Last time we talked about Iran in the first half of the 20th century and the ways in which successive

politicians tried to demand higher shares of the profits that were taken out of the oil that came

out of the ground in Iran and explained why oil was so important in global economies too.

We talked about how the British Empire needed oil for its own needs and how that left

Iranians on the wrong

end of the discussion table. That changed in 1953. That changed in 1951 with the nationalisation

of Iranian oil. But as we left you, Iran had come out with a prime minister who'd been

arrested, the British and the CIA working out how to put people in power in Iran and keep them

there who would serve Western interests, and that long, deep suspicion embedded in Iran that

we've seen so much over recent decades that Western powers are out to manipulate Iran for

its own good. Today we're going to look at how that culminated in 1973, in what is perhaps the single

biggest shock of the second half of the 20th century. Can you think of another event that had

as seismic repercussions, Peter? I guess maybe the fall of the Berlin Wall? Fall of the Berlin Wall,

I think that's up there, although probably looking back on it, we will conclude that that wasn't the end of the

Cold War, just entering a new chapter. I guess for symbolic reasons, the assassination of

JFK or maybe a Martin Luther King. But I think that in terms of single moments and compressions, I think

what happens in 1973 is absolutely crucial. And for the whole Gulf region, but also for the

ideas about what would happen when oil and energy run out. And again, that's something

which is concentrating and focusing a lot of our minds at the moment.

Hello and welcome to a new episode of Legacy. I'm Peter Frank Gapurne. I'm Afwa-Hersh.

And this is Legacy, the show that explores the lives,

events and ideas that have shaped our world, and asks whether they have the reputations that they truly deserve.

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