Moving from the revolutionary process in Egypt to the revolutionary process that took place in Iraq, which led to the transition from the Hashemite monarchy and eventually to the rise of the infamous Saddam Hussein. Iraq was the first of the British mandated countries to achieve independence. Iraq was independent already in 1930 and in 1932 Iraq was the first Arab State to join the League of Nations. That is the predecessor to today's UN, but the Iraqi monarchy was not able to consolidate a cohesive Iraqi State. Fortunately, for the regime the opposition wasn't coherent either and the Kurds and the Shiites were relatively weak located in the periphery and could hardly cooperate against the Sunni-dominated regime. From the outset, the regime was dominated by the Sunni Arab minority led by the Hashemite monarchy. Like in Egypt, the parliamentary system was corrupted by the main powers of Iraqi politics. The British, the monarchy, the urban notables and the tribal chiefs. And elections were always stage managed in one way or another by the government. The building up of a national army based on conscription began in 1934. The army was successful in suppressing the Shiite tribes in the South, but much less successful in reference to the Kurdish minority in the area of Mosul in the North. The Kurds were the majority in the form of Vilayet of Mosul, but were never really completely subdued by the state. But we see in Iraq, an early interference of the army in politics and pressure from the army in reference to government formation was prevalent already in the mid 1930s. After the fall of France in June 1940, a pro-German government of Rashid Ali al-Kaylani supported by military officers. Came to power in the spring of 1941 and the Hashimites were forced to leave the country. Thanks to the intervention of the British army, the Hashimites were restored to power. But from mid-1941 onwards, the Hashimites were living on borrowed time. In the Post- War period, there were very significant social changes in Iraq. Rising levels of education led to the increased politicization of Iraqi society. High school graduates increasing in number. Had insufficient opportunities of suitable employment and it was they who were attracted to radical parties. The rapid process of urbanization increased the possibilities for street protests that became a very common feature of Iraqi politics of the late 1940s. The poor urban masses were open to the influence of the radical parties and these were particularly the Ba'th Party on the one hand and the communists on the other. The defeat in Palestine in 1948, naturally