On 1 April 1941 a group of pro-Axis officers made a coup against the
Iraqi government of regent Abd al-Ilah. He was regent for the child King Faysal
II and fled to Transjordan. Former Prime Minister Rashid al-Kaylani became
Prime minister again. The officers wanted full independence for Iraq from
Britain that had taken Iraq from the Ottoman Empire during World War I and made it a Kingdom under
British control. Several attempts to gain independence were met with British
resistance and Iraqi politics deteriorated in uprisings and coup attempts.
PM Rashid al-Kaylani.
The officers thought Germany and Italy would win the war, and sought
closer ties with the Axis-powers. The British, afraid of losing the oil-rich
country to Germany, requested permission to land troops according to the
Anglo-Iraqi Treaty they made in 1930. Receiving no answer, Britain sent troops
and war started. The British won and restored the regent and a pro-British government.
Iraqi nationalist were outraged arguing that Rashid had a lot of support.
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IraqWWII_en.svg](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglixdHDOOgdHEfR7GW3ek0jqplkeD1AFUNH1e6lS1sH9ov2hjr3g_Oh5idJIbMVGeVqaUd8V-D9XfxgQRElnn35yBsFJsqE029omwCfsZAlEtDrlhMlXMyQ_WrjunquH-kT6OJU0HOmB0/s1600/Map.png) |
Map of Iraq in 1941. |
In the chaos people hostile to the British and the Zionist project in Palestine massacred hundreds of Jews in Bagdad. In the end Britain would lose as a new military coup in 1958 killed the whole royal family. Ties with Britain were cut and Iraq removed from the Baghdad Pact.
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Iraqi_War](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnHHMlJs7BeaScHJs8hyphenhyphenIa8Cv6P2JCAjQwlDUXkYN7WMgykEAGXCRNjtlObAHW6Wrzlw4BEIs8ZZMZTPtzoOhTmBmBXu-eU5I4NP5LXGhFde1gW67hrzjsaYDvchDIgEkmtkHj4J2t3NY/s1600/British.png) |
British forces outside Baghdad while negotiations for
an armistice take place.
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Sources and more
information
I am open to your
comments and proposals.
Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik