At the outset of 1978,Iran was still a case study of a stablemodernizing autocracy. By November of the same year, however, the Shah's apology to the nation, on the public radio,for the oppression and corruption that had been inflicted onthe Iranians, indicated that the end had come. In February,1979, the regime collapsed. The quick surrender of the regimein the face of seemingIy sustained economic growth, powerfulmilitary structure, and growing international posture questionsthe validity of many theories of revalutian as well as ourunderstanding of Iran. Considering that guerrilla activities hadbeen reduced to few isolated cases and in fact by 1977,guerrillaorganizations had become infiltrated, the fall of the monarchto the Revolution is even more enigmatic.Corruption, oppression and rapid modernization ore oftenidentified as the causes of the Revolution. Had any f these factors, or their combinations, been suffident to bring about arevolution, one might have expected revolutions in a host ofother countries before it took pl'ace in Iran. Nor would thedependency of a system within the international arena, as someargue, necessarily lead to a revolution.

At the outset of 1978,Iran was still a case study of a stablemodernizing autocracy. By November of the same year, however, the Shah's apology to the nation, on the public radio,for the oppression and corruption that had been inflicted onthe Iranians, indicated that the end had come. In February,1979, the regime collapsed. The quick surrender of the regimein the face of seemingIy sustained economic growth, powerfulmilitary structure, and growing international posture questionsthe validity of many theories of revalutian as well as ourunderstanding of Iran. Considering that guerrilla activities hadbeen reduced to few isolated cases and in fact by 1977,guerrillaorganizations had become infiltrated, the fall of the monarchto the Revolution is even more enigmatic.Corruption, oppression and rapid modernization ore oftenidentified as the causes of the Revolution. Had any f these factors, or their combinations, been suffident to bring about arevolution, one might have expected revolutions in a host ofother countries before it took pl'ace in Iran. Nor would thedependency of a system within the international arena, as someargue, necessarily lead to a revolution.