The $22 Million Party that Overthrew an Empire 

Have you ever been deposed for spending $22 million on a party? Let me know below. Do you have any HAI topic suggestions? Let me know here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfUdlvw6YgU44J8AnM2U_ZvRMyvh_CUM51LYSqF5nYJB9d1-w/viewform?usp=sf_link If we use your suggestion, we'll send you a free HAI t-shirt! Speaking of topics, some people have pointed out that this one has been covered by another RU-vid channel. This topic came in via our suggestion form, but I imagine the person who suggested it could have seen that video. Normally I search to see if any similar channels have tackled the same topic, but I guess this time I just didn't... Looks like that channel has done a few we did first too, which kinda just shows how it's inevitable if you cover similar things and make enough videos. I try to avoid topic overlap, but I'm not too annoyed if others do this as long as the videos aren't actually plagiarized. Nobody owns a topic.

"250 Mercedes limos is way more than what the average person has" Average person with only 37 Mercedes limos: hey, he's right!

1:38 1971 AD is actually 2520 years after 550 BC, because there is no year zero

Some interesting notes - The caterer (maxim's) brought their entire kitchen en vast amounts of food like caviar and peacocks to the location. - The Iranian air force was mostly responsible for the transport of the mentioned supplies. - The road from the airport to the venue was lit using burning oil barrels.

We have cake is the best excuse ever.

the one guy that actualy care for the monarchy: "ok guys our nation is in ruin and the people are suffering, what should do?" the tzar, shah, and the king of french: *PARTY TIME*

He's a maniac, maniac in the halll And he's shah-ing like he's never shah'd before

Apparently this party actually cost just under 650 million dollars (adjusted for inflation, which would have been a better click-bait title). They also didn’t send the queen for another reason (3:23), it was because the shah of Iran was known as the “king of kings” and the British government didn’t want their queen looking like she was paying homage to the king of kings given that they thought she was better (cause she is and can keep a country together). That’s what I heard so if you think I’m wrong, please just tell me and don’t berate me in the comments, thanks

Just got my accepted for my internship at the F.B.I. !!! Also, why does this guy keep making videos about bricks? I honestly never watch them past a few seconds :/

You really should have include the part where he close the entire country's border and have the entire iranian military to guard his party for security. It was hilarious.

The Shah of Iran throws a party *This enraged the people who punished him seve..* OOPS WRONG CHANNEL

The company that my dad worked for had a BIG presence in Iran in the 1960s & 70s. My dad was offered a position there and my parents were seriously considering making the move, to the point that my older sister remembers looking at school brochures with my mom. Ultimately, the company was only offering to pay for the education of three children and my parents have five children. So my dad opted to not take the position in Iran and stayed with a different division in Baltimore. We wouldn't have gotten to Iran in time for this party, but we would have just been getting settled by the time the Revolution began to heat up. When the Shah and his family left Iran, my dad's company pulled their people out all at once. I remember watching a news report of all the American families arriving in the US after being evacuated. My dad was pointing out a number of people whom he recognized. One of the families moved into our neighborhood and I went to school with one of their sons for a year or two. I have a couple Persian friends and we often talk about life in Iran in the 70s and what might have been.

6:00 oh yes wear "surprisingly affordable wireless earbuds" in your not so affordable Lamborghini drop top instead of idk listening to the amazing sound of the engine or just turning on the radio

Imagine how weird it would feel seeing everything unfold. Most expensive alcohol, food catered from a French restaurant, and tents designed by foreign people in the middle of a desert. Then you'll see representatives of the US and USSR just chilling outside their tents and royalty just hanging around.

The thing is, this isn't even the only empire brought down by an expensive party. Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire spent slightly less on his 1976 coronation ceremony, $20 million, but as the CAE was much poorer than Iran, this represented 1/3 of the nation's entire GDP. And if you've never heard of the Central African Empire, that's because it was previously the Central African Republic until Bokassa declared himself emperor and threw that party, and its excess (and his dictatorial rule) pissed off the populace so much that the "empire" lasted less than three years before he was deposed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Empire

Imagine your party being so epic that the your people literally overthrow you

A party? Wow I remember those... good times!

