Pod Insights Hot History The most expensive party in history About this episode Hello Divas! Today we're back looking at the most expensive party in history, both in the literal dollar bills sense AND the fact this single event led a dynasty to lose everything.
This is the 1971 Iranian celebration for 2,500 years of Persian rule, and if you think your wedding or even a Great Gatsby level event is worthy of the name 'party', then think again! From new highways to purpose built cities, on demand forests and over 12,000 bottles of Whiskey, this invitation packed a serious punch, and the guest list ... well let's just say not even that first Tarte brand trip could compete! But what did the guests and the Iranians themselves actually think of this three day extravaganza? Well, you'll have to listen to find out!
Shout out to our incredible researcher Grace McCamish for pulling this together, and if you're wanting more Hot History you can follow along on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hothistoryclub/?hl=en, TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@hot.history?lang=en and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@hot.history and of course, right here!
Til next week, Ainslie x
Transcript 10,003 words · 8 speakers
0:00 Speaker 00 Now this was the main event, the big pièce de résistance. What are all these fancy pansers eating? What are they drinking? What are they wearing? What are they toasting to? This banquet was six hours long. So let's get into it.
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1:31 Speaker 00 Hi guys and welcome back to Hot History, your corner of the internet where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know but don't. I'm Ainslie Harvey, your hot historian here, ready to chat about the most expensive party in human history. The 1971 Iranian celebration of 2,500 years of Persian rule. And when I say expensive, guys, I do mean in a literal sense with an estimated price tag of around 2.4 billion US dollars. But I also mean it cost Iran an entire dynasty, becoming a key catalyst for the revolution which would see the Ayatollah Khomeini
2:13 Speaker 00 cease power and the nation be held under Islamic law and Sharia, religious authority. So let's get into it today by rewinding it all the way back to the 6th century for some proper speedy ancient history guys, which will give us the lay of the land before we get to the party. So, Iran's history has largely been formed across more than two millennia by a long succession of various dynasties that rose through conquest, tribal alliances, military strength and claims to religious legitimacy. Now, the first of these major dynasties was the original Iranian Empire, aka the Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BCE.
2:56 Speaker 00 So we are talking about ancient, ancient history here, divas. Now, the Achaemenid Empire came crashing down under the might of one man, Mr. Alexander the Great, who conquered Persia in 330 BCE. However, after his death, the Parthians, a nomadic Iranian tribe from northwest Iran, rose to power around 247 BCE and built a decentralised empire led by noble families. Now, this was quite the feat in this time, because the big bad Romans are kicking around and guess what they want? Everything. However, the Parthians were able to resist them thanks to their cavalry-based military. But again, this can't go on forever.
3:39 Speaker 00 So in 224 AD, the Sassanian Dynasty replaced them, and it was these guys who really started to form the basis of Persian identity. But they too were beaten out by the Arab Muslim armies who conquered Iran in the 7th century, and this is known as the Islamic Conquest. And really, since then, Iran has been ruled by various Arab and Turkic dynasties, blending Persian traditions with Islamic governance. How's that for some speedy hot history for you guys? But since then, there has been a series of conquests, including the Seljuk Turks, who gained control in the 11th century, and then the Mongol invasions under Genghis Khan in the 13th century, which devastated the region.
4:20 Speaker 00 However, the key turning point really came in 1501, when Shah Ismael I founded the Saffed Dynasty. Backed by militant tribal followers, he united Iran, making Shia Islam the state religion, creating the identity that still defines the nation today. The Safaris then ruled until the late 18th century when the Kajar dynasty came to power. Now, they ruled through alliances with tribal elites, keeping everything very local within the region. However, as the 20th century turned its head, one nation, represented by one man, came knocking on the doors of Iran: Britain. Following his belief that Iran and the Persian Gulf were oil-rich grounds, British businessman
5:02 Speaker 00 William Knox-Diarsi appealed to the Kajar Shah in 1901 for rights to search for oil across much of Iran. He agreed, granting Diarsi exclusive rights to explore for, extract, and sell oil across most of Iran for sixty years. In exchange, the Shah's government received £20,000 in cash upfront, £20,000 worth of company shares, and a promise of 16% of future profits from the oil company. Now, for us today, we're thinking that's a pretty shit deal, but for the Shah, this was welcome news, as the Kajar government was deeply in debt and financially weakened. They needed money to maintain the monarchy, pay court expenses, and manage political
5:47 Speaker 00 instability, which was on the rise, and given Iran lacked the technical expertise and capital needed to develop oil resources itself, this foreign investment seemed attractive at the time. At first, there were no signs of oil anywhere, but finally, after years of extensive exploration, oil was discovered at Masjid Soleiman in southwest Iran, which led to the creation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, or APOC, in 1909, which eventually became none other than BP Oil, aka British Petroleum. Now, this deal would go on to define Iran forever, with the foreign parties involved
6:28 Speaker 00 receiving far more out of the agreement than the Iranians, which brings us to the coup of 1921.
6:37 Speaker 00 Sick of external interference by foreign nations in Iranian affairs and the lack of authority from the Qajars, a senior officer in the Persian Kosak Brigade, one of the few disciplined military forces in Iran, decided to take action. And his name was Reza Khan. And he believed that the might of the military could unite and rule the nation. So he and journalist/politician Said Tabatabey marched troops into Tehran and seized control of the capital with little resistance. Now, I do want to call out here, they weren't supported by the British in this endeavour, but the belief is that the Brits kind of let it happen to ensure stability in Tehran in order to protect their interests.
7:21 Speaker 00 So Reza and Said take the nation. And although the Qajar Shah technically remained ruler, the real power shifted to them and the military, who crushed regional rebellions, weakened tribal leaders and centralised authority, building enough power over the next four years to remove the Qajar dynasty, kick them to the curb, and see Reza Khan crowned as Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1925. Now, his goal, above all else, was obviously power, but second to this was to create a modern, unified and independent Iranian state, so very different from the Qajars before.
8:02 Speaker 00 And as such, he began investing in industry, building a modern army, reducing the power of the Islamic clergy and launching widespread secular reforms which encouraged Western clothing, including bending the veil in public for women. He also officially renamed Persia to Iran in 1935. I've just been referring to it as Iran up until this point for ease. However, his rule was harsh and highly authoritarian, kind of similar to the Tsars in a way. And as World War II approached, the Shah began to grow rather close to one Adolf Hitler.
8:40 Speaker 00 Now this was a risk far too large for the Allies. So the British and Soviet Union invaded Iran in 1941, forcing the Shah to abdicate and his son, Mohammad Razah Shah, took power. So who is this new guy? Well, Mohammad Razah Shah is the central figure of our episode today, and really, one of the most divisive figures in 20th century history at large. So he was born in Tehran on October 26, 1919, to Reza Khan and his wife, who were not rulers at the time of his birth. However, after the coup, Mohammad was raised under the strictest of conditions, knowing he would one day be Iran's next Shah.
9:24 Speaker 00 As such, his childhood revolved around schedules, education and procedure, with his father ruling Mohammad as strictly, or, to be honest here, even more strictly than he ruled Iran itself, which led to this kind of deep set insecurity that would later see Mohammad seek external approval, especially from foreign nations. But more on that later. Now Mohammad did eventually get a break from his father, though, when he was sent to La Rosée, an elite Swiss boarding school where Mohammad lived and studied for his teenage years through to his graduation. Here, surrounded by the decadence and wealth of the offspring of European dignitaries, royalty and foreign industrialists with very deep pockets,
10:08 Speaker 00 Mohammad developed a taste for European culture and luxury. From fast cars to fancy chandeliers, French cuisine and Italian wines, to the finest Dutch old masters and Greek sculpture. Mohammad soaked up this opulence and, most importantly, developed a greater understanding and respect for Western political ideas. He spoke French fluently and rubbed elbows with the modern European monarchies who he wanted to model himself off. He was still Persian, of course, but largely only in blood. This, paired with his young age of only 21, made him the perfect choice for the Brits and the Soviets when the war struck and his father's allegiances couldn't be trusted.
10:53 Speaker 00 He understood their culture, their values of art and heritage, and he continued the pro-West push for Iran, allowing greater political freedoms with different parties, newspapers, and parliament becoming more active. Now, parliament, I hear you say? I thought this guy was a king, the Shah. Well, he was. But even under his father's original coup and leadership, the parliament remained in place with an active prime minister who oversaw government affairs. Or at least that was until 1953, when Prime Minister Mohammad Massadeh wanted Iran to control its own oil wealth and as such, nationalised the British-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Now, you may be thinking, well, that sounds pretty fucking smart, right?
11:37 Speaker 00 Like, why have the Brits getting the good end of the deal here again? And for the Iranians, this was a good thing. But the British were pissed about it and as such imposed sanctions with the aim of isolating Iran economically. The Shah began to feel the heat of this exclusion, so he and Massadeh increasingly clashed over who should hold real power within the nation, which led to another coup. That's right, guys, it is coup city up in Tehran, but this time, it wasn't organised by the Shah, or any Iranian for that matter.
12:18 Speaker 00 This was a joint CIA and MI6 job known as Operation Ajax, where Massadeh was overthrown and the Shah, who briefly fled the country while the dirty work was done, returned as Iran's new supreme power. I'm gonna play you some of the reporting from this now.
12:43 Speaker 03 Former Premier Mossadegh's ruined house is a mute testimony to three days of bloody rioting culminating in a military coup from which the one-time dictator of Iran fled for his life.
12:53 Speaker 00 And so the Shah returns, becoming known as the King of Kings, striking new oil and trade deals which saw him become one of the richest men in the world. He was truly living the life he dreamed of. Rich beyond measure, he blew Iranian tax dollars on obscenely extravagant items, including his crown, which according to The Fair Observer was studded with over 3,380 diamonds. He also partied in nightclubs all over Europe, had an avid gambling addiction, often losing around 42 million US dollars in a single night, and was known for various affairs with women. He was on to his third wife by the time the 70s rolled around and was even linked with Grace Kelly at one point,
13:38 Speaker 00 reportedly spending millions of dollars gifting her a three-piece set from Van Cleef and Arpelle. His power too was limitless. He could appoint prime ministers, dissolve parliament, raise an army, declare war. It didn't matter what it was. He could do it all. And he was not willing to share this power, or his money, with anyone else.
14:02 Speaker 00 You see, while at face value Shah Mohamad claimed to make Iran a more modern and free society by empowering women and the poor and introducing greater education, but this was largely just propaganda. Because while all of this was happening, there was also a darker side of his reign. On a personal note, he was a serial sexual offender, considered the Harvey Weinstein of his time by The Fair Observer. He also took any criticism of himself or his rule as a sign of dissent and stripped several civil liberties, including free speech. The Shah's secret police also began punishing those who spoke out against him, kidnapping and murdering people at their will with the Shah's regime having the highest number of political prisoners
14:48 Speaker 00 and the highest rate of death penalties in the world at the time. And despite their leader being one of the richest men on earth and the state itself being incredibly oil-rich, the socio-economic conditions of the country were terrible. Almost half of the population lived below the poverty line, cities lacked basic infrastructure and rural areas had an acute shortage of water, medical facilities and educational institutions. Everyone agreed that Iran desperately needed some basic reforms to elevate the standards of living for everyday people. But while these voices within the country bellowed, the Shah had something else on his mind: a party.
