The ENTIRE History of Iran in 18 Minutes

📖 The Entire History of the World, from 300,000 BC to 2026, as an eBook and audiobook: https://historyinminutes.shop Ancient Persia never died. It just changed its name. This history documentary covers the entire history of Iran: Cyrus the Great, the Persian Empire, Zoroastrianism, and the war happening right now. The English word paradise is Persian. So is the word algorithm. So is the phrase you use to end a chess game. Greeks, Arabs, Turks and Mongols all conquered this plateau, and every one of them either left or became Persian. Iran is the only country the Arab armies took that never ended up speaking Arabic. This documentary follows the complete history of Iran and ancient Persia: the underground tunnels and wind towers that made a desert liveable, the lost Elamite civilization at Susa and a script nobody can read, Cyrus the Great and the truth about the Cyrus Cylinder, Darius and the Royal Road, Persepolis and Alexander, the Parthians who fought Rome to a standstill, Shapur the First and the Roman emperor he captured alive, Zoroastrianism and the origins of heaven and hell, the Arab conquest at Qadisiyyah and Nahavand, Ferdowsi and the Shahnameh, al-Khwarizmi and the invention of algebra, the Mongols and the assassins of Alamut, Shah Ismail and the Safavid conversion that split Islam, Nader Shah and the Koh-i-Noor, the Tobacco Protest, the first Middle Eastern oil strike at Masjed Soleyman, Reza Shah and the renaming of Persia, Mossadegh and the 1953 CIA coup, SAVAK and the Persepolis party, the 1979 revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, Woman Life Freedom, and the war that is still going on today. Iran lost its empire, its state religion and half its territory, and spent centuries being ruled by outsiders, and it is still Iran. But the rule that broke this year is not an ancient one. It is forty-seven years old, and it broke in a single night in February. This documentary is based on archaeological research, peer-reviewed publications, museum scholarship and primary historical sources. We bring ancient history to life while remaining faithful to the historical record. SOURCES Encyclopaedia Iranica - ELAM ii. The Archaeology of Elam Ministere de la Culture (France), Jacques de Morgan Archive - Susa: 6,000 Years of History Yale Peabody Museum - Irving Finkel, "Cyrus and his Cylinder: What Was He Thinking?" (lecture, 2024) The British Museum - The Cyrus Cylinder Guinness World Records - Largest Empire by Percentage of World Population Britannica - Battle of al-Qadisiyyah Britannica - Battle of Nahavand History Today - Khodadad Rezakhani, "Arab Conquests and Sasanian Iran," Volume 67, Issue 4 (April 2017) The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge - The Shahnameh: A Persian Cultural Emblem and a Timeless Masterpiece World History Encyclopedia - Inventions and Innovations of Ancient Persia John Masson Smith Jr., cited in Ross E. Dunn, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta (University of California Press) Britannica - Ismail I, Shah of Iran National Security Archive, George Washington University - CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup (declassified TPAJAX documents, 2013) Britannica - Iran-Iraq War Razavi et al., "A Review on Delayed Toxic Effects of Sulfur Mustard in Iranian Veterans," Journal of Research in Medical Sciences (PMC3555992) Britannica - Death of Jina Mahsa Amini Amnesty International - What Happened to Mahsa/Zhina Amini? Britannica - 12-Day War (June 2025) Britannica - 2026 Iran War International Monetary Fund - World Economic Outlook (Iran projections, 2026) #Iran #AncientPersia #History #Documentary #AncientHistory #PersianEmpire #CyrusTheGreat #Zoroastrianism #WorldHistory #HistoryDocumentary #AncientCivilizations #IranHistory #Persepolis #MiddleEastHistory #Tehran #Shahnameh #Geopolitics