HAI: "Raycon Earbuds. They cost about half as much" Me: "Those earbuds are $11 million???????"

1:30 Actually, the gap between 1971AD and 550BC is 2520 years (not 2521), because there is no year zero. :)

An Iranian here, and this was awesome :))) (btw, I have no idea why everyone calls him "the shah" when shah is simply the persian word for "king")

SideNote told me it was $635M party.

Throw most expensive party ever in an unstable country in recession Ah yes, the recipe for political stability

Why does he sound like someone is holding a gun to his head while talking ’bout raycon at the end?

There is a channel called "side note " which made a 30 minute video about & it is amazing and he spent 100 million dollars on it not 22 million

Me: *sees the title Me: "i already know this party cause sidenote had already covered it in detail" No shade, i just love both channels

This is just another distraction to stop you from remembering that hai was supposed to do a video about bricks.

People: Quarantined HAI: *posts vid related to party*

He imported everything from France that he accidentally imported Iran-styled French revolution.

$22M seems to be before adjusting for inflation...

I love the storytelling behind these videos! A great example of what to strive for for us smaller channels!

I have another story about the Shah. My grandads mate worked for a defence company, and also made model aircraft as a hobby. The Shah flew him to Iran and closed the whole airport so he could see the model plane fly. This was the main international airport.

*the sha partying like never before* *meanwhile the economy and the people are suffering in the background*

I spent 13$ on a pizza once, so I think I got this guy beat.

Those are not just ordinary Mercedes-Benz limos. Those are Mercedes-Benz Grosser. And 250 of those is eye watering expensive. The Grosser is the most over-engineered Mercedes of the 1960's, and to think that even the Rolls-Royce Phantom doesn't even come close in style, luxury, technological advancement, and quality.

It was just the 21st anniversary of the 2500th anniversary. It could finally drink; so the party had to be extravagant you see.

1971AD actually was 2520 years after 550BC because there was no year between 1BC and 1AD

Disregarding loss of ruling a basically wealthy country, I’d say a more expensive party - also in the 1970’s - was the coronation of Emperor Bokassa I of the country he had rechristened the Central African Empire. It cost $25 million in a country that at the time had an annual GNP of $75 million.

I think my 3-hour pasta dinner where I singlehandedly ate an entire box of Hannaford brand pot-ready thin spaghetti between the hours of 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. without gaining so much as a pound of weight might dethrone the Grand Gala Dinner for the record of the most lavish official banquet in modern history, I don't know for sure, though.

Right when I'm about to do my homework lol. Love the video!

When you realize the US overthrew Iran's democratically elected leader in favor of this guy's family, their current conflict with Iran starts to make a lot more (or less, depending on your point of view) sense.

Sidenote Fans: *Hey I’ve seen this one before, it’s a classic!*

I've seen a documentary about this but couldn't find the right words to Google this event, thanks HAI guy.

This was such a perfect description of that party

You got 22 million. What do you do? Throw a party or spend it all on the newest iPhone?

I loved that Maison Jansen pronounciation. Very French and flattering, even though is is actually Dutch and the most common surname there is. Interesting how a French flair makes everything sound posh.

I was waiting for another video on this topic.

1:12 Translation: Celebrating 2500 years of the foundation of Persian empire.

Many also attribute the construction of Versailles’ cost to the French Revolution, so basically the lesson is that people don’t think of cake all that highly

I wanna know who's the Erlich Bachman to this Big Head

The jokes in this video were spot on. Nice job!

Hey wow! Raycons! I got a pair of these buds a couple of months ago (through a Facebook ad, sorry HAI, you're welcome Mr. Zuckerberg), and I have to say that they do work well. My first BT earbuds, so I have no standard of comparison with others, but I have no complaints. Sound quality is good.

"you'd be fun at parties."

Fun fact:When they were preparing the deserts of Persepolis for party they accidentally discovered some new species of reptiles Lol imagine partying soo hard that you discover some new species of reptiles 🤣

I love your content! You inspire me to create my own videos. :)

You’re the reason why I’m abt to pass my AP US History Exam Today thanks

Fun fact about this party: The man who would be the italian king today (i.e. the son of the last king) married his swiss pro-athlete wife at that party. [This is somehow relevant to the current family feud over he actually is the correct throne pretender, but claims to an imaginary throne are kinda ... meh ...]

What about parties in Ancient Rome? If properly documented and the costs converted, I'm sure some of the numbers would put Caligula to shame!

Hey HAI, Another good video 🙂. I have a topic I'd like to suggest as a regular viewer if you're interested: the 1904 Olympic Marathon in St Louis, Missouri. Either way, thank you for your video!

The best example of solving a problem by introducing a brand new problem

That all sounds like it cost way more than 22 million dollars.

The most lavish party I ever threw cost $395 for 7 people. It was at a pretty nice Italian restaurant along the west side in manhattan, and the entrees were so tiny !! The taste, presentation, and freshness was amazing though, especially the Desserts. The raspberry Panna Cotta was very memorable, and the Gnocchi was so well garnished.

Man, this guy is a legend!

The comedy in this channel is amazing

Am I missing something or I'm just dumb. Google said the party was 90 mil which is 516 USD in today's money.

I feel like it would be helpful to mention that $22M in 1971 is equivalent to $139M in 2020 dollars. I was honestly impressed that he did so much for $22M before checking.

Tired: Sam fitting airplanes into videos Wired: Sam flexing his French whenever he can

Organisers: what stuff would you like from France for this party? Shah: yes

Iran’s economy was booming at the beginning of the 1970s and was on par with growth similar to that of Japan at the time.

I already know this by watching Sidenote RU-vid channel

French Revolution is so contagious it affected the Russian Empire as well.

Your humor is unmatched

When your so early that you can’t see the comments. The only problem of being faster than light is that you have to live in darkness.

*yeah but where are the bricks?*

1:36 hahaha, he said it, he said the number!

I would still like to know what they ate though. According to Maxim’s summer menu, they serve Italian food. I still have trouble finding out what they ate though.

And then he got into a beef with Tony Soprano thirty years later...

The most expensive party is the iran's 600m$ party

After hearing about it I'm surprised this party only cost 22 million dollars. Holy crap dude.

As soon as I saw the title I knew what it was going to be about. If you want the longer story of this the channel SideNote did a great video about it that's about half an hour

The economy in Iran in the 70s was great that was when the price of oil was sky high and they have more oil than the Arabs soooo

HAI made a video on a topic that I already know about from high school world history class? Wow, he must really be running out of ideas.

That party cost almost half of the animation budget for this video

4:16 is a very interesting way to describe a rave

African Potatoes

SIDENOTE already made a video about this party

You guys can also watch more about this party in SideNote channel

The Iannis Xenakis pronounciation is already my favourite part of the future error correction video

1:44 * cough * 🇷🇺

Who clicked this video and thought, hmm this seems familiar. ( copied from Sidenote)

How ironic it is that the party to commemorate the founding anniversary end up becoming it's downfall

In Brazil there was also a huge party just before the fall of the monarchy in 1889, but the costs were much lower - about less than 4 million (today's) US dollars

Last time I was this early the Shah still existed

when you're so early the comments dont work

I knew what this was going to be about, but HAI's narration got me anyway

The party was actually much more than $22 million dollars. It was really about $90 million in 1971, but adjusted for inflation it’s about $569 million dollars.

throwing an expensive ball in the midst of your country having a huge inequality issue is pretty much a death sentence for a monarchy

1:37 1971 was actually 2520 years after 550 BC. Remember that there was no year 0. So i.e. AD 2 is 3 years after 2 BC.

🤣🤣🤣 I love the sarcasm🤣🤣🤣

wait so you’re telling me this man gave up his throne for a french desert rave

When I am early but I don't have any memes to copy Me: I have won but at what cost HAI copying sidenot