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The Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran also known as Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Persia was the invasion of the Empire of Iran during World War II by Soviet, British and other Commonwealth armed forces. The invasion lasted from 25 August to 17 September 1941, and was codenamed ''Operation Countenance''. The purpose was to secure Iranian oil fields and ensure Allied supply lines (see Persian Corridor) for the Soviets, fighting against Axis forces on the Eastern Front. Though Iran was officially neutral, according to the Allies its monarch Rezā Shāh was friendly toward the Axis powers and was deposed during the subsequent occupation and replaced with his young son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.〔 == Background == In 1925, after years of civil war, turmoil and foreign intervention, Persia (later, in 1935, Reza Shah asked foreign delegates to use the term Iran, the historical name of the country, used by its native people, in formal correspondence) was unified under the rule of Reza Khan, who crowned himself to become Rezā Shāh that same year. Rezā Shāh set on an ambitious program of economic, cultural, and military modernization. Iran, which had been a completely backward,〔Pollack, p. 28〕 divided, and isolated country under the rule of the Qajar Dynasty, was now rapidly evolving into a modern industrial state. Rezā Shāh also made many improvements, such as building infrastructure, expanding cities and transportation networks, and establishing schools. Rezā Shāh also set forth on a policy of neutrality. But in order to help finance and support his ambitious modernization projects, he needed the help of the west.〔 For many decades, Iran and the German Empire had cultivated ties, partly as a counter to the imperial ambitions of Britain and the Russian Empire (and later, the Soviet Union). Trading with Germany appealed to Iran because the Germans did not have a history of imperialism in the region, unlike the British and Russians.〔〔 When the Nazis took over Germany in 1933, trade was not seriously affected. While Nazi news sometimes tried to play up the similarities between the two Aryan nations, in reality Iran cared little for the Nazis' policies, including anti-Semitism. An example of this was when Iran's embassies in occupied European capitals rescued over 1,500 Jews and secretly granted them Iranian citizenship, allowing them to move to Iran.〔 Nevertheless, the British began to accuse Iran of supporting Nazism and being pro-German.〔 Although Rezā Shāh declared neutrality at an early stage of World War II, Iran assumed greater strategic importance to the British government, which feared that the Abadan Oil Refinery, owned by the UK-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, might fall into German hands; the refinery produced eight million tons of oil in 1940 and was thus a crucial part of the Allied war effort.〔 Tensions with Iran had been already strained since 1931 when Rezā Shāh cancelled the D'Arcy Concession, which gave the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company the exclusive right to sell Iranian oil, with Iran receiving only 10% (possibly 16%)〔Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power. Free Press, 2008, p.121.〕 of the profits.〔〔 Following Germany's invasion of the USSR in June 1941, Britain and the Soviet Union became formal Allies, providing further impetus for an Allied invasion.〔Esposito (1998), (p. 127 )〕 With the German Army steadily advancing through the Soviet Union, the "Persian Corridor" formed by the Trans-Iranian Railway was one of the easiest ways for the Allies to get desperately needed Lend-Lease supplies to the Soviets, by sea from the United States. British and Soviet planners began to see the vital importance of that railway, and sought to secure it into their hands. As increasing U-boat attacks and poor ice conditions made convoys to Arkhangelsk extremely dangerous, the railway became an increasingly attractive route. In addition, the Soviets wanted to make Iranian Azerbaijan and the Turkmen Sahra part of the Soviet Union, and possibly turn Iran into a communist state. The two Allied nations applied pressure on Iran and the Shah, but this led only to increased tensions and anti-British rallies in Tehran. The British described these protests as being "pro-German".〔〔 Iran's strategic position threatened both Soviet Caucasian oil and their armies' rear, and a German advance would threaten British communications between India and the Mediterranean. Demands from the Allies for the expulsion of German residents in Iran (mostly workers and diplomats) were also refused by the Shah; a British embassy report in 1940 estimated that there were almost 1,000 German nationals in Iran. According to Iran's Ettelaat newspaper, there were actually 690 German nationals in Iran (out of a total of 4,630 foreign nationals, including 2,590 British).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Iranian History (1941) )〕 Jean Beaumont estimates that "probably no more than 3,000" Germans actually lived in Iran, although they were believed to have a disproportionate influence because of their employment in strategic government industries and Iran's transport and communications network."〔 However, the Iranians also began to reduce their trade with the Germans under Allied demands.〔〔 Rezā Shāh sought to remain neutral and anger neither side, yet this was becoming increasingly difficult with the British/Soviet demands on Iran. The British forces were already present in sizeable numbers in Iraq as a result of the Anglo-Iraqi War earlier in 1941. Thus, British troops were stationed on the western border of Iran prior to the invasion. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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