15:32 Speaker 00 You see, the key thing to know about Shah Mohammed is that he is a classic narcissist. His ego was innately tied not in the prosperity of his nation's people, but rather in how other nations and leaders viewed the country and therefore him. And at this point, in the late 60s to early 70s, Iran was largely viewed as a crumbling old vestige of the ancient world. Yes, it was at the heart of the 20th century's oil boom, but it was leashed and collared by the UK, and everyone pretty much knew that the US were involved with the prior coup, so its position on the global stage was kind of meh. And the Shah wanted to change that, instead presenting Iran as a modern empire which
16:17 Speaker 00 he had revived from ancient times, like some kind of phoenix rising from the ashes. And he decided the best way to do this would be to invite the world's most elite and powerful people to experience Persian culture and magnificence for themselves. Now, we're not talking about the Kardashians or Alex Earl here, although if this party was thrown today, they definitely would have been invited. Instead, we are talking about emperors, kings, presidents, princesses and sheiks, the absolute 1% of the world's ruling elite, who the Shah would host for a magnificent multi-day
16:59 Speaker 00 event of banquets, parties, games, celebration and ceremony which would be broadcast around the world for all to see.
17:08 Speaker 00 But how? Right? How do you get all these people out to Iran, which would need to be approved by all their governments, without causing outcry from their own people and the Iranians? Well, you reframe it. You give it a mission, a purpose, a theme. And it just so happened that 1971 marked the 2,500th anniversary of the foundation of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. And while a big party in the desert may not have been approved, a diplomatic event of national celebration with a new global power sounds like the kind of thing you want to fly in for, right? So the celebration is set.
17:50 Speaker 00 And as such, the Shah quickly organised a committee to plan this extravaganza. Consisting of himself and his wife, Empress Farah, who oversaw every single detail of the event. The committee was headed up by Asadallah Alam, Minister of the Royal Court, who was responsible for the Shah's current day-to-day operations and the palaces. Known for his perfectionism and excellence in running teams of hand-selected specialists, there really was no better man for the job. And when I say job, guys, this is an absolute fucking feat. Like, if you picture the party scene in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, where there's champagne and glitter and dancers mixing with mobsters,
18:35 Speaker 00 macking on with models and mechanics and metallic Mercedes, that's a kiddies' party in comparison to what we are talking about here. So let's break down what exactly went in to this event, which started on the 12th of October and fully wrapped up by the 16th. And let's start with the guest list, because I think this gives us an idea of the calibre of party we're talking about. So, in total, there were 600 representatives from over 69 states who were invited to this event, including, and hold on to your hats here, people, the Emperor of Haiti, eight kings, including King Frederick of Denmark, five queens, five emirs, seven sheikhs, 15 presidents, Including Nikolai Podgony of the USSR,
19:20 Speaker 00 four ruling princes and dukes, three royal princesses, including Grace Kelly, two governor generals, four prime ministers and three vice presidents, including USVP Spiro Agnew. Plus, while Queen Elizabeth II could not attend as she couldn't be seen celebrating the rule of the King of Kings, she sent her husband Prince Philip and daughter Princess Anne on her behalf. So, a proper line up here, guys, right? Which, in the age of terrorist attacks and technology today, would never happen now. But the problem with having so many high-ranking officials is what to do with them? Because at this point in history, Iran has no infrastructure to host this event.
20:04 Speaker 00 There were no grand hotels or luxurious castles to keep their elite guests. So if they wanted to throw this extra for Ganza, they were going to have to build something, which is exactly what
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21:18 Speaker 00 Located in the middle of the desert of southwest Iran, around sixty kilometres away from the nearest city, lies the remains of ancient Persepolis, the magnificent ceremonial capital of the former Akhenaten empire. Given the focus on the two thousand five hundred year anniversary, the Shah felt this was the perfect setting. The old meets the new. But there was a problem. You're in the middle of the fucking desert. For the Shah, however, that was just a minor detail. So he instructed his team to carry out one of the greatest feats of event engineering: build a city which could host this grand ensemble. Coined the Royal Village, this was no, like, small little pop-up.
22:03 Speaker 00 It covered a hundred and sixty acres, or the equivalent of around a hundred and twenty football fields, made up of three massive royal banqueting halls and forty-nine lesser structures which were arranged in a star pattern around a central fountain. It's very like, World's Fair. If you've seen the first Captain America movie, or Iron Man Two, like, at the, the World's Fair, I love how this is my reference for World's Fairs, but it's like there are, there's a middle fountain area and everything kind of branches out from that. It's, it's so fucking dystopian. Like, if we didn't have the footage, you wouldn't believe that this actually happened. Before we get into the exact details of the accommodation and facilities here, I just
22:47 Speaker 00 wanna caveat and make a really important point here. That with events like this, you would expect there would be some economic benefit for the host country. I mean, think about the Olympics, for example, and all the jobs that different infrastructure projects inject into that economy. However, despite the event being put on to celebrate Iran's glory and culture, the Shah did not employ local artisans and craftsmen for this event, as he considered it far too important to trust his own people and because his own personal tastes weren't Persian, they were European. He only trusted what he dubbed to be world-class professionals.
23:29 Speaker 00 So he outsourced most of the work involved in this event to renowned European companies. Like, this just sums this guy up here to a T. I can't even deal. Anyway, starting with the royal tent city. The Shah went to none other than the famous Parisian Maison Jean Seine, the same firm who helped Jackie Kennedy redecorate the White House. And he tasked these guys to come up with a plan to build air-conditioned luxury suites, which would be draped with traditional Persian cloth to make them look like tents. Now, if you think you've been glamping, it ain't nothing in comparison to these tent suite-like situations here.
24:13 Speaker 00 Emil Reel, one of the accommodation organisers, said each tent had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office, and a lavishly furnished salon that could accommodate 12 people. A tapestry with a picture of the head of state who was staying in each of these tents was woven into it and hung on the walls. They also reportedly had electric stoves and ironing boards fit out with air conditioning and furnished with bakarat crystal, fine china, and portholz linens. Plus, each tent had a kitchen with a full-time attendant and chef per person staying there. So this was proper, proper luxury. Taking a year to build with goods and supplies for the accommodation being shipped in
24:57 Speaker 00 from Europe to Iran for about six months before the party. No expense was spared and no detail overlooked. There was even a custom bunker built on the site just for the female guest's jury. So, the setup here is the absolute creme de la creme. Like genuinely the kind of thing you'd get in a top suite at the Ritz. But at this point, you're in the middle of the Iranian desert, right? But just because that's where you are, doesn't mean that's how the Shah wanted it to feel. No, what he felt the event needed, what was really lacking, was a forest.
25:37 Speaker 00 So they imported around fifteen thousand trees and an equal number of flowering plants, which were flown in and planted on the site in the Sepulis. Also, just to be clear here, Iran was already suffering from an acute water shortage. So planting trees in the desert for a three-day event is fucking insanity. Actually reminds me, if we have Dune fans here of this scene, I'll play it for you now.
26:04 Speaker 05 I don't know, date palms could even be found out here.
26:07 Speaker 06 No, these aren't indigenous. They can't survive without me. Each one of these drinks every day the equivalent of five men.
26:18 Speaker 06 Twenty palm trees.
26:21 Speaker 06 A hundred lives.
26:23 Speaker 00 Like it is the perfect embodiment of the hubris and luxury and opulence of this event. Like, your people can't get water, but let's build a forest in the desert for the princes and emperors to walk around in. And that was literally the point of it. The Shah said the forest would be a surreal experience and would be paired with the four hectare floral gardens that were designed by none other than George Truffaut, the famous florist from Versailles, who created a perfume experience with a variety of pink and red geraniums, which were paired with ten-foot rose bushes. Like, Versailles? Checks out. Makes sense. Perfect comparison here, guys.
27:08 Speaker 00 Now, this all sounds fine and dandy, but if you can import all these foreign varieties and then find the water to keep them alive, and then the people to build them, you're still facing some pretty colossal barriers. And one of them was the fact the site was infested with poisonous snakes and scorpions, whose sting could kill the distinguished guests. Yeah, not quite the fun, diplomatic event if the Vice President of the US or Princess Anne is killed by a scorpion in their sleep. So to rid the region of this, the Shah's team sprayed chemicals over thirty kilometres and removed a truckload of various creepy crawly things,
27:50 Speaker 00 even finding some unknown new species of reptiles, which were then sent to Iran's universities for research. But no full immersive experience is complete without wildlife. So the Shah, I can't even say it with a straight face, guys. The Shah had fifty thousand songbirds from Europe flown in and released to his newly-made forest alongside twenty thousand sparrows from Spain. Guess what happened? They all died within a few days because of the lack of water and the fact the site hit a top of forty degrees in the day and zero at night.
28:28 Speaker 00 So this event was truly an experience designed top-down with every sense and every guest in mind. But no event is worthy of the name without the best spread to feed and water these people with. And for that, the Shah trusted only one man and one place. Despite the event being a blend of Persian and European cultures, the food had to be French. And for that, the Shah signed a deal with the famous Maxence de Paris, which was rightly regarded as being the best restaurant in the world at the time.
29:05 Speaker 00 The prep for this was so extensive that Maxence shut down their restaurants for over two weeks to cater the party. Hold on to your hats here, people. These stats are insane, right? They flew in over a hundred and fifty-nine cooks, bakers and waiters to Iran to work the party. In total, there was a hundred and fifty tonnes worth of kitchen equipment and eighteen tonnes of food that were flown in from Paris by the Iranian army.
29:34 Speaker 00 As for the ingredients themselves, this included two thousand seven hundred kilos of beef, pork and lamb, thirteen hundred kilos of fowl and game, eight pounds of butter and cheese, a thousand pints of cream and a truckload of ice, which were all flown in from Paris. Even the parsley and chives used to garnish the dishes came from Paris. The only thing that actually came from Iran here was the thirty kilos of caviar. All of this made up the luxurious five course meals served to the 600 guests at the banquet, which was served on 10,000 specially commissioned plates in turquoise and gold with the Shah's arms on it.
30:17 Speaker 00 So this is a serious culinary operation and the man who oversaw it all was none other than Max Blauett, the legendary hotelier who came out of retirement to supervise this event. As for the banquet hall where this massive, you know, thing would be laid on, it was huge. A quarter of a professional soccer pitch, it fit this huge serpentine table which was almost 70 metres long. The room itself was in the colour palette of the event, blue, white and gold, and was filled with draping silks, huge chandeliers and the finest French tableware in the world.
30:54 Speaker 00 In fact, the tablecloth alone took 125 women six months to hand embroider. That's how much detail was put into these three days.
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32:08 Speaker 00 Next, we have to talk about the Fitzgays. After all, what does one wear to a 2,500th anniversary party? Never been to one before?
32:20 Speaker 00 Well, the waiters for the event wore custom-made violet-blue jackets in the colours of the Imperial Court, while the other 2,000 soldiers wore ancient Persian military costumes and reportedly didn't shave their beards for months to authentically represent the Akkermanians. As for the royal court staff, who would be engaging with various dignitaries and officials, well, they wore around $50,000 worth of French haute couture, with each outfit requiring one mile of gold thread. But what about the Shah and Empress? Well, as you can imagine, over the three days, there were many costume changes, and we'll get into the details when we break down the run of events later. But just as a taster here, the Empress wore a £10 crown,
33:03 Speaker 00 which had emeralds that were the size of golf balls. And that's not hyperbole, that's literally the brief that was given to them. Insanity.
