King Faisal II of Iraq - YouTube King Faisal II of Iraq Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Nov 8, 2009 Faisal II was the last sovereign of the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq. He was born in 1939 and was the only son of King Ghazi and Queen Alia. When he was 3-years-old his father died in a suspect car crash and Faisal II became King of Iraq with his uncle serving as regent. When he came of age he was a serious and careful monarch, intent on Iraq having friendly relations with foreign nations and becoming a modern, prosperous country. To that end he used the oil revenues of the country to build up the infrastructure of Iraq and invest in numerous projects to develop and modernize. However, he was plagued by the new communist party and the precedent set by the overthrow of the King of Egypt.

In 1958 republican radicals led a coup against the 23-year-old king, deposing him and brutally murdering almost the entire family. Since then Iraq has been ruled by a succession of dictators. Category The Hashemites: Jordan's Royal Family The Office The Hashemite royal family is interwoven into the life of Jordan, having established the modern state in 1921. It is impossible, therefore, to understand the fabric of Jordans modern history without some knowledge of the royal family. The Hashemites, or Bani Hashem, are descendants of the Arab chieftain Quraysh, a descendant of the Prophet Ismail, himself the son of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham). Quraysh first came to the holy city of Mecca during the second century CE. The first generation of Quraysh to rule the city came six generations later, when Qusayy bin Kilab ascended to the leadership of Mecca in the year 480 CE. The name Hashem is actually that of Qusayys grandson, who was the great-grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The Hashemites are thus the direct descendants of the Prophet through his daughter Fatima and her husband Ali bin Abi Talib , who was also the Prophets paternal first cousin and the fourth caliph of Islam. Ali and Fatima had two sons: Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein. The direct descendants of their eldest son, Hassan, are known as Sharifs (nobles), while the descendants of Hussein are called Sayyids (lords). The royal family of Jordan, the Hashemites, is descended through the Sharifian branch of lineage. Various Sharifian families ruled over the Hijaz region in Western Arabia between 967 and 1201 CE. Moreover, King Husseins branch of the Hashemite family ruled the holy city of Mecca from 1201 CE until 1925 CE, although they recognized the sovereignty of the Ottoman sultan in 1517. This makes King Hussein the head of the Hashemite family which, in addition to being directly descended from the Prophet, also represents over one thousand years of rule in the area, and almost two thousand years of recorded presence in the holy city of Mecca.

During the Great Arab Revolt of 1916, King Husseins great-grandfather, Al-Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and King of the Arabs (later he also became known as King of the Hijaz), led the liberation of Arab lands from their domination by the Ottoman Turks. After freeing the lands of Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Syria and the Hijaz, Sharif Husseins son Abdullah assumed the throne of Transjordan and his second son Faisal assumed the throne of Syria and later Iraq. The Emirate of Transjordan was founded on April 11, 1921, and became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan upon formal independence from Britain in 1946. During his thirty-year reign, King Abdullah presided over the forging of a viable and durable state out of a tribal, nomadic society. He developed the institutional foundations of modern Jordan, establishing democratic legitimacy by promulgating Jordans first Organic Law in 1928 (the basis for todays Constitution ), and holding elections for its first assembly in 1929.

While guiding Jordans development into a modern state, King Abdullah negotiated a series of treaties with Britain which earned increasing freedom for Jordan. King Abdullah achieved full independence from Britain on May 25, 1946. After successfully defending Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, King Abdullah regularly traveled to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to participate in the Friday prayers. On July 20, 1951, King Abdullah was assassinated by a lone gunman while attending the Friday prayers there with his grandson Hussein, who was saved from a bullet by a medal his grandfather had recently awarded him. After King Abdullahs martyrdom, King Talal, his eldest son, ruled for a brief period. Due to King Talals illness, his eldest son, Hussein, was proclaimed King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on August 11, 1952. He assumed his constitutional powers on May 2, 1953, after reaching the age of eighteen according to the Muslim calendar.

During the nine months between his coronation and the assumption of powers, King Husseins mother - Queen Zein al-Sharaf - played an important role in ensuring the orderly transfer of power as head of a Regency Council. Queen Zein, who remained ever popular with the people of Jordan, passed away on April 26, 1994. The passing away of His Majesty King Hussein on February 7, 1999 marks the end of an era in Jordan's history. While the country, and indeed much of the world, mourns the death of King Hussein, Jordanians look with optimism and pride to a future under the reign of King Abdullah, eldest son of the late King Hussein and current bearer of the Hashemite torch. Why Britain created monarchies in the Middle East 15 August 2014 Why Britain created monarchies in the Middle East When was the most stable time in recent Iraqi history? Most likely it was during the British-sponsored Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq from 1921 to 1958. Print HTML The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year welcomed former British colonies, but absent were those Middle Eastern states where Britain had exercised imperial soft power in the twentieth century.

From around the time of the First World War protectorates and mandates were used to control these territories. In Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and later Libya, the British set up kings to help their rule. Back in 1921 two brothers, Faisal and Abdullah (the sons of Hussein ibn Ali who lead the Arab Revolt), were rewarded by the British and made rulers of Mesopotamia and Transjordan respectively. These were territories captured by the British from the Ottoman Empire 1917-1918 (with not inconsiderable help from the Arab Revolt), and were awarded by the League of Nations to Britain as mandates. This territory was supposedly to be held in trust for eventual independence, while the mandatory power built up the administration and infrastructure. To help the British, Faisal became ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, while Abdullah was Emir and then King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Hashemite family trace their descent from the Prophet Mohammed and were governors, or Sharifs, of Mecca for hundreds of years. Sharif Hussein ibn Ali launched the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 in response to British promises of independence.

He made himself King of the Hejaz, the strip of Arabia along the Red Sea, but lost it in the mid-1920s to the fundamentalist Saudis. Hussein ibn Ali and his eldest son Ali – who had tried to fight a rear guard action against Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud as King of the Hejaz (1924-1925) – each found ready-made exile in the British sponsored realms of Jordan and Iraq. Although outsiders to Mesopotamia, the Hashemites arguably developed the administration and infrastructure in a country that had become a backwater in the former Ottoman Empire, and three generations ruled as Kings of Iraq for 37 years. The urbane Faisal I (1921-1933) had been a member of the Ottoman parliament but while participating in his father’s Arab revolt became a friend of T E Lawrence. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1920 he had tried to establish himself as King of Greater Syria in Damascus, but was blocked by the French. Faisal I was an inspired candidate as King of Iraq, since he was unencumbered by French notions of secular republicanism.

His rule meant that the British relinquished their mandate in 1932 and Iraq gained independence, although the British retained military bases. Faisal I died suddenly the next year, aged 48, while having a health check-up in Switzerland. His son Ghazi (1933-1939) was something of a playboy and more antipathetic to the continuing British influence (as well as being sympathetic to the strong nationalism of Nazi Germany). A lover of fast cars, he died in April 1939 at the wheel of his Buick after an evening of drinking. Some have even suggested that British intelligence services engineered the car accident. The final king Faisal II (1939-1958) succeeded as a four year old. The regent was his uncle (actually second cousin) Abdulilah, the son of Faisal I’s brother, Ali (who had been defeated and thrown out of Arabia by the Saudis in 1925). The regent was active in government, although he was also fond of shopping in Bond Street shops and smart young men.

He was briefly removed by pro-Nazi officers, an event that lead to the short Anglo-Iraqi War in May 1941, after which Britain restored him. Faisal II came of age in 1953 but his sole rule was hampered because Abdulilah remained the heir-apparent to this young and as yet unmarried monarch. Faisal II’s reputation was also harmed by being pro-British. He made a state visit to the young Queen Elizabeth II, but he could not defend Britain’s actions during the Suez Crisis. In 1958 Faisal II, Abdulilah and most of the royal family were murdered on Bastille Day. The British also promoted a royal family in Egypt: the dynasty of Mehmet Ali. An Albanian soldier, Mehmet Ali, had gone to Egypt to help the Ottomans restore control after Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition 1798-1801. But Mehmet Ali instead established himself and his successors as independent rulers, using the title Khedive (for which the best translation is viceroy). The British had first established bases to protect the Suez Canal in 1882.

When war broke out in 1914, the Khedive Abbas Hilmi was visiting the Ottoman capital Constantinople. The British, now at war with the Turks, could not accept this and deposed him. Britain declared a protectorate over Egypt and set up the last Khedive’s uncle as Sultan Hussein Kamil (1914-1917). He was succeeded by his brother Fuad I (1917-1936) who took the western title King when Egypt nominally became independent in 1922 (as in Iraq, Britain retained military bases and a strong influence on ministerial appointments). Fuad I worked with the Egyptian parliament and promoted education, establishing a secular university in Cairo. His son King Farouk (1936-1952) came to the throne as a popular, intelligent and handsome young man. Egypt’s prestige soured – being the centre of Arab film, newspapers and education. When the Arab League was formed in 1945, Cairo was the natural choice for its headquarters.

But Farouk’s power was curtailed when the British, wary of his antagonism during the Second World War, imposed a new government in 1942. Farouk became more licentious and his weight ballooned. Cairo was known for its parties – at one event the Kings of Egypt, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia were reportedly present. The Free Officers movement deposed Farouk in 1952; he died overweight, choking on his meal at a restaurant table in Rome in 1965, aged only 45. The Egyptian monarchy was not quite finished, though. Farouk’s infant son was proclaimed King Fuad II (1952-1953) but a baby in exile with his deposed father was not a sustainable head of state, and a republic was declared within a year. Fuad II, now in his early 60s, has not attempted to reclaim the Egyptian throne. The British were also behind Libya’s brief monarchy. The Italians seized the north African coast adjacent to Sicily from the Ottomans in 1912, taking advantage of the Turk’s defeat in the First Balkan War.

In 1920, to aid their control the leader of the Sufi Senussi religious-tribal order, Sidi Mohammed Idris al-Senussi had become their vassal as Emir of Cyrenaica in the east around Benghazi, but he soon went into exile in British-occupied Egypt. He got his reward for ardently supporting the British against the Italians and Germans in the Western Desert during the Second World War when, at the end of Allied military occupation, the British installed him as King Idris (1951-1969). Idris consolidated his power with the help of the old elite Ottoman-Libyan families and multinational oil companies. Into the 1960s Idris allowed his nephew and heir Hassan al-Senuusi, to exercise increasing power. In 1969 Idris announced that he would formally abdicate in favour of his nephew. However, despite the presence of USAF and RAF airbases, Idris was deposed by Colonel Gaddafi while on an overseas medical trip. The British-sponsored monarchies in Iraq, Egypt and Libya did not last.

However, the Hashemites continue to reign in Jordan, with Abdullah I (1921-1951), Talal (1951-1952), the well-respected Hussein (1951-1999) and Abdullah II (1999 onwards). The Jordanian kings, cousins of Iraq’s monarchs, have successfully introduced modern concepts of the nation-state, administration and education. But this could have been said of the other monarchies. They fell to ideas of pan-Arab nationalism and are now beset by Islamism. History judges the old kingdoms harshly. From the outside we may favour democratic secular republics, but at present the remaining monarchy in Jordan endures, while the deposed monarchies in Libya, Egypt and Iraq are beset by tragedy. When was the most stable time in recent Iraqi history? Most likely it was during the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq from 1921 to 1958. Abdulilah, the Regent of Iraq, reportedly said that monarchy was best for the east.

Should the reasonableness of this view be judged by his and his nephew King Faisal II’s fate, or by the fate of Iraq since their murders? British-Sponsored Hashemite Kingdom Was Iraq's Most Stable Period | New Republic By James Dawson August 15, 2014 The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year welcomed former British colonies, but absent were those Middle Eastern states where Britain had exercised imperial soft power in the twentieth century. From around the time of the First World War protectorates and mandates were used to control these territories. In Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and later Libya, the British set up kings to help their rule. Back in 1921 two brothers, Faisal and Abdullah (the sons of Hussein ibn Ali who lead the Arab Revolt), were rewarded by the British and made rulers of Mesopotamia and Transjordan respectively. These were territories captured by the British from the Ottoman Empire 1917-1918 (with not inconsiderable help from the Arab Revolt), and were awarded by the League of Nations to Britain as mandates. This territory was supposedly to be held in trust for eventual independence, while the mandatory power built up the administration and infrastructure.

To help the British, Faisal became ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, while Abdullah was Emir and then King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Hashemite family trace their descent from the Prophet Mohammed and were governors, or Sharifs, of Mecca for hundreds of years. Sharif Hussein ibn Ali launched the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 in response to British promises of independence. He made himself King of the Hejaz, the strip of Arabia along the Red Sea, but lost it in the mid-1920s to the fundamentalist Saudis. Hussein ibn Ali and his eldest son Ali—who had tried to fight a rear guard action against Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud as King of the Hejaz (1924-1925)—each found ready-made exile in the British sponsored realms of Jordan and Iraq. Although outsiders to Mesopotamia, the Hashemites arguably developed the administration and infrastructure in a country that had become a backwater in the former Ottoman Empire, and three generations ruled as Kings of Iraq for 37 years.

