New Delhi, Jan. 9 -- Over the past 50 years, Iran has been shaken by a series of protests.

Beginning with the demonstrations that led to the founding of the Islamic Republic to now, here's a brief look at the protests and what fueled them.

1979 Islamic Revolution

In the lead-up to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, students, oil workers and others protested, demanding political freedoms. Those demonstrations pressured the fatally ill ruler of the country, the autocratic Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who ultimately fled the country. The revolution took hold in February under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who installed a hard-line Shiite theocracy under his ultimate control. The new government executed thousands. The bloodshed of the 1980s Ira...