Kemal Atatürk  & Reza Shah (20^th century Westernizers)

Both Iran and Turkey saw a vigorous campaign to overhaul the states of Arab regimes that had taken over after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. While both Turkey and Iran seemed to overthrow the monarchies that had imbedded themselves within the two different states, the methodologies that were taken by both nations were pretty much alike in most ways. Mustafa Kamal Ataturk was able to overthrow the monarchist rule that presided in the nation of Turkey and became the leader of the new nation as he promoted a state sponsored revolution within the country. He overthrew the commanders that were present as well as the rulers of the country. He was supported widely throughout the revolution simply because he was the hero of the Gallipoli campaign, which was seen as the last decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire, and a significant memory of the Empire that had ruled such vast regions of land over the previous centuries. On the other hand, Reza Shah was the man behind the rapid expansion and revolution of Iran during the same time that Mustafa Kamal Ataturk was taking over Turkey. Iran’s revolution was also followed as a state sponsored revolution, with Reza Shah claiming the throne since he was the most primitive figure in the nation at the time, and was widely followed since he was actively talking about reforms and more democracy while less authoritarian practices would be brought onto the nation. Such promises led him to gain more support as he finally took over Iran himself.