The urbane Faisal I (1921-1933) had been a member of the Ottoman parliament but while participating in his father’s Arab revolt became a friend of T E Lawrence. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1920 he had tried to establish himself as King of Greater Syria in Damascus, but was blocked by the French. Faisal I was an inspired candidate as King of Iraq, since he was unencumbered by French notions of secular republicanism. His rule meant that the British relinquished their mandate in 1932 and Iraq gained independence, although the British retained military bases. Faisal I died suddenly the next year, aged 48, while having a health check-up in Switzerland. His son Ghazi (1933-1939) was something of a playboy and more antipathetic to the continuing British influence (as well as being sympathetic to the strong nationalism of Nazi Germany). A lover of fast cars, he died in April 1939 at the wheel of his Buick after an evening of drinking. Some have even suggested that British intelligence services engineered the car accident.

The final king Faisal II (1939-1958) succeeded as a four year old. The regent was his uncle (actually second cousin) Abdulilah, the son of Faisal I’s brother, Ali (who had been defeated and thrown out of Arabia by the Saudis in 1925). The regent was active in government, although he was also fond of shopping in Bond Street shops and smart young men. He was briefly removed by pro-Nazi officers, an event that lead to the short Anglo-Iraqi War in May 1941, after which Britain restored him. Faisal II came of age in 1953 but his sole rule was hampered because Abdulilah remained the heir-apparent to this young and as yet unmarried monarch. Faisal II’s reputation was also harmed by being pro-British. He made a state visit to the young Queen Elizabeth II, but he could not defend Britain’s actions during the Suez Crisis. In 1958 Faisal II, Abdulilah and most of the royal family were murdered on Bastille Day. The British also promoted a royal family in Egypt: the dynasty of Mehmet Ali.

An Albanian soldier, Mehmet Ali, had gone to Egypt to help the Ottomans restore control after Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition 1798-1801. But Mehmet Ali instead established himself and his successors as independent rulers, using the title Khedive (for which the best translation isviceroy). The British had first established bases to protect the Suez Canal in 1882. When war broke out in 1914, the Khedive Abbas Hilmi was visiting the Ottoman capital Constantinople. The British, now at war with the Turks, could not accept this and deposed him. Britain declared a protectorate over Egypt and set up the last Khedive’s uncle as Sultan Hussein Kamil (1914-1917). He was succeeded by his brother Fuad I (1917-1936) who took the western title King when Egypt nominally became independent in 1922 (as in Iraq, Britain retained military bases and a strong influence on ministerial appointments). Fuad I worked with the Egyptian parliament and promoted education, establishing a secular university in Cairo.

His son King Farouk (1936-1952) came to the throne as a popular, intelligent and handsome young man. Egypt’s prestige soured – being the centre of Arab film, newspapers and education. When the Arab League was formed in 1945, Cairo was the natural choice for its headquarters. But Farouk’s power was curtailed when the British, wary of his antagonism during the Second World War, imposed a new government in 1942. Farouk became more licentious and his weight ballooned. Cairo was known for its parties—at one event the Kings of Egypt, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia were reportedly present. The Free Officers movement deposed Farouk in 1952; he died overweight, choking on his meal at a restaurant table in Rome in 1965, aged only 45. The Egyptian monarchy was not quite finished, though. Farouk’s infant son was proclaimed King Fuad II (1952-1953) but a baby in exile with his deposed father was not a sustainable head of state, and a republic was declared within a year.

Fuad II, now in his early 60s, has not attempted to reclaim the Egyptian throne. The British were also behind Libya’s brief monarchy. The Italians seized the north African coast adjacent to Sicily from the Ottomans in 1912, taking advantage of the Turk’s defeat in the First Balkan War. In 1920, to aid their control the leader of the Sufi Senussi religious-tribal order, Sidi Mohammed Idris al-Senussi had become their vassal as Emir of Cyrenaica in the east around Benghazi, but he soon went into exile in British-occupied Egypt. He got his reward for ardently supporting the British against the Italians and Germans in the Western Desert during the Second World War when, at the end of Allied military occupation, the British installed him as King Idris (1951-1969). Idris consolidated his power with the help of the old elite Ottoman-Libyan families and multinational oil companies. Into the 1960s Idris allowed his nephew and heir Hassan al-Senuusi, to exercise increasing power.

In 1969 Idris announced that he would formally abdicate in favour of his nephew. However, despite the presence of USAF and RAF airbases, Idris was deposed by Colonel Gaddafi while on an overseas medical trip. The British-sponsored monarchies in Iraq, Egypt and Libya did not last. However, the Hashemites continue to reign in Jordan, with Abdullah I (1921-1951), Talal (1951-1952), the well-respected Hussein (1951-1999) and Abdullah II (1999 onwards). The Jordanian kings, cousins of Iraq’s monarchs, have successfully introduced modern concepts of the nation-state, administration and education. But this could have been said of the other monarchies. They fell to ideas of pan-Arab nationalism and are now beset by Islamism. History judges the old kingdoms harshly. From the outside we may favour democratic secular republics, but at present the remaining monarchy in Jordan endures, while the deposed monarchies in Libya, Egypt and Iraq are beset by tragedy. When was the most stable time in recent Iraqi history?

Most likely it was during the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq from 1921 to 1958. Abdulilah, the Regent of Iraq, reportedly said that monarchy was best for the east. Should the reasonableness of this view be judged by his and his nephew King Faisal II’s fate, or by the fate of Iraq since their murders? This article orginially appeared at Newstatesman.com. Read More Sign up for your daily dose of politics, culture, and big ideas. Sign Up Is Jordan the Hashemite-occupied Palestine? - Opinion - Jerusalem Post Is Jordan the Hashemite-occupied Palestine? By Mudar Zahran 22 October 2012 22:45 The Hashemites should relinquish any dreams of sovereignty over any part of Israel; in fact they should count themselves very lucky if they manage to maintain their rule over Jordan, where many of their subjects view them as occupiers. Jordanian prince Hassan bin Talal 370.

