Can you beat them?
The Iranian Revolution Quiz
Ten questions on the revolution that turned Iran from a monarchy into an Islamic Republic, from the coup of 1953 to the fall of the Shah and the seizure of the American embassy. Each answer comes with a short explanation.
- 10 questions
- About 3 minutes
- Medium
- Includes 2 photos
About this quiz
In 1979 a king with one of the largest armies in the world was driven out by crowds that took their lead from a cleric living abroad. The quiz follows how that happened and what came after: the coup of 1953 that Iranians never forgot, the protests of 1978, the Shah's flight, Khomeini's return, the state he built, and the 444 days that Americans spent as hostages in Tehran.
Most people know the headlines. The questions ask about the stories behind them, from how Khomeini reached Iranians while he was in exile to the real escape that inspired Argo and where the Shah ended his days. The last two are the hardest.
Topics in this quiz
Mohammad Reza Shah PahlaviAyatollah KhomeiniAyatollahMohammad Mosaddegh
Read up first
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Encyclopedia
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
Iran's last shah, the US-backed monarch whose modernizing but repressive rule collapsed in the 1979 revolution, leaving him to die in exile.
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Encyclopedia
Ayatollah
The senior rank of Shia clergy, an academic title that acquired political meaning only in the twentieth century.
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Blog
Operation Ajax: the 1953 coup that created modern Iran
How the CIA and MI6 overthrew Iran's elected prime minister in 1953, and why the coup still drives Iran's distrust of America in 2026.
