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.
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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.
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British forces outside Baghdad while negotiations for
an armistice take place.
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information
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comments and proposals.
Warmly
Bjarte Bjørsvik