(photo credit:REUTERS) On October 9, former crown prince of Jordan, Prince Hassan, told a group of Palestinians in Amman that “the West Bank is a part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which included both banks of the [Jordan] River.” Hassan added that: “I hope that I do not live to see the day when Jordan, or the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, relinquishes the land occupied in 1967 by the IDF.” Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page. Prince Hassan’s comments come at a very critical time for the ruling Hashemite family in Jordan, with regular anti-regime protests sweeping their kingdom, open calls for toppling the king and a staggering economy. The unrest in Jordan is often overlooked by the global media, as they are occupied with bloodshed in Syria and the trouble in Egypt. In fact, the weekly anti-regime protests in Jordan are mainly coming from Jordanian East-Bankers, or Beduin Jordanians. The last major one took place on October 5; an unprecedented anti-regime march which took place in the capital Amman, and where the Palestinian majority and refugee camps took place in the protests for the first time.

What might have been the most alarming issue for the king and his uncle Hassan is the fact that that march marked the beginning of the Palestinian majority’s participation in the anti-regime protests, which opened the window for a true revolution to come if both East Bankers and Palestinians join forces against the regime. Therefore, the Hashemite regime has been running around like a headless chicken; first claiming the October 5 mega-march was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood of Jordan, thus sustaining the Hashemite’s claim that “it is either them or the Muslim Brotherhood ruling Jordan,” playing on the fear factor for Israel and pro-Israel forces in the West. Nonetheless, Jordanian media itself reported 78 Jordanian and Palestinian political factions were involved in the protest, of which the Muslim Brotherhood was only one. Furthermore, the Hashemite Kingdom’s media sources tried to play down the number of protesters who participated in October 5 march; claiming it was as low as 5,000. Still, prominent Jordanian daily newspaper Alghad slipped up and quoted a Jordanian security official saying “250,000” people were seen marching toward the protest location in downtown Amman.

In other words, the Hashemites are in trouble, and they are not necessarily immune to the Arab Spring tsunami streaming through the region. Therefore, Prince Hassan’s statement was most likely made out of desperation: he wants to export the Hashemites’ trouble to Israel by reviving the alleged Hashemite right to the West Bank. At the same time, Hassan is trying to appeal to the Palestinian majority, telling there might be a possible arrangement whereby they are absorbed. At the moment, the Palestinian majority in Jordan is excluded from government jobs, state college education and state healthcare. Should the regime in Jordan fall or the king’s powers be compromised, the Palestinian majority will take over. Whether it’s a he or a she, an Islamist or a moderate, whoever is in charge will be a Palestinian. The possibility that Prince Hassan is trying to sweet-talk the Palestinians and to remind them that the Hashemites had ties to the West Bank is a sign of how desperate Hassan and his nephew, the king of Jordan, might be. Meanwhile, by making such statements, Hassan ignores basic historical fact.

The map of British Mandate for Palestinian which was commissioned to Great Britain in 1919 by the League of Nations included all of today’s Israel and today’s Jordan. Hassan simply ignores the Faisal-Weizmann agreement which his clan signed in 1919, by which Jews agreed to give up 78 percent of the British Mandate for Palestine promised to them by Great Britain as a future Jewish homeland. That compromise was made by world Jewry then for a clear reason: Establishing a homeland for the Arabs in the area under the Hashemites. Today, and according to UN reports on refugees’ rights, the Hashemite regime tells its Palestinian majority that they are merely “refugees who should return to Palestine,” while in reality, Jordan is a Hashemite-occupied part of the British Mandate for Palestine, which Jews have given up in exchange of an un-fulfilled promise of peace. Furthermore, in 1948, when the Hashemites occupied the area West of the River Jordan, to be renamed the West Bank, the Arab League itself did not recognize Hashemite sovereignty over that land nor did the world or the UN.

In fact only three countries recognized the Hashemite rule over the West Bank as legitimate: the United Kingdom and Pakistan in addition to the then Hashemite-ruled Iraq. The King of Jordan and his uncle better realize that picking on Israel will not get them a revolution-free pass from their discriminated against and disenfranchised Palestinian majority or their angry East Bankers. The Hashemites should also relinquish any dreams of sovereignty over any part of Israel; in fact they should count themselves very lucky if they manage to maintain their rule over Jordan, where many of their subjects view them as occupiers. The writer is Palestinian-Jordanian writer who resides in the UK as a political refugee. Relevant to your professional network? Please share on Linkedin Tags: Why was Saddam Hussein haunted by the brutal murder of Iraq's boy king? | Daily Mail Online Why was Saddam Hussein haunted by the brutal murder of Iraq's boy king? comments Waiting in a spartan, concrete-lined chamber at Camp Justice, an Iraqi army base in Kazimain, a north-eastern suburb of Baghdad, the 69-year-old fallen dictator Saddam Hussein, dressed in a black overcoat, stood on the trapdoor of the gallows.

Found guilty of crimes against humanity during his 24 years as President of Iraq, he had been sentenced to death. But even now, in his last moments, he maintained his old defiance. Saddam Hussein moments before his death Spurning the use of a black hood over his head, he shouted 'Allah is great', as three masked executioners placed the rope around his throat. The platform dropped and there was an audible crack, indicating that his neck was broken. One of modern history's most ruthless tyrants was dead at last. Only moments before the end, on December 30, 2006, Shi'ite observers at the execution had hurled sectarian insults at Saddam (a Sunni), taunting him with the name of his great antagonist, the radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr. 'Moqtada! Moqtada!' they jeered.

Saddam repeated the name mockingly, adding: 'Do you consider this bravery?' But despite the hopes and jubilation of his enemies, Saddam's thoughts in those final moments are unlikely to have been of Moqtada, but of another much younger man - one born only two years before himself: the tragic last King of Iraq, whose brutal murder 50 years ago this summer not only shocked and horrified the world, but haunted and obsessed Saddam for the rest of his days. In the dock: Saddam Hussein was obsessed by the murdered boy king of Iraq Faisal II Last week, BBC2 began screening a four-part drama series, House Of Saddam, charting the Iraqi dictator's journey from ambitious young law student to all-powerful tyrant to the bedraggled, long-bearded tramp captured by American forces in December 2003. The series is a terrifying study of the ruthless pursuit of power, but it does not mention Iraq's last monarch, Faisal II, with whom Saddam - who was only 21 when the King was butchered - was to become fixated, despite his own hostility to the monarchy.

Why was it that the young King's horrific death at the age of 23 filled the republican Saddam with an overwhelming sense of shame? Why, at the zenith of his power as the ruler of Iraq, did Saddam provide the murdered monarch with a magnificent new marble tomb? And why, even more astonishingly, did he make frequent and secret visits to King Faisal's grave, even ordering the cemetery officials to open the royal tomb so that he might gaze in morbid fascination at the last sovereign's mutilated and mangled remains? Was it because he somehow already had a premonition that his own end would be every bit as macabre as that of the far more decent, honourable and innocent young man who had perished all those years before him? The saga begins some 17 years before Saddam's birth. After the end of World War I, Britain, France and the United States seized the rights to 95 per cent of the oil in Iraq. In 1920, the newly-formed League of Nations granted Britain a mandate over Iraq in the form of a kind of pre-independence trusteeship.

King Faisal who was brutally murdered at the age of 23 As Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill presided over the Cairo conference in 1921 and decided upon the creation of an artificial monarchy in Iraq, forcing three radically different groups - the Sunni Muslim Kurds, the Sunni Muslim Arabs and the Shi'ite Muslims - to combine under a single ruler. Churchill's resolve was to have calamitous consequences. Today's map of the Middle East, the rise of Saddam Hussein, the Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003, and the current bloodshed and schism in Iraq are the unwitting legacies of that decision. The Hashemite constitutional monarchy imposed on Iraq by the British was headed by 35-year-old King Faisal I, who was born in what is now Saudi Arabia, had never set foot in Iraq, spoke an Arabic dialect that was barely intelligible to his future subjects, and had no knowledge of the disparate Iraqi tribes. Faisal spent his 12-year reign attempting to hold the balance between British interests in his kingdom and Iraqi suspicions over his alleged pro-Western sympathies. The strain undermined his health, and he died from a heart attack at 48 within a week of his arrival.

Faisal's son, King Ghazi, a 21-year-old playboy who resented British domination, inherited the throne but six years later, in 1939, he crashed his sports car in Baghdad after a night of heavy drinking and died from his injuries. The crown then fell to the playboy's only son, four-year-old King Faisal II, who began his reign under the regency of his repressive and hugely unpopular maternal uncle, Crown Prince Abdullah. Faisal II was educated in Britain at Harrow, along with his cousin, King Hussein of Jordan. Faisal, the intelligent ruler of a rich country, appeared destined for greatness. Hussein, king of a penniless backwater, described by his housemaster as 'not a success at Harrow', seemed bound to fail. Iraqi Sunni Arabs pray at Saddam Hussein's own grave in his home village of Awja On May 2, 1953, both 18-year-old cousins were enthroned as monarchs in separate ceremonies in Baghdad and Amman.

Watching from the crowd, as King Faisal II arrived to take the oath before Parliament, was 16-year-old Saddam Hussein, who would later tell King Hussein that although he was not in sympathy with the policies of the monarchy, he was 'intrigued and fascinated by the character and bearing of the young King'. But the tide was turning against the Hashemite dynasty. King Faisal II remained committed to his grand-father's pro-British policies, the unpopularity of which increased ten-fold in 1956, following British, French and American opposition to Egypt's seizure of the Suez Canal. Tragically, it was his close alliance with his cousin King Hussein, the man he trusted most in the world, that led to Faisal's destruction. In the summer of 1958, King Hussein asked for Iraqi military assistance during an escalating crisis in Lebanon where civil war looked certain to break out. On July 13, two infantry brigades of the Iraqi army received orders to proceed to Jordan, via Baghdad. That night, King Faisal II, the hated and still hugely influential Crown Prince and other members of the Royal Family were in their palace in Baghdad.

Brigadier Abdul Karim Qassim, a disaffected Iraqi officer in command of the two brigades, realised that he had a 'now or never' chance to use his mobilised troops to overthrow the regime - and instead of sending them on towards Jordan, he directed them towards the Qasr Rihab palace. There is clear evidence that the British and American governments had advance intelligence of the planned coup, but all their energies at that time were channelled into supporting the beleaguered King Hussein. By a curious coincidence, my sister, Jean Thornton, then 27 and working for Shell in Iran, also had disturbing evidence of what was about to happen. Driving with a group of British and American friends across the border to a dinner-dance in Baghdad, they encountered road-blocks, a curfew in operation and armed guards pointing machine guns at their car. For a moment, the situation seemed perilous. Then my sister turned to an American woman and urged: 'Show them your new Polaroid camera.

Take their picture with it.' The Iraqi guards, never having seen a Polaroid camera, were so delighted by their instant photos that they waved the group through, though it was only for the party to discover that the event to which they were travelling had been abruptly cancelled. Some time after 5.30 on the morning of July 14, 1958, the palace in Baghdad was surrounded by tanks. They opened fire, causing thick columns of smoke to billow from the upper floors of the building. Crown Prince Abdullah, realising that the palace was surrounded, ordered the royal guards to surrender, and to fly a white flag from the roof. A little before eight o'clock, the 23-year- old King Faisal II, who was engaged to be married, his uncle, the Crown Prince Abdullah, Princess Abadiya (the King's aunt), Princess Nafeesa (Abdullah's mother), Abdullah's six-year- old nephew, a group of Arab maidservants and Pakistani cooks stumbled out of the rear entrance of the blazing palace to confront a semi- circle of armed officers. They were asked to turn to face the wall. What happened next is not clear - there are any number of conflicting accounts.

It appears that the plan was to take the King alive. But from the front entrance of the palace, emerging at a run, with a submachine gun in his hand, came an officer, Captain Abdus Sattar As Sab, who was overcome by the situation. Later claiming that he was 'in a state of frenzy' and felt as if 'a black cloud' had covered his vision, he opened fire on the Royal Family, killing them all with the possible exception of the King, who, according to some accounts, did not die immediately. One eye-witness, however, an assistant cook at the royal palace, who suffered a traumatic amputation of one arm in the attack, insisted that he was 'absolutely certain' that he had seen the King killed by the fire of automatic weapons which the troops used upon all assembled there. The cook thought the troops then beheaded the King. King Faisal's body was taken to the Royal Hospital in Baghdad where, after some days, witnesses were allowed to see it in order to prove that the King was really dead.

The first lorry-load of bodies from the Palace was inspected by a doctor who was so horrified at the extent of mutilation that he was unable to decide whether the women were of the Royal Family or servants of the household. The body of the hated Crown Prince was turned over to the mob. The hands and feet were hacked off and carried through the streets on spikes. The naked and mutilated body was then dragged to the Ministry of Defence, where it was hanged by the neck from the balcony. The Prime Minister, Nuri es Said, who had escaped from Baghdad dressed as a woman, was captured and shot, his body disembowelled and dragged through the streets by the mob. 'Finally,' records one secret Foreign Office report, 'a car was driven backwards and forwards over it until it was flattened into the ground.' One British diplomat, Charles Johnston-in a secret report to Whitehall, wrote: 'I have left out a number of horrors (mutilation, cannibalism etc) - and am not enclosing a gruesome photograph of the Crown Prince's body hanging from the balcony.

'If the Russian Revolution had been put into execution by the Mau Mau, the effect would not have been very much different.' However, over the murder of the young King, who had lived modestly and was innocent of all taint of corruption, there was, according to the British Ambassador, Sir Michael Wright, 'evidence of widespread shame and grief'. The distinguished British historian Jane Priestland, editor of Records Of Iraq, 1914-1966, says: 'I have no doubt at all that the British government had advance knowledge of the coup. 'There are documents in existence, that have not been released, that would substantiate this.' When, in October 2006, she made a Freedom of Information request for the release of these documents, it was refused by the Foreign Office on the grounds that 'this could increase the instability in an already volatile area of the world'. King Faisal's body was buried in strict secrecy at the Hashemite royal cemetery in Adhamiya, north of Baghdad. And there it lay virtually forgotten for 21 years, until Saddam Hussein seized power in 1979, the point at which this week's television series began.

To the astonishment of his entourage, Saddam, the new President of Iraq, began to make secret visits to King Faisal's tomb. On some occasions, he remained inside the royal mausoleum for more than an hour. In 1982, Saddam arranged for King Hussein of Jordan - who, unlike his less fortunate cousin, had survived wars and countless assassination attempts as he walked a tightrope across the abyss of Middle Eastern politics - to come to Adhamiya to visit King Faisal's final resting place. In that same year, by presidential decree, Saddam remodelled the royal cemetery, providing Iraq's last King with a magnificent new marble tomb. Some whispered that the President 'believed himself to be of Hashemite descent'; others that he was merely obsessed and fixated by Faisal II's tragically brief life and reign. On several occasions, Saddam astonished the cemetery officials by asking for the marble slab that covered Faisal's grave to be removed, and for the royal coffin, sealed for more than a quarter of a century, to be opened for his inspection. Was it the corpse of the murdered monarch at which Saddam gazed with such morbid fascination? Or was it the spectre of his own destiny?

That destiny closed in upon him all too rapidly after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003. His sons Uday and Qusay and his 14-year-old grandson Mustapha were killed in a three-hour gunfight with American forces three months later, followed by the humiliating capture of the bearded and dishevelled Saddam himself at a farmhouse in ad-Dawr, near his native Tikrit in December. After the invasion that ousted him from power, American forces for a time occupied the royal cemetery at Adhamiya, damaging the tomb of Faisal II's grandfather, when they searched it for weapons, and also several of the chandeliers in the mosque. Protests by the local Iraqi population eventually forced the Americans to withdraw. 'Now no one dares to come here,' says the royal cemetery guard, Ghanem Jamil Ali. 'If you go to the main gate, you will see a tank in front of it.' Yet there, among the evergreen trees and close to the historic Tigris River, stands the strangest and most mysterious relic of Saddam's 24-year reign: his monument to the tragic young King he regarded as a royal martyr.

House Of Saddam is on BBC2 at 9pm on Wednesdays. Faisal II of Iraq (King) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Faisal II of Iraq Male Born May 2, 1935 } needs additional for . Please help [ improve this article] by adding . }|See talk page for details. |}} Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. }|}} }} 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 together with several members of his family. Faisal's regicide marked the end of the thirty-seven year old Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, which became a republic.… Read More related links Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Faisal II of Iraq. CHILDHOOD 1935 Birth Born on May 2, 1935. 1939 4 Years Old He reigned from 4 April 1939 until July 1958, when he was executed during the 14 July Revolution together with numerous members of his family.

… Read More This regicide marked the end of the thirty-seven-year-old Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, which then became a republic. Read Less 1941 6 Years Old Faisal's childhood coincided with World War II, in which Iraq was formally allied with the British Empire and the Allies. In April 1941, his uncle 'Abd al-Ilah was briefly deposed as Regent by a military coup d'Ã©tat which aimed to align Iraq with the Axis powers. … Read More The 1941 coup in Iraq soon led to the Anglo-Iraqi War. German aid that was promised however never materialised, and 'Abd al-Ilah was restored to power by a combined Allied force composed of the Jordanian Arab Legion, the Royal Air Force and other British units. Iraq resumed its British alliance, and at the end of the war joined the United Nations.<br /><br /> During his early years, Faisal was tutored at the royal palace with several other Iraqi boys. During World War II, he lived for a time with his mother at Grove Lodge at Winkfield Row in Berkshire in England.

As a teenager, Faisal attended Harrow School with his second cousin Hussein, later to become King Hussein of Jordan. The two boys were close friends, and reportedly planned early on to merge their two realms, to counter what they considered to be the threat of militant pan-Arab nationalism. Read Less TEENAGE 1948 13 Years Old Hastening Faisal's demise was the decision taken by his regent (later confirmed by him) to allow the United Kingdom to retain a continued role in Iraqi affairs, through the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1948, and later the Baghdad Pact, signed in 1955. … Read More Massive protests greeted news of each of these alliances, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of demonstrators and an increasing deterioration of loyalty to the Iraqi crown. Read Less 1952 17 Years Old In 1952, Faisal visited the United States, where he met President Harry Truman, Dean Acheson, the actor James Mason, and Jackie Robinson, among others.

Show Less Faisal was the only son of Iraq's second king, Ghazi, and his wife Queen Aliya, second daughter of 'Ali bin Hussein, King of the Hijaz and Grand Sharif of Mecca. Faisal's father was killed in a mysterious car crash when he was three years old; his uncle 'Abd al-Ilah served as regent until Faisal came of age in 1953. … Read More King Faisal was the model used by Belgian comic writer HergÃ© for his character Prince Abdullah of Khemed in The Adventures of Tintin. He suffered from asthma. Read Less Faisal attained his majority on 2 May 1953, commencing his active rule with little experience and during a changing Iraqi political and social climate, exacerbated by the rapid development of pan-Arab nationalism. … Read More Faisal initially relied for political advice upon his uncle Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, and General Nuri al-Sa'id, a veteran politician and nationalist who had already served several terms as Prime Minister.

