Iranian Revolution

Mass opposition to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi brought together religious activists, liberals, nationalists, leftists and workers during 1978. Strikes and demonstrations weakened the monarchy, and the Shah left Iran in January 1979.

Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile in February. The armed forces declared neutrality as the monarchy collapsed, and political struggle continued while revolutionary institutions consolidated power and the new Islamic Republic emerged.

Whirlwind and Escape place foreign helicopter crews and Iranian families inside the revolution’s decisive weeks. The need to evacuate personnel and aircraft becomes inseparable from divided loyalties, marriage, class and the rapid disappearance of established authority.