1958 Jordan crisis

Last updated

The 1958 Jordan crisis was an attempted coup against the regime of King Hussein which occurred during the spring and summer of that year. [1] [2] It had happened in the background of several other revolutions during that year, [3] and was organized by opposition forces supported by Syria and Egypt. [4] The attempted coup attempt happened in the background of the same events as the 14 July Revolution. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saddam Hussein</span> President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, also known mononymously as Saddam was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He also served as prime minister of Iraq from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Arab Republic</span> Sovereign state in the Middle East (1958–1971)

The United Arab Republic was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1961. It was initially a political union between Egypt and Syria from 1958 until Syria seceded from the union following the 1961 Syrian coup d'état. Egypt continued to be known officially as the United Arab Republic until September 1971 when it was formally dissolved by Anwar Sadat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suez Crisis</span> 1956 British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt

The Suez Crisis or the Second Arab–Israeli War, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and as the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so with the primary objective of re-opening the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba as the recent tightening of the eight-year-long Egyptian blockade further prevented Israeli passage. After issuing a joint ultimatum for a ceasefire, the United Kingdom and France joined the Israelis on 5 November, seeking to depose Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and regain control of the Suez Canal, which Nasser had earlier nationalised by transferring administrative control from the foreign-owned Suez Canal Company to Egypt's new government-owned Suez Canal Authority. Shortly after the invasion began, the three countries came under heavy political pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as from the United Nations, eventually prompting their withdrawal from Egypt. Israel's four-month-long occupation of the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula enabled it to attain freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran, but the Suez Canal itself was closed from October 1956 to March 1957. The Suez Crisis led to international humiliation for the British and the French in the wake of the Cold War, which established the Americans and the Soviets as the world's superpowers. It also strengthened Nasser's standing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul-Karim Qasim</span> Prime Minister of Iraq from 1958 to 1963

Abdul-Karim Qasim Muhammad Bakr al-Fadhli al-Zubaidi was an Iraqi military officer and nationalist who came to power in 1958 when the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown during the 14 July Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1958 Lebanon crisis</span> Lebanese political crisis

The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a political crisis in Lebanon caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included a United States military intervention. The intervention lasted for around three months until President Camille Chamoun, who had requested the assistance, completed his term as president of Lebanon. American and Lebanese government forces successfully occupied the Port of Beirut and Beirut International Airport. With the crisis over, the United States withdrew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Rahman Arif</span> President of Iraq from 1966 to 1968

Hajj ʿAbd al-Rahman Mohammed ʿArif al-Jumayli was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the third president of Iraq from 16 April 1966 to 17 July 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1953 Iranian coup d'état</span> Coup to depose the elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh

The 1953 Iranian coup d'état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d'état, was the U.S.- and British-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on 19 August 1953, with one of the significant objectives being to protect British oil interests in Iran. It was aided by the United States and the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Iraq</span> Independent Iraqi monarchy (1932–1958)

The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was a state located in the Middle East from 1932 to 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab Federation</span> 1958 short-lived confederation of Iraq and Jordan

The Hashemite Arab Federation was a short-lived country that was formed in 1958 from the union between the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq and Kingdom of Jordan. Although the name implies a federal structure, it was de facto a confederation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States foreign policy in the Middle East</span> Activities and objectives of the United States in the Middle East

United States foreign policy in the Middle East has its roots in the early 19th-century Tripolitan War that occurred shortly after the 1776 establishment of the United States as an independent sovereign state, but became much more expansive in the aftermath of World War II. With the goal of preventing the Soviet Union from gaining influence in the region during the Cold War, American foreign policy saw the deliverance of extensive support in various forms to anti-communist and anti-Soviet regimes; among the top priorities for the U.S. with regards to this goal was its support for the State of Israel against its Soviet-backed neighbouring Arab countries during the peak of the Arab–Israeli conflict. The U.S. also came to replace the United Kingdom as the main security patron for Saudi Arabia as well as the other Arab states of the Persian Gulf in the 1960s and 1970s in order to ensure, among other goals, a stable flow of oil from the Persian Gulf. As of 2023, the U.S. has diplomatic relations with every country in the Middle East except for Iran, with whom relations were severed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and Syria, with whom relations were suspended in 2012 following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">14 July Revolution</span> Iraqi military coup in 1958

The 14 July Revolution, also known as the 1958 Iraqi military coup, was a coup d'état that took place on 14 July 1958 in Iraq which resulted in the toppling of King Faisal II and the overthrow of the Hashemite-led Kingdom of Iraq. The Iraqi Republic established in its wake ended the Hashemite Arab Federation between Iraq and Jordan that had been established just six months earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramadan Revolution</span> 1963 Baathist military coup in Iraq

The Ramadan Revolution, also referred to as the 8 February Revolution and the February 1963 coup d'état in Iraq, was a military coup by the Iraqi branch of the Ba'ath Party which overthrew the Prime Minister of Iraq, Abdul-Karim Qasim in 1963. It took place between 8 and 10 February 1963. Qasim's former deputy, Abdul Salam Arif, who was not a Ba'athist, was given the largely ceremonial title of President, while prominent Ba'athist general Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr was named Prime Minister. The most powerful leader of the new government was the secretary general of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, Ali Salih al-Sa'di, who controlled the National Guard militia and organized a massacre of hundreds—if not thousands—of suspected communists and other dissidents following the coup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt–Iraq relations</span> Bilateral relations