As oil revenues increased during the 1950s, the king and his advisers chose to invest their wealth in development projects, which some claimed increasingly alienated the rapidly growing middle class and the peasantry. The Iraqi Communist Party increased its influence. Though the regime seemed secure, intense dissatisfaction with Iraq's condition brewed just below the surface. An ever-widening gap between the wealth possessed by the political elites, landowners and other supporters of the regime on the one hand, and the poverty of workers and peasants on the other, intensified opposition to Faisal's government. Since the upper classes controlled the parliament, reformists increasingly saw revolution as their sole hope for improvement. The toppling of Egypt's monarchy in 1952 - 53 by Gamal Abdel Nasser provided an impetus for a similar undertaking in Iraq. Read Less TWENTIES 1956 21 Years Old Faisal's political situation deteriorated in 1956, with uprisings in the cities of Najaf and Hayy.

… Read More Meanwhile, Israel's attack on Egypt, coordinated with Britain and France in response to Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal, only exacerbated popular revulsion of the Baghdad Pact â and thus, Faisal's regime. The opposition began to coordinate its activities; in February 1957, a "Front of National Union" was established, bringing together the National Democrats, Independents, Communists, and the Ba'ath Party. An identical process ensued within the Iraqi officer corps, with the formation of a "Supreme Committee of Free Officers". Faisal's government endeavoured to preserve the military's loyalty through generous benefits, but this proved increasingly ineffective as more and more officers came to sympathise with the nascent anti-monarchist movement. Read Less Kingdoms of the Arabs - The Hashemites Al-Hassan abul-Saad 1250 - 1252 In 1250, Shajar ad Durr seizes the Ayyubid sultanate with the support of her Mameluke slave-soldiers, led by Aybak.

Eighty days later, she marries Aybak in order to secure the full support of her subjects, before abdicating in her husband's favour, passing all control of the sultanate over to him. The Abbasids still hold the title of caliph and hold court at Cairo, but they are weak and are soon to become puppets of the Mamelukes. 1254 - 1301 Muhammed abul-Nubaj 1254 Al Ashraf II, the last of the Ayyubid sultans, is removed from his position as figurehead, and the Mameluke leader Aybak takes full control of Egypt. 1301 - 1346 Malik ul-Adil Muhammad (III) ibn Barakat Son. Served from Aug 1455. 1497 - 1525 Son. 1515 - 1517 The Ottoman sultan begins a war against Egypt which ultimately sees the latter conquered. Sultan Qansawh II al Ghawri is killed on 24 August 1515 at the Battle of Merj Dabik. Syria is immediately captured.

1517 Cairo, along with the rest of Egypt and Libya , is conquered by Ottoman empire under Selim I Yavuz. Mecca is part of the Ottoman empire from August of this year and the sharif is nominally subservient to the sultan, although in reality he is largely autonomous. 1525 - 1583 Muhammad Abu Numay (II) Nazim ud-din Son. Al-Hasan (III) ibn Muhammad Abu Numay Son. Idris (II) Abu 'Aun ibn Hasan Son. Son of Hasan (1583-1601). 1631 The Ottoman empire is still the most powerful state in the region both in wealth and military capability. The personal style of government, however, cultivated among the earlier sultans has vanished. In place of sultanic government, the bureaucracy pretty much runs the show, and cracks begin to appear in the empire's unity during this century.

The Ka'ba inside the Great Mosque at Mecca 1631 - 1666 Zeid ibn Muhsin 1632 The Ottoman governor of Egypt , Khalil Pasha, sends out an expeditionary force to the Hejaz to retake Mecca from Yemani tribesmen. Under Al-Mu'ayyad Muhammad, the Yemenis are fighting the Ottomans to create an independent Zaidi state in Yemen. 1666 - 1672 Brother. 1803 Mecca and its surrounding region is captured by the First Saudi State which swiftly expands to take in most of the territory that today forms Saudi Arabia . Emirs & Grand Sharifs of Mecca AD 1803 - 1917 Mecca was under Ottoman governors from Egypt from 1819 until 1840 while the city was under occupation. As pashas of Mecca, the representatives of Ottoman control, the grand sharifs were also able to claim the title of emir of Mecca, increasing in power until 1916, when Sharif Husayn rebelled.

1803 - 1827 Yahya (II) ibn Surur 1818 - 1822 Unable to spare forces to retake Makkah and Madinah in the Hijaz themselves, the Ottomans send Muhammed Ali Pasha, viceroy of Egypt to destroy the Saudi state. He does so in a merciless campaign which ends with the siege of Diriyya. Arabia is temporarily occupied by the pasha's forces. However, the garrisons in Arabia are unable to prevent the rise of a new Saudi state. 1827 Husayn / Hussein Pasha ibn Ali Son. Commanded the Arab Revolt. King of Hijaz in 1916. 1916 Ottoman sharif appointed to replace Husayn, unsuccessfully. 1916 Husayn is opposed in Medina by Ali Haidar Pasha, the Ottoman -designated sharif to replace Husayn, ultimately unsuccessfully.

Kings of the Hijaz & Grand Sharifs of Mecca AD 1916 - 1925 The Arab Revolt between 1916-1918 against the Ottoman empire was led by Husayn's eldest son, Faysal. Operations on the ground were commanded jointly by Sharif Ali, and British Army officer T E Lawrence. Lawrence managed to combine the power of several Arabic tribes to drive the Turks north in a series of campaigns in coordination with the British forces in the Middle East . Once the Arabs captured Damascus they secured a semblance of power (very well depicted in the feature film Lawrence of Arabia). In subsequent bargaining with the British who now controlled the region, Husayn claimed Arabia and Faysal became king of Greater Syria . 1916 - 1925 King. Final claimant of Islamic caliphate (1924-1925). Died 1931. 1922 Britain assumes official governance of Palestine under the terms of its League of Nations mandate. At this time, Palestine encompasses not only modern Israel and the West Bank, but all of the Transjordan territory to the east of the river of the same name.

1923 - 1924 The Ottoman empire collapses and on 29 October 1923 a republic of Turkey is declared. On 1 November the newly founded parliament formally dissolves the sultanate, and in the same year British -administered Transjordan is separated from Palestine . On 1 March 1924, the caliphate is formally abolished, and two days later the title is claimed by Husayn. The claim is not met with universal support from fellow Arabs, especially the Al- Saud , who care nothing of it. The Arab Revolt of 1916-1918 helped to destroy Ottoman hegemony over Arabia 1925 Son of Husayn. King. Last grand sharif. Died 1934. 1925 The Hashemites are overthrown in Arabia by Abdul Aziz, also known as Ibn Saud . Abdul Aziz declares himself king of the Hijaz in 1926. Hashemite rule to the north of Arabia continues with Husayn's sons, with Abdullah in Transjordan , and Faysal in Iraq .

Husayn and Ali both find a new home in Transjordan, where Husayn continues to use the title of caliph without universal acceptance. The title is restored by the Islamic State in 2014. Hashemite Transjordan AD 1918 - 1946 The area of modern Jordan which lies on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea was, in the second and first millennia BC, part of the kingdoms of Edom and Moab . Successive empires then controlled the region, including those of Babylon , the Persians , and the Seleucid Greeks, before a period of fragmentation in which the Nabataeans and Kedarites flourished. Then Rome became the main authority, although inroads were made by the Parthians and Sassanids . The Byzantines lost the region to the Islamic empire in the seventh century and this, in turn, was taken over by the Ottoman empire. The Arab Revolt (led by the Hashemites ) and the British campaign of 1916-1918 pushed them out, eventually paving the way for Arab independence following the conclusion of the Second World War.

1918 - 1922 Transjordan is controlled by the British military forces that had been instrumental in freeing all of Palestine of Ottoman control (the initial steps towards this control are shown in the feature film Lawrence of Arabia). 1921 - 1949 Son of Husayn. Emir (1921-1946), and then first king of Jordan. 1922 Britain assumes official governance of Palestine under the terms of its League of Nations mandate. At this time, Palestine encompasses not only modern Israel and the West Bank, but all of the Transjordan territory to the east of the river of the same name. 1923 The Jordan state is created as a British protectorate to be governed by Abdullah, partly in reward for his agreement not to attack French -held Syria following their expulsion of his brother, Faysal in 1920. 1937 On 7 July the British 'Peel Commission' recommends partitioning Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Abdullah supports this as it means the Arab section will be incorporated into Transjordan.

While the Jews accept the commission's findings reluctantly, the other Arabs states do not, and it is eventually dropped. 1946 Following the conclusion of the Second World War, in which Jordan had remained a staunch ally of Britain , the British mandate for Transjordan comes to an end. The emirate's independence is announced on 25 May, as the 'Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan'. Hashemite Kingdom of (the) Jordan AD 1946 - Present Day Modern Jordan is an important player in the region's politics, and is respected for its relative stability. With a capital at Amman in the north-west, the country is bordered to the east and south by Saudi Arabia , to the west by Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, to the north by Syria , and to the north-east by Iraq . The region has a long history of human habitation, lying as it does on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean section of the Fertile Crescent. In the second and first millennia BC, it formed part of the kingdoms of Edom and Moab . Successive empires then controlled the region before a period of fragmentation in which the Nabataeans and Kedarites flourished.

Then Rome and their successors, the Byzantines , held it before losing control to the Islamic empire in the seventh century. This, in turn, was succeeded by the Ottoman empire. The Great Arab Revolt and the British campaign of 1916-1918 pushed them out, eventually paving the way for Arab independence. The kingdom of Jordan was founded on 25 May 1946, initially as the 'Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan', although the regional name was soon shortened, in 1949, to Jordan. The king rules as the head of a constitutional monarchy, albeit one with significant power in the hands of the king himself, something which led to limited protests during 2011. Modern Jordan is home to the descendants of so many Palestinian refugees that they actually outnumber the original population of East Bank Jordanians and, partially as a result of this, the country struggles to be economically and financially successful. It does, however, have the famed ruins of Petra within its borders as one of the world's biggest tourist-pullers. 1946 - 1951 Founder, and former emir of Transjordan. Assassinated.

1948 - 1949 On the day following the proclamation of the creation of the state of Israel , the neighbouring Arab states of Egypt , Iraq , Jordan, Lebanon , and Syria attack, prompting the start of the Arab-Israeli War. Saudi Arabia sends its own military contingent to support the Egyptians. The war lasts for a year before a ceasefire is agreed. The Green Line is established - temporary borders which can generally be agreed by all sides. Egypt gains the Gaza Strip while Jordan controls East Jerusalem and the West Bank region, but an estimated 700,000 Palestinians have been expelled or have fled their homeland, mostly to enter southern Lebanon or Jordan. 1948 - 1949 The British mandate for Palestine ends and the state of Israel is proclaimed by Jewish groups on 15 May 1948. The Arab Legion, the reserve force founded in 1923 which forms Jordan's army, enters Palestine and secures the annexation of the West Bank for Transjordan. 1951 Abdullah is assassinated by a Palestinian who is fearful that the king will reach a separate peace agreement with Israel regarding the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-1949.

The king's grandson, Hussein, is also shot at, but survives. Hussein became king in 1952, steering the kingdom through difficult times in relations with Israel and during the extended the Palestinian troubles 1951 - 1952 Son. Abdicated due to health reasons. Died 1972. 1952 - 1999 Son. Born 1935. Pronounced clinically dead 05/02. d.07/02- cancer. 1967 Amid ever-increasing tensions and acrimonious relations with Israel , Egypt expels the UN peacekeepers from the Sinai and announces a partial blockade of Israel's access to the Red Sea. Expecting further military action, several Arab states begin to mobilise their troops. Israel sees this as reason enough to launch a pre-emptive attack against Egypt, Iraq , Jordan , and Syria , triggering the Yom Kippur War. Jordan loses the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a third of the kingdom, while Israel also gains the Golan Heights and the ancient region of Bashan from Syria, and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, and also temporarily occupies the Sinai peninsula for a second time.

Jordan is also overwhelmed by the numbers of Palestinian refugees which enter the country, significantly changing the balance of the population, which is now biased away from the outnumbered native Jordanians. 1999 - Present Son. Born 1962. Named crown prince on 25 January 1999. 1999 - 2004 Half-brother. Removed from the position by Abdullah. 2011 A wave of popular protests against a deeply unpopular and dictatorial government forces the president of Tunisia to flee to Saudi Arabia , paving the way for fresh elections and a new start. The protests strike a chord in Arabs across North Africa and the Middle East, and similar protests are triggered in Bahrain , Egypt , Libya , Morocco , Syria and Yemen. In Jordan, where freedom is much less restricted, protests are limited and poorly supported. However, when civil war is sparked in Syria, Jordan is forced to accept some 600,000 refugees. Crown Prince Hussein

Question: The Hashemite ruler Faisal 2nd was the last king of which country?
Answer: Iraq