six years in standby military service, then eight years in first-stage reserve and nine years in second-stage reserve. Those not conscripted in three successive drafts were exempted permanently. In times of war, those previously exempted, along with those who have already served, could be called into service. Draft evades were subject to arrest, trial before a military court, and imprisonment.

On January 16, 1979, as the shah was preparing to leave Iran for the last time, he was still confident that his army could handle any foreign attack. Despite that the Soviet Union and Iraq were the greatest threats to his country, he left behind a powerfull army prepared for any external challenge.