Hagobian Essay

Hagob Hagobian grew up in Western Iran in an orphanage. He took advantage of the chances that came his way and was able to create a financially secure place in the middle-class society in Iran. He had an intense desire to better himself and his family as his biography explains, in Iranian society from the 1920s to the 1950s. “Of particular interest is his membership in the truck drivers’ guild, an indication that the old Islamic guild system flourished into the twentieth century and even showed a capacity to adapt to changing times” (178). The role of Armenians in the development of the trans-Iran trucking industry emerged from the biography of Hagobian.

Hagobian’s truck was taken away and he was deprived of his means of living, but he was able to make his life a success in Iran with his hard work and determination before he came
He wanted to move the country quickly to industrialization and Western influenced social change. It was a turning point for the modernization of Iran under the reign of Raza Shah because many of the changes during his rule were a reversal of the nineteenth century movements. “In order to adopt the material advances of the West, it was necessary for the country’s interdependent economy and infrastructure to grow simultaneously: this became Reza Shah’s Main agenda during his reign” (182). Due to Iran’s large territory and rough terrain they needed a modern system of transportation. Which is what Reza Shah’s rule did.

The reasons above show that the guild system and Reza Shah’s policies were there to help Hagob succeed in his trucking business. The only thing that it did not help was the risk of them having an accident which was the biggest danger. Many Iranian truck drivers died after making errors on the