This study treates the last phase of the Hashimite monarchy In Iraq, where from 1941 until the 1958 revolution, Nuri as-Sa´id Pasha either headed or controlled most government coalitions. After World War II he tried to make a long term agreement with Great Britain by means of a new Anglo-Iraqi Treaty but so vehement were public demonstrations against it that the treaty was never ratified. The Arab defeat in Palestine war of 1948 had serious political and economic repercussions in Iraq. The defeat gave the regime the opportunity to impose martial law on the country. Nuri as-Sa´id continued his traditional pro-British policy and, in 1955, aligned Iraq with the Western defence system through the Baghdad Pact, extending British military privileges in the country. Failures in domestic affairs were matched by foreign policy failures. The new alliance with the West achieved through relentless domestic suppression only served to intensify the desire for independence and the nationalist sentiments. The opposition succeeded in bringing the regime down in 1958.
The masterly fashion in which the military coup of 14 July 1958 in Iraq, that finally overthrew the monarchy and inaugurated a new era in Iraqi history was carried out, raised high hopes that the new regime would wipe out past injustices and open a new era which would provide freedom, prosperity, and progress. The revolution succeeded more because of luck and audacity than a result of a long planning or extensive organization. The coup was unquestionably a reflection of deep-seated discontent among officers and among civilian politicians with the regime's foreign policy and its slowness to reform. However, the military men, who were particularly susceptible to slogans from Radio Cairo, gave far more thought to the overthrow of the existing regime than to what would replace it. In order to meet the common expectations the newly formed government under Brigadier cAbdalkarim Qasim made it clear, in official and unofficial statements, that all restrictions on personal liberty were lifted, discriminatory measures abolished, and steps would be taken to repair past errors. The reality that turned out appeared to be quite different.
The ruling elite of the old regime in Iraq had been too much preoccupied with the problem of achieving independence from foreign control to pay attention to social reforms. After formal independence, the rulers argued that reforms required the capital and technical know-how which Iraq lacked. The new generation soon discovered that even when the capital became available, social conditions were not likely to improve in a way that would enable them to play their role in public affairs. Such devices as strikes and street demonstrations were quickly suppressed by the means at the disposal of those who controlled the state. Nothing short of a violent uprising in which the army participated would bring about a change in rulers, and this was accomplished by the Revolution of 1958. The military coup that finally overthrew the monarchy and inaugurated a new era in Iraqi history succeeded more because of luck and audacity than as a result of a long planning or extensive organization. The coup was unquestionably a reflection of deep-seated discontent among officers and among civilian politicians with the regime's foreign policy and its slowness to reform.
In Iraq on 8th February 1963 the Socialist Party of Arab Resurrection (the Bacth Party) carried out an armed coup. It overthrew the regime of cAbdalkarīm Qāsim and came to power. Its short reign turned out as an unsuccessful experiment and ended on 18th November of the same year in a countercoup staged by the army. A difficult period followed in which the Bacth leadership worked to overthrow the existing military regime and restore its former position. The Bacthists returned to power by accomplishing two coups, one on 17th July and the other on 30th July 1968. In both instances, they prevailed by stratagem rather than through force. In the first they deposed the president by allying themselves with his closest aides. In the second they got rid of their inconvenient temporary allies. The two distinct groups which in an odd alliance finally carried out the first coup were the Bacth Party and a small group of dissatisfied supporters of the regime whose leaders were cAbdarrazzāq an-Nāyif and Ibrāhīm ad-Dā’ūd. The two men who held the fate of the regime in their hands belonged to a group of younger moderate Arab nationalist officers within the army.
In the post-World War II period, as turbulent times were sweeping the Middle East, the Iraqi political elite became aware that the liberal and moderate nationalists had begun to come to the fore in Iraqi politics. The victory of the British Labour Party in the parliamentary elections of 1945 was particularly discussed in political circles in Baghdad. Owing to continued protests made by representatives of various shades of opinion, the regent, motivated principally by political expedience, took the unprecedented step and on 27 December 1945 in front of deputies and senators announced measures to liberalise the political order. He called for the formation of political parties, and promised full freedom for their activities and the inauguration of economic and social reforms. The task was entrusted to Tawfīq as-Suwaydī who brought into his cabinet younger personnel whose political outlook was less inflexible than that of the old politicians. This government was naturally short lived.
The coup of the 17th July 1968, although not entirely the work of the Bacth, shortly brought the Bacth Party to full power and inaugurated another distinct change in the structure and orientation of government in Iraq. This time the Bacthists, having learned well the lessons of 1963, managed to stay in powerand to institute the kind of regime they had failed to achieve in 1963. To the surprise of many they brought a long period of stability achieved by draconian means. The regime established a one-party state that eventually developed an impressive institutional structure, and gradually concentrated power in the hands of one man, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn, to a degree not seen since the last days of the monarchy. The Bacth also reached a temporary settlement of the Kurdish problem that appeared more likely to remain intact than previous solutions, although it took a bitter and costly war to achieve. The party made a renewed and reasonably successful effort at economic and social transformation, going well beyond the achievements of previous regimes.
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