TITLE: If the minimal polynomial is irreducible $\bmod p$ for some $p$, is the Galois group cyclic?
QUESTION [5 upvotes]: Say $\mathbb{Q}\subset\mathbb{Q}(\theta)$ is a Galois extension, and $\theta$ is integral over $\mathbb{Z}$. What I'm having a hard time understanding is, if $f(X)=\min_{\theta,\mathbb{Q}}(X)\in\mathbb{Z}[X]$ is the minimal polynomial of $\theta$ over $\mathbb{Q}$ and is irreducible $\mod p$ for some prime, how does this imply that the Galois group is in fact cyclic? Is it isomorphic to $C_p$ somehow or is my hunch off?
I tried writing out $f(X)=g(X)h(X)\pmod{p}$ implies $g(X)$ or $h(X)$ is constant $\pmod{p}$, but I don't know what to say about the Galois group from this. Is there a clever way to see the cyclicity of the Galois group without actually knowing what the minimal polynomial looks like here? Thanks.
Later: I appreciate the answers I received so far, but is it possible to derive this result without much knowledge of algebraic number theory? If not, I guess I know what I have to do next.

REPLY [4 votes]: The way the question is worded, the answer is yes. Since the minimal poly is irreducible mod $p$, the prime $p$ is inert in this Galois extension. The decomposition group of the unique prime above $p$ surjects to the Galois group of the extension of finite fields with kernel the inertia group (this is always true). In this case, inertia is trivial and decomposition is the whole group, so we have an isomorphism between the Galois group and a Galois group of finite fields, but the latter are always cyclic.
If you don't require $\mathbb{Q}(\theta)/\mathbb{Q}$ Galois, this argument goes away, and of course the Galois closure won't be cyclic since it has non-normal subgroups.