Egypt–Iraq relations have varied over time, alternating from cooperation to rivalry over time. The modern relationship between Iraq and Egypt soured in 1977 when the two nations broke relations with each other following Egypt's peace accords with Israel. In 1978, Baghdad hosted an Arab League summit that condemned and ostracized Egypt for accepting the Camp David accords. However, Egypt's strong material and diplomatic support for Iraq in its war with Iran led to warmer relations and numerous contacts between senior officials, despite the continued absence of ambassadorial-level representation. Since 1983, Iraq has repeatedly called for the restoration of Egypt's "natural role" among Arab countries. In January 1984, Iraq successfully led Arab efforts within the OIC to restore Egypt's membership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iraqi Republic (1958–1968)</span> Period of Iraqi history from 1958 to 1968

The Iraqi Republic, colloquially known as the First Iraqi Republic, as well as Qasimist Iraq (1958–1963) and Nasserist Iraq (1963–1968), was a state forged in 1958 under the rule of President Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i and Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim. ar-Ruba'i and Qasim first came to power through the 14 July Revolution in which the Kingdom of Iraq's Hashemite dynasty was overthrown. As a result, the Kingdom and the Arab Federation were dissolved and the Iraqi republic established. Arab nationalists later took power and overthrew Qasim in the Ramadan Revolution in February 1963, and then Nasserists consolidated their power after another coup in November 1963. The era ended with the Ba'athist rise to power in a coup in July 1968.

The Arab Cold War was a political rivalry in the Arab world from the early 1950s to the late 1970s, as part of the wider Cold War. It is generally accepted that the beginning of the Arab Cold War is marked by the Egyptian revolution of 1952, which eventually led to Gamal Abdel Nasser becoming president of Egypt in 1956. Thereafter, newly formed Arab republics, defined by revolutionary secular nationalism and inspired by Nasser's Egypt, engaged in political rivalries with conservative traditionalist Arab monarchies, led by Saudi Arabia. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 is widely seen as the end of this period of internal conflict and rivalry. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was installed as the leader of Iran's theocratic government. A new era of Arab-Iranian tensions followed, overshadowing the bitterness of intra-Arab strife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Syrian Republic</span> Predecessor state to modern Syria from 1950 until the Baathist coup in 1963

The Second Syrian Republic, officially the Syrian Republic from 1950 to 1958 and the Syrian Arab Republic from 1961 to 1963, succeeded the First Syrian Republic that had become de facto independent in April 1946 from the French Mandate. The Second Republic was founded on the Syrian Constitution of 1950, which was suspended from 1953 to 1954 under Adib Shishakli's strongmanship, and later when Syria joined with the Republic of Egypt in forming the United Arab Republic in 1958. The Second Republic resumed when Syria withdrew from the union in 1961. In 1963, the Syrian Ba'athist Party came to power in a bloody military coup, which laid the foundations for the political structure in Syria to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faisal II</span> King of Iraq from 1939 to 1958

Faisal II was the last King of Iraq. He reigned from 4 April 1939 until July 1958, when he was killed during the 14 July Revolution. This regicide marked the end of the thirty-seven-year-old Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, which then became a republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">17 July Revolution</span> 1968 Baathist coup in Iraq

The 17 July Revolution was a bloodless coup in Iraq in 1968 led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Abd ar-Razzaq an-Naif, and Abd ar-Rahman al-Dawud that ousted President Abdul Rahman Arif and Prime Minister Tahir Yahya and brought the Iraqi Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power. Ba'athists involved in the coup as well as the subsequent purge of the moderate faction led by Naif included Hardan al-Tikriti, Salih Mahdi Ammash, and Saddam Hussein, the future President of Iraq. The coup was primarily directed against Yahya, an outspoken Nasserist who exploited the political crisis created by the June 1967 Six-Day War to push Arif's moderate government to nationalize the Western-owned Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) in order to use Iraq's "oil as a weapon in the battle against Israel." Full nationalization of the IPC did not occur until 1972, under the Ba'athist administration. In the aftermath of the coup, the new Iraqi government consolidated power by denouncing alleged American and Israeli machinations, publicly executing 14 people including 9 Iraqi Jews on fabricated espionage charges amidst a broader purge, and working to expand Iraq's traditionally close relations with the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan–United Kingdom relations</span> Bilateral relations

Jordan–United Kingdom relations, or Anglo-Jordanian relations, refers to the relationship between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Both countries share a relatively close relationship because of the Hashemites, who received British help to overthrow Ottoman rule in the country during World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ali Salih al-Sa'di</span> Iraqi politician (1928–1977)

Ali Salih al-Sa'di was an Iraqi politician. He was General Secretary of the Iraqi branch of the Baath Party from the late 1950s until the November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état. From February 8, 1963 until the November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état, he was Deputy Prime Minister under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Minister of the Interior and as Commander of the National Guard.

References

  1. Tal, Lawrence (1995). "Britain and the Jordan Crisis of 1958". Middle Eastern Studies. 31 (1): 39–57. ISSN   0026-3206.
  2. "Playing a weak hand well: Jordan's Hashemite kings and the United States". Brookings. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  3. "The Middle East in 1958: Reimagining A Revolutionary Year | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs". www.belfercenter.org. Retrieved 2024-01-12.
  4. Tal, Lawrence (2002), Tal, Lawrence (ed.), "The July Crisis", Politics, the Military and National Security in Jordan, 1955–1967, St Antony's Series, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 54–66, doi:10.1057/9780230513921_4, ISBN   978-0-230-51392-1 , retrieved 2024-01-21
  5. "Statement by Macmillan on Jordan". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-01-24.