33:15 Speaker 00 Now, we really have to address the elephant in the room before we go any further. Logistics, again. Remember here, people, we are in the middle of the fucking desert, and 600 of the world's most important people had to safely and securely get there. So to accommodate this, the Shah built a whole fucking airfield in the city of Shiraz, around 50 kilometres away from the venue, and, and, a brand-new highway connecting Persepolis and the airport. The Shah wanted the experience to begin the very moment that his guests touched down, and as such, he organised 250 air-conditioned red Mercedes-Benz 600 limousines to pick up those flying in.
34:01 Speaker 00 They then travelled along this brand-new fancy highway, which was decorated with a series of Persian-inspired overhead lights, which a British firm won the contract for, and revealed the total cost to simply install them came to £864,000, just to put the lights up. Like, I actually can't comprehend this kind of wealth, it's just insane to me. But the biggest concern here, the most obvious one, right? Despite the showmanship and despite the celebration, was security. This would be the biggest gathering of world leaders and monarchs in one place possibly ever.
34:42 Speaker 00 And the Shah was already facing his own people's anger and resentment for throwing this event in the first place. So he had to ensure security for himself and his guests was absolutely top notch. To do this, he deployed his secret police and 65,000 of his top military troops to protect the 600 guests. So basically, it was 108 military personnel to one guest at a time. There were then, of course, security checkpoints every few meters within the royal tent city. But the most guarded place was the banquet hall, as there were very real fears of poisoning, which like totally valid.
35:23 Speaker 00 If you want to go and take out the world's 1%, adding a little bit of something, something to the mashed potatoes would be a pretty easy way to do so, I imagine. So to ensure the highest level of security and secrecy, only a few people had access to the banquet hall. The chefs and servers being vetted extensively by Iranian intelligence officials. But still, the Shah didn't feel this was adequate enough, so he brought in further assistance from connections he had in Switzerland. And then, just for the avoidance of doubt, the Shah locked down Iran's border for the entire duration of the event. So no one could enter or leave. Like, it's actually wild to think, these 600 guests, some of the most important people in the world,
36:05 Speaker 00 were actually kind of held captive during this whole period. So lastly, before we get into the run of events, we have to talk about the media guys. Because they play a pretty significant role here. So the Shah wanted to get the most out of this event. And to do that, he spent a decent chunk of cash on publicizing it. Including signing deals with international TV channels to live broadcast the event to foreign audiences. And Iran's National Film Board also commissioning an English film of the event called Flames of Persia, which Hollywood actor and director Orson Welles agreed to narrate in return for the Shah's brother-in-law funding his own film.
36:48 Speaker 00 Iranian embassies around the world also held viewing parties and hundreds of media outlets were invited to cover the event on the ground from their respective countries, you know, whose officials were in attendance, with the Shah building them two whole, brand-new hotels to stay at. Alright, so let's get in to the run of events now, my kings and queens, because this was a jam-packed schedule, to say the least, kind of my nightmare, to be honest, but let's get into it. Now, as we said at the top, the first official day of the event was Tuesday, the 13th of October, and this was when most guests flew into the airport at Shiraz and were picked
37:29 Speaker 00 up in this, you know, red limousine fleet and driven the 48 kilometres to the site, which took around half an hour. Some guests, though, like US Vice President Agnew, wanted to go by helicopter, so this was also arranged. Now, majority of these guests didn't attend the first ceremony, however, which was instead held by the Shah and Empress at Pasargadae, around 50 miles from Persepolis, which became the real inauguration of the celebration for the Iranians versus those flying in. Here, the Shah stood before the simple stone tomb of Cyrus the Great and called out to the spirit of the ancient conqueror who created the Persian Empire. He apparently chanted here, "O Cyrus, great king, king of kings, Akmenan king, king of
38:13 Speaker 00 the land of Iran, I, the Shahashar of Iran, offer these salutations from myself and from my nation." He also promised to safeguard the traditions of humanism and benevolence and noted that, quote, "The Iranian flag is flying today as triumphantly." Just as the speech ended, a desert wind then came up, blowing sand all over the guests. This sounds like a nightmare, however, in Iran, a desert wind, especially at a, you know, auspicious kind of moment, at a big key climax, is considered a very, very good moment.
38:49 Speaker 00 Now on this day, the Shah wore a full military uniform with his whole chest covered in medals. He was like blinged to the, to the 10th degree here, guys. The empress too, wore an incredible green and white silk ball gown with long white gloves, despite the fact it was the middle of the day. After this official ceremony, there was then a cocktail reception before sundown in the French-inspired gardens for around 600 courtiers, affluent Iranians, visiting Iranologists, scholars and the press. Key to note here, this was not for the royals and political guests, like that were flying in. They were just all settling in in their tents at the time. This was for this kind of key group of people. The Shah and empress made a grand arrival to this event 45 minutes late,
39:34 Speaker 00 landing on the lawns in matching his and hers blue and white helicopters. If my husband's listening, why don't we have matching blue and white helicopters, hun?
39:44 Speaker 00 They were then greeted by various generals who were their bodyguards for the evening, but right from the get-go, there was actually a bit of a security snafu. When the very excited guests here pushed and shoved to get a good look at the couple, resulting in them basically like being slowly pushed and crushed up against the side of the palace wall and having to um like slip inside for safety. They did emerge though and were bestowed with gifts and treasures from various Iranologists from abroad, who offered these as mementos for the 2500th anniversary. Now, the Shah was actually deeply moved by this and greeted each one of these guests as if he were in a private salon, switching from French to German to Persian to English to match the various experts.
