Introduction
Iran has gone through many regime changes, attacks on their sovereignty and governmental reforms. During the 1920’s Reza Shah Pahlavi implemented military reforms which took the already established Cossack Brigade and turned it into a respectably sized and trained military force which went on to represent a masculine prototype in society in which military service became ingrained in the male Iranian identity. While military service was a marker of masculinity in Iran prior to the revolution, with the removal of the Shah and the purging of those associated with him, including the military, this created a space for the religious leaders that took over to take the role of masculine prototype in Iran. Ironically, while the regime…show more content… The Iranian military, prior to 1877, was considered to be a ‘paper tiger’ by the foreign military leadership that were invited to Iran to evaluate the military. Essentially, they thought that the Iranian military looked tough but wouldn’t actually be able to defend the country. The Russian’s established a training camp near Tehran so that Iranian leadership could keep an eye on the progress of the training. The attempt at creating a strong, professional military force in Iran in the 1800’s was mostly unsuccessful, but it laid the groundwork necessary for it to be successful in the future. During this time, because of mismanagement, the Cossack Brigade would lose most of its funding and maintain only around four hundred to five hundred men. However, in 1920, Reza Shah Pahlavi would create military reforms making the Cossack brigade a unifying force among Iranian male’s. Reza Shah created a National Iranian Army from the Cossack Brigade, which was previously of modest size. He did this in much the same way that the Cossack Brigade was formed in the first place; he hired Russian officers to train his force, sent military members to European military schools and expanded the overall size and budget of the military, making it a desirable place for young men to go. What really seemed to change the Iranian male identity to view the military as a duty, and maybe even a rite of passage, was a mandatory conscription of two years. The mandatory conscription was put into place in 1925 and brought Iranian males together from all corners of the country. This is important in the formation of a common Iranian masculine identity because prior to this, Iran was ethnically and linguistically diverse and conscription took that diversity, and male’s from all over Iran’s diverse male population, and taught them uniformity in several areas, including the Persian language. Now, not only did Iranian male’s find a strong sense of identity and masculinity in military service
