Faisal II

Faisal was the only son of his father, King Gazi I , who died in a car accident in 1939 . The cousin of the late king Emir Abdul Illah , closely associated with the British, became the regent under the four-year-old King Faisal II. He remained the de facto head of state even after Faisal officially ascended the throne in May 1953 . The weak-willed and weak king was entirely under his influence. Meanwhile, the opposition movement expanded. Monarchists managed to maintain power only through repression. Thousands of prisoners languished in Iraqi prisons.

The beginning of the 1950s throughout the Arab world was marked by a new upsurge in the national liberation struggle, which stirred up the patriotic community in Iraq. Organizations of peace supporters and mass democratic organizations arose. Branches of such pan-Arab nationalist left-wing radical organizations as the Party of the Arab Socialist Revival ( PASV or BAAS ), the Movement of Arab Nationalists (DAN), etc. were also created.

At the same time, reaction consolidated its forces. In November 1949, Nuri al-Saeed created his own party, the Constitutional Union, and in June 1951, the National Socialist Party Saleh Jabra was formed. However, in the fall of 1952, the government agreed to hold direct parliamentary elections. The elections were held in 1953, during which they exerted brutal pressure on voters, which allowed parliamentary supporters of the monarchist system to be held. Under pressure from the anti-government protests of the Iraqi people in 1954, the authorities were forced to dissolve the parliament and call new parliamentary elections. In the June elections, the United National Front won, representing the MET, the Independence Party and organizations of supporters of the world, women and youth, as well as the Communists ( IKP did not participate in the Front as an independent organization). Parliamentary elections were held under the slogan of eliminating the British military-political and economic dominance in Iraq, conducting democratic reforms and independent foreign policy. The monarchical elite Nuri Said decided to go for a coup. In August 1954, she announced the dissolution of the newly elected parliament and banned the activities of all political parties. An open military dictatorship was established in the country.

Since 1954, an unconstitutional press law has been in force in the country, severely restricting freedom of speech. Poverty and poverty of the greater part of the population, the low-land peasant-fellah peasants intensified the social situation even more.

Monarchist Iraq has gone closer to the regimes of neighboring Muslim countries. In 1955, with the active participation of England in Baghdad, a military-political bloc was drawn up with the participation of Iraq, Iran , Turkey and Pakistan . In accordance with the Anglo-Iraq agreement of 1955, replacing the 1930 treaty, England retained military-political control over Iraq and pulled it into its aggressive actions in the Near and Middle East, which caused discontent of the Iraqi people.

Rallies for Iraq's withdrawal from the Baghdad Pact united all the national-patriotic forces of the country. The demonstrations and protest strikes in November 1956 turned into an armed uprising. Although the uprising was crushed by mid-December 1956, it convinced Iraqi patriots of the need to unite in joint political actions and anti-government actions.

Since 1954, the national branch of the Arab Party of the Arab Socialist Revival (PASV Ba'ath) has stood out among the political forces of Iraq. The Ba'athists put forward simple and understandable slogans; they promised the people to carry out social reforms. Their party became popular among the population. The party’s credibility increased due to active participation in the movement against the Anglo-Franco-Israeli military invasion of Egypt in 1956. The PASV found the greatest support among the petty bourgeoisie and supporters of the idea of ​​Arab nationalism.

In December 1957 , when Faisal II was informed that dissatisfaction with the regime was growing among the security forces, he ordered only ammunition to be sent to combat missions.

The growing popularity of Egyptian President Nasser began to threaten the monarchy in Jordan . After Egypt and Syria agreed on the creation of the United Arab Republic in February 1958 , Iraqi and Jordanian monarchs decided to create an alternative entity: the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan, which would be headed by the 23-year-old King of Iraq Faisal II, as a senior member of the Hashemite dynasty. His reign in a new capacity lasted five months. When Faisal, fearing the threat of Syria, requested military assistance from Jordan, General Abdel Kerim Qassem took advantage of this situation to carry out the coup.

