Reza Shah Pahlavi

Reza Shah Pahlavi (b. Reza Khan; March 16, 1878 – July 26, 1944) was the Shah of Iran from 1925 to 1941, when he abdicated (declared that was no longer king) and passed the position on to his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1921, he and Seyed Ziya-al-Din Tabatabaei launched a coup d'état overthrowing the Qajar dynasty. Reza Shāh then became minister of war, and eventually became king, which started the Pahlavi dynasty. Because of his friendship with Adolf Hitler, the British suspected that Nazi Germany was conspiring with Iran and ordered Reza Shāh to abdicate, which he then did.
Reza Shah was originally Reza Khan, a military officer of the Persian Cossack Brigade who could not read, and taught himself.