Reza Shah led a coup against a British-dominated government in Iran and declared himself Shah (King) of Iran. He ruled for almost two decades, until deposed by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941. The dynasty he founded lasted until the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Reza Shah is a controversial figure, particularly in western history, but his reign was marked by a series of modernizing reforms in Iranian society.

The Cultural Revolution was implemented by Mao Zedong in 1966. Its stated goal was to eliminate the influence of capitalism and traditional Chinese culture from modern Chinese society. In practice it involved the suppression of intellectuals and dissidents, the destruction of historical sites, the forced imprisonment, torture, and humiliation of opposition, and widespread communal disharmony throughout Chinese society.

Bloody Sunday took place in Russia in 1905, during the first Russian Revolution. It involved the massacre of peaceful demonstrators in St. Petersburg by forces associated with the Russian Tsar Nicholas II. It contributed to the decline of the ruling Romanov dynasty.

The Solidarity Movement in Poland was led by Lech Walesa. The Solidarity Movement was a widespread labor movement that took place in Soviet-controlled Poland in the 1980s. It was a large factor in Poland’s struggle for independence and somewhat influential in the downfall of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan began in 1979 and lasted until 1989. It began when Soviet forces, at the request of the Afghan government, sent troops into Afghanistan to suppress disorder. Those troops ended up staging a coup in Kabul and installing a rival communist leader. The invasion led to the forced migration of millions of Afghans and contributed to the decline of the Soviet Union. It also paved the way for the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan as they came to fill the power vacuum left following the withdrawal of Soviet forces.

Glasnost and perestroika were two reform policies adopted in the waning years of the Soviet Union, during the rule of Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika means restructuring, and refers to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system in an attempt to make communism more viable. Glasnost means openness, and refers to Gorbachev’s efforts to improve the transparency and inclusiveness of the Soviet political process.

The Iranian Revolution took place in 1979. The revolution witnessed the deposing of the ruling Shah of Iran (the leader of Iran’s pro-western monarchy) and his replacement with the Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini was elected Supreme Leader of an authoritarian and theocratic government. The Iranian Revolution is unusual in that it took place in a country enjoying relative peace and prosperity and was extremely sudden (at least from a western perspective).

Deng Xiaoping took over as leader of the Chinese Communist Party in 1978. He immediately enacted several reforms, including the final repeal of the last tenets of the Cultural Revolution. In general, the reforms made by Deng Xiaoping can be summarized as: substantial economic reforms, minimal political reforms. Under Deng, Chinese markets became more open and communism was applied less rigidly. However, political freedoms hardly improved at all.

The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan was the primary socialist party in Afghanistan from 1965 until the early 1990s. It gained power with support of the Soviet Union and ruled over the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1978 to 1987.

Porfirio Diaz was president of Mexico from 1876-1911. He was extremely successful at industrializing Mexico, developing infrastructure, and attracting foreign investment. However, opposition was violently suppressed. By the election of 1910, he was old enough that the problem of presidential succession came to the fore. Diaz had controlled the previous seven elections (which he had won), but in 1910 Fransisco Madero challenged him and campaigned vigorously against him. To ensure that Madero lost, Diaz had him arrested just before the election. When the news of the fixed election emerged, a group of Madero supporters took up arms against him. Madero proved quite inept, and armed groups, including those led by Zapata and Villa, emerged.