In early February 1957, the liberal-nationalist National Democratic Party and the Independence Party, the left-wing PASV and the Communist Party decided to unite in the Front of National Unity (FNE). Due to the distrustful attitude of the bourgeois participants in the Front, the KDP did not enter it, but maintained contact with it through the IKP. The FNE program included the removal of Nuri Sayd from power, the country's withdrawal from the Baghdad Pact and the democratization of the political system, the liberation of Iraq from foreign interference, and a policy of positive neutrality. The FNE program received support from nationalist organizations and the illegal army organization “ Free Officers ”. The nationalist Iraqi military, led by General A.K. Qassem and Colonel A.S. Aref, opposed the ruling regime. The military performance was agreed with the leadership of the FNE.

The performance took place on the night of July 13-14, 1958, on the eve of the departure of King Faisal II and Prime Minister Nuri Said from Baghdad to Istanbul to sign an agreement on Iraq's joining Turkish intervention against Lebanon .

On July 13, until late at night, a magnificent banquet was held in the royal palace of Qasr al-Rihab in honor of the departure of King Faisal II, Nuri Said and Abdul Illah to Istanbul for a meeting of countries participating in the Baghdad Pact, scheduled for July 14, 1958 in Istanbul. At Baghdad airport, the final preparations for the aircraft, which was supposed to deliver the Iraqi delegation to Turkey, were ending. All this happened on the eve of the wedding of the monarch. While the fun was going on in the palace, a group of Iraqi army officers led by brigade leader Abdel Karim Qassem entered their units on the streets of the Iraqi capital, seized government buildings and bombarded the royal palace of Qasr al-Rihab. After the upper floors of the building were demolished by shells and the resistance of the guards was broken, the royal family descended into the courtyard, headed by the monarch Faisal II and his uncle, Crown Prince Abdul Illah, and the closest courtiers, each of them holding the Koran over his head. Several officers approached them and ordered to turn to the wall of the palace. Lieutenant Abdel Sattar al-Abosi, without order, opened fire from machine guns and shot almost the entire royal family. Faisal II died later from his wounds in the hospital where he was taken. Then the body of Faisal II was put on public display in front of his former residence. Unlike other representatives of the royal family, they did not mock the corpse of the young king, secretly betraying him to the earth.

The 37-year reign of the Hashemite dynasty in Iraq has come to an end. After the massacre in the palace of Qasr al-Rihab, only the wife of Prince Abd al-Illah survived by accident. The conspirators took the wounded wife of the former regent as dead and left them to lie under a pile of bodies of executed relatives. Among the miraculously survived members of the royal family was Faisal II's cousin, Sharif Ali bin Hussein . The family members of Hussein and Badia who arrived at the wedding took refuge in the embassy of Saudi Arabia , the country that had once overthrown and expelled Badia’s grandfather. Soon they moved to Lebanon .

The rebels proclaimed Iraq an independent republic. The structure of the republican government included representatives of senior officers and FNE officials. It was announced that Iraq was withdrawing from the Baghdad Pact, about the elimination of foreign military bases in Iraqi territory. The head of state was appointed A.K. Kasem. On July 26, an interim constitution was introduced, enshrining republican gains and proclaiming the equality of all citizens before the law . The president became the head of state, he was also the chairman of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command - the country's highest legislative body. Executive power was exercised by the Council of Ministers, whose members were appointed by the president.

The July revolutionary events of 1958 can be characterized as an anti-colonial national revolution, the success of which was ensured by the participation of the broad masses in it and the unity of the opposition monarchy of forces. Those who later began cutting each other out already.

At the end of December 2007, a Rolls-Royce car was found that belonged to the last king of the country, Faisal II. The car was accidentally discovered during a routine operation by security forces in the Khor Rajab region south of Baghdad. The Rolls-Royce of the former King of Iraq was produced on special order in 1956 . The car was delivered to the capital, where it took its place in the National Museum ^[4] .

• Iraq in World War II

• Young King , Time Magazine (April 17, 1939). Date of treatment November 24, 2017.
• Revolt in Baghdad. , Time Magazine (July 21, 1958). Date of treatment November 24, 2017.
• In One Swift Hour. , Time Magazine (July 28, 1958). Date of treatment November 24, 2017.
• Coins of Faisal II. (unspecified) . Date of treatment November 24, 2017.