40:30 Speaker 00 And that rounded out day one. That was the end of this first kind of momentous opening, which leads us to day two, October 14th, which coincided with another very important event in Iran, Empress Farah's birthday. Now, this was the main event, the big pièce de résistance, and it all revolved around the banquet in the evening. While there were some smaller events in the day, mainly, you know, showing off the forest and the gardens and all of the dead sparrows from Spain, the guests were encouraged to rest and relax during the day, which was actually quite the sight. Walking down the streets of the royal tent city, you'd see the Vice President of the US sitting out next to Princess Anne,
41:12 Speaker 00 right next to the Emperor of Ethiopia and his diamond-encrusted chihuahua, who was across from the President of the USSR. It was quite the show. But there wasn't really anything to do. Sally Quinn, a journalist who was there, commented that "there wasn't anything for anyone to do, just stroll up and down these paths and wave to each other", which was pretty unpleasant, as most guests reported. It was stiflingly hot and dusty, which, you know, I guess is to be expected in the desert, but hardly something the likes of the King of Denmark would enjoy, I imagine. But, for lack of things to do in the day, there was certainly not a lack of things to do in the evening. Because this banquet was six hours long.
41:57 Speaker 00 So let's get into it. What are all these fancy pansers eating? What are they drinking? What are they wearing? What are they toasting to? Well, as I said, it was Empress Farah's birthday, so the official toast was raised to her with a 1959 Dom Perignon Rosé, which, adjusted for inflation today, cost around 300 US dollars per bottle. She herself was dressed in one of the most famous outfits of the entire celebration, an elaborate imperial-style evening gown inspired by ancient Persian royal dresses. Designed by Kayvan Khosvarani, an Iranian designer, it featured luxurious brocade fabric, gold embroidery and long flowing lines,
42:39 Speaker 00 which was topped off with the spectacular Norralane Tiara, one of the Iranian crown jewels. So this was like this enormous tiara. It had this incredible 60-carat pink diamond surrounded by smaller white and yellow diamonds. For those on YouTube and Spotify, you'll be seeing it. If not, just picture this and I'll also post it on socials. But what about the menu, guys? Well, it was actually a bit of a scandal, as the details of the spread were leaked to the media ahead of time, who reported on the sheer extravagance, leading to widespread outcry. To which the Shah reportedly replied, "Should I serve heads of state bread and radishes instead?" He of course did the furthest thing from that.
43:23 Speaker 00 This was after all, a six hour, multi-long course menu featuring quail eggs stuffed with Iranian caviar, a mousse of crayfish tails in Nantua sauce, roast lamb with truffles, 1911 Moi Chandon Champagne Sorbet, yum, roasted peacock stuffed with foie gras, a Porto glazed fig with raspberry, lobster, French mutton with trifle and for dessert, there was a ring of figs with raspberries in the centre, moka coffee and a 33 kilo cake for Empress Farah. That sounds like a lot of indigestion to me. One of the chefs commented on the behind the scenes work that went into this, saying, "The kitchen was like an oven with all those gas stoves.
44:08 Speaker 00 16 hours a day, it was as tough as working in a mine." And the servers didn't have it any easier. There were traffic lights installed at the entrances of the banquet tent to make sure the waiters who were dressed in full dinner jackets entered at the exact same moment. Everything was choreographed and rehearsed and mistakes would not be tolerated. Empress Farah later wrote in her diary that, quote, "For the first time in my life, I asked my doctor to prescribe some tranquilizers for me. The kitchen staff had to be kept happy, given a helping hand and sometimes comforted, and catastrophes had to be averted."
44:48 Speaker 00 So even the Empress is needing a helping hand with how high the stakes are here. As for the alcohol, well, this list reads like something the Ritz could only dream of. There were 25,000 bottles of wine, including a 1945 Chateau Rothschild, which retailed at a hundred dollars a bottle in 1971. That was sent to Iran a month early to rest. There were also 2,500 bottles of champagne, a thousand bottles of Bordeaux, a thousand bottles of Burgundy, and 12,000 bottles of whisky, all of which were passed out by waiters on mirrored trays. I'm to be honest, surprised any-
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46:28 Speaker 00 That people could walk after this. Now, after that meal, and like I said, a serious tippel, the guests were treated to quite the show. And I have to admit, guys, as a hot historian, this is the part of the event I'd want to experience. Like, fuck the dinner, I'll have some, I'll have the bread and radishes, but I want to go to this thing. So, guests were led over to the ruins of Persepolis here to watch a sound and light installation titled Polytope, which was designed with lights, fireworks, music, and narration to celebrate the 2,500 years of Persian history. So you could go from Cyrus the Great right up to the current Shah and dynasty. Like, a live passage of time,
47:12 Speaker 00 watching in the spot where Cyrus founded the nation's first empire. It gives me goosebumps thinking about it, like, oh my gosh. Some guests loved it, sitting wrapped up in blankets at the foot of the ruins while fireworks went off overhead. But not everyone agreed. US diplomat George Ball, who was in attendance, said, "What an absurd pathetic spectacle. The son of a Colonel in a Persian Cossack regiment play-acting as the emperor of a country with an average per capita income of $250 per year, proclaiming his achievements in modernising his nation." Which leads us to the final day, October 15th, aka the Great Parade of History. Now, I probably would also wanna go to this as well, so I would have like stayed the night,
47:54 Speaker 00 seen the show, stayed the night, and then wanted to have watched this, although it is terrible. But anyway, this was basically a casual-ish lunch, which was also catered by Maxims, but the main, um, event after was this Grand Parade of History, where nearly 2,000 men from the Iranian Armed Forces passed by various guests dressed as armies of different Iranian empires. This covered two and a half millennia, from the Akhminids through to the Sassanian Parthians and Safavids, you know, right down to the 20th century, when the Shah's father had his 1921 coup. Again, the passing of time, passing through history, one army regiment at a time.
48:36 Speaker 00 This was not only broadcast live on the public television network in Iran, but sent via satellite to stations around the world, so like a proper celebration of Iran's history. In the evening, a less formal-style buffet dinner was served. In Persian tradition, there was saffron rice, pomegranate stew, as well as chicken and lamb kebab being served. Meanwhile, back in Tehran, the Shah closed the whole shebang by inaugurating the Shayad Tower, which was framed by the media at the time as Tehran's own Eiffel Tower, which I'm sure the Shah would have loved, you know, he is a huge Frank fan. Then finally, the festivities were all concluded with the Shah's visit to his father's mausoleum
49:17 Speaker 00 in southern Tehran, with most guests staying the night and then going home on the 16th. So with the run of events and the details covered, we all have one big question left, right?
49:30 Speaker 00 How much does something like this cost? Well, estimates vary but generally range from around 90 million to 170 million. And that's in 1971. Now, using the RBA inflation calculator, it puts the current value of the 1971 Iranian celebration at just under 2.4 billion in today's US dollars, which is 3.1 billion Australian dollars for all of my Aussie listeners. However, not everyone supported this estimate. The Ministry of the Shah's court at the time claimed the whole event actually cost about 17 million, or 112 million today, adjusted for inflation. This figure, however, came not from an effort of transparency,
50:13 Speaker 00 but rather in the wake of immense backlash. You see, while it was generally agreed that the party was seen by the royals and the guests and the politicians in attendance as an extraordinary backdrop for diplomatic liaising and international relations, which was net positive, that wasn't the sentiment of everyone, especially those within Iran. 51% of the nation's citizens lived below the poverty line, and at this point in time, Iran had just experienced slash was still amongst one of the worst droughts to ever hit the country. Over 80% of the nation's citizens did not have access to clean and running water, but the Shah decided to move tankers full of it out to the desert to water his fake
50:58 Speaker 00 forest for his fancy pants friends. And that's before you get to the obscenities spent on the dinner and the alcohol and the accommodation. I mean, look at the outcry even today over Trump's ballroom, or, for us in Australia, political families' first-class flight logs. All of which is barely a drop in the ocean in comparison to this event. Not that I'm in defense of either of those things, but the modern perspective on something that happened only 60 years ago is kind of wild. This level of luxury and infrastructure required to support something like this is obscene. I mean, a whole fucking airport and a highway.
51:40 Speaker 00 Thirty kilos of caviar, tents, ice, glassware, chives. Flown in from Paris by the Iranian military. Like government and military planes taking trips to and from Paris for pots and pans. It's absurd, and a hubris seen only in the pages of history. We covered the 1903 Romanov ball a few weeks ago. Alva Vanderbilt did a similar thing to this with her six million dollar ball. We also looked at the Diamond Necklace affair with Marie Antoinette like last month. We've spoken about Louis XIV Versailles before, we just spoke about the Berghof.
52:19 Speaker 00 These are all examples of the hubris of, of money and power and all things that have a totally different agenda than what they say. The 1903 Romanov ball wasn't about celebrating 290 years of Romanov history. It was about asserting themselves as absolute rulers. Look how incredible we are, you should all, you know, bow before us, monarchy is king. Alva Vanderbilt too. It wasn't about showing off her house. It was about outdoing Mrs. Astor and gaining entry into the 400 for social and political cred. The Berghof, yes, it was a mountain retreat and people can have holiday houses, but it was also the perfect backdrop for Nazi propaganda.
53:04 Speaker 00 And this 1971 celebration is the exact same thing, guys. A party to celebrate history, grandeur, culture, heritage. Really though, it was just a way for the Shah to show off on the world stage. A gilded, glistening fallacy. One which the Iranian people didn't even care about. Aside from the overspending and obvious misplacement of state resources while the nation's citizens were in peril, a large part of the criticism of this party was that the Shah appropriated Iranian history. Islamic philosopher Ali Shiradi speaks on this, saying, "Our people do not find their roots in these civilizations.
53:45 Speaker 00 We remember nothing from this distant past and do not care to learn about pre-Islamic civilizations." And you can't blame them here. They're trying to feed themselves and find water and also understand the Shah's new modern world, which doesn't look anything like this party, which shows just how little he actually cared about his people or their place in the 20th century. Instead, he just cared about his place amongst the global power brokers. Historian Robert Steele speaks to this, saying the hypocrisy of Iran to celebrate its monarchical tradition while its people were struggling to survive and the country was over-reliant on foreign capital is insane. And the people of Iran, particularly its students, weren't simply going to lump it
54:30 Speaker 00 while this party went ahead. Multiple protests broke out on the campuses of Tehran University and Aryan Mary University, where hundreds of students demonstrated while shouting slogans against the celebrations and the Shah. To combat this, the secret police sent in riot squads who arrested, rather coincidentally, 2,500 students from these campuses, which only added to their disillusionment with the regime. Despite this, protests continued to break out with pamphlets and protesters criticizing the Shah and the celebrations, titling these "The Shah's Celebration Against the People". These were all mass-produced and mass-distributed.
55:12 Speaker 00 The rioters, however, were found and also imprisoned, but the Iranian people were the only ones coming out in protest. On October 14th, 1971, the day of the Galatin, like the big banquet, a bomb exploded at the Iranian consulate in San Francisco in protest against the party. This was followed by a two-hour-long protest where students and officials walked from the federal building on Golden Gate Avenue to the damaged Iranian consulate, holding up signs that read "A Hungry Nation Does Not Need a 2,500-Year Celebration". One protester was even heard calling the celebrations "an extravagant orgy", which I think is pretty bang-on here, guys.
55:54 Speaker 00 But all of this was largely hushed up by the US authorities after all. Their own role in the 1953 coup and vested interests in the region were too great for this kind of noise to be amplified. Other regions and individuals had similar sentiments to these protests, with figures like Jeanne Boursart, Simone de Beauvieu and 14 British Members of Parliament signing a letter for an international boycott of the celebrations, which they claim dismissed the “oppression and misery to which the Iranian masses have been subjected”, and argued that “participation in effect would be tantamount to sanctioning all the crimes and oppression with which the Iranian monarchy is associated in the last 25 centuries”.
56:36 Speaker 00 The Shah and Empress were feeling the heat too, which we know from her diary directly, which she says: “Of all the tasks that fell to me in the preparation for the festivities, coping with the press was the most difficult and depressing. For just as I had predicted, a wave of asperic criticisms and expenditures on luxury slowly arose from the West. The journalists got on this hobby horse and rode it again and again. What kind of monarchy is dressed by Lavon and eats at Maxims when its people still sometimes lack food and schools? A final fireworks display was held on the occasion and in the last group photo I can clearly be seen giving a sigh of relief.”
57:18 Speaker 00 I mean, if this doesn’t sum up just how out of touch and absurd this whole thing is, then perhaps what happened after the event wrapped up will. For once the guests flew out and the Shah returned to his palace, the remains of the once glorious event just sat there. Oswald Touch, a waiter at the event, said: “At the end of the three-day celebrations, loads of goods were left over, and when the soldiers began tossing whole crates of wine into rubbish bins, we waiters ran over to them like crazy, saying, ‘Dear Lord, please help us save as much as possible’. Chef Gerhard Müller concurred, saying:
57:58 Speaker 00 ‘Just imagine, soldiers emptying the wine from open magnum bottles over their shaved heads and not drinking a drop. Even today, I can hear Andrea Badrout, proprietor of the palace, who had also been invited to the Sepulis, shouting, ‘Gerhard, the soldiers are throwing everything away, wine, plates, cutlery, and that’s pretty much what happened to everything here. Custom-made plates were smashed, hand-embroidered menus were thrown out, and magnums of champagne were poured into the sand, and as for the Grand Tent City...’” It was abandoned. While the government received six different plans to reuse the site, none of the stakeholders could agree on what to do with it, which led to the site's deterioration to the degree
58:42 Speaker 00 that no more than its steel structures exist today.
58:48 Speaker 00 All that silk and finery just gone, as too soon was the Shah. You see, just as the 1903 Romanov Ball and the parties at the Berghof were precursors for the end, the 1971 Iranian celebration became a primary catalyst for revolutionary fever, which eventually took Iran in 1979, when it became an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Khomeini, who became its first supreme leader. Of the 1971 celebration, he said, "It is the duty of the Muslim people of Iran to refrain from participation in this illegitimate festival. Let the festival organizers know that they are despised by the Islamic community and by all alert people throughout the world,
59:32 Speaker 00 that they are hated by all lovers of freedom and that Islam and the Muslims are repelled by the very notion of monarchy." Now, we know that this Islamic republic was not a lover of freedom, as Khomeini claimed in that speech, and rather, it's a government based on Shia religious rule and is repressive, controlling, and just as devastating as the Shah's rule. But you can see how the 1971 party was a direct catalyst for the revolution eight years later. After all, the Shah was eating truffles and parading in a fake forest while 51% of his subjects were hungry. All the while, his secret police had thousands of suspected prisoners arrested under the guise of national security, using Iranian history as a pretext
1:00:17 Speaker 00 to brag to his wealthy and arrogant friends about how fabulous he was. So it's no wonder political parties in opposition, despite their contrasting ideologies, joined hands against the king of kings, leading to the revolution of 1979. And while the Shah formally apologized to his people three years after the incident and asked for their forgiveness for decades of poor choices, wrongdoings, and brutality, the harm had already been done, and he was sent into exile, dying a year later. And now, we're left with a version of Iran which is both wildly different but largely the same. While the Shah's rule was generally more secular and modernising, and Khomeini's
1:01:02 Speaker 00 system combined political control with religious authority, they're both based on authoritarian ideas and mass repression. It's just under a different ideology. And stuck in the middle of all of this are the everyday Iranian people, whose needs seem to be constantly overlooked and whose lives since the beginning of the 20th century are always in danger. Whether it's foreign intervention, it's coups, it's bloody protests, droughts, famines, revolutions, assassinations, and now war. And while, of course, this doesn't boil down to one event or party, I'm not saying the 1971, you know, Iranian celebration is responsible for this all, it is undeniable that this
1:01:47 Speaker 00 anniversary celebration was truly cataclysmic and did go on to change the history of Iran and its people forever. Summed up best, I think, by this man, Jafzal, who said, "The power of the people is always greater than the people in power." Ultimately, that's what makes the 1971 celebration so unforgettable. On one hand, it's a tragic tale of a man blinded by his wealth. On the other hand, it tells a story of how a single event helped spark one of the most significant revolutions in modern history. Today's world leaders would do well to remember the mistakes of the past. Which brings us to the end of another episode of Hot History.
1:02:31 Speaker 00 Thank you so much for following along with me on this episode. If you guys would like a deeper dive into Iranian history, or perhaps even the Iranian revolution, then definitely let me know and I can add it into the schedule. But otherwise, make sure to tune in next week because we are looking at one of the most unknown female figures in history, but someone who I find incredibly fascinating. So, for all of you crime and history lovers, Evelyn Ramadka was a housewife turned cat burglar who grew into one of Chicago's greatest criminal masterminds, founding her own society of all female criminals named The Vampire Women.
1:03:13 Speaker 00 And I can't wait to unpack it all with you next week. As always, guys, if you're looking for some more hot history before then, you can follow us on Instagram at Hot History Club and on TikTok at Hot.History. It has been a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you and I will speak to you all shortly. Thanks, guys. Love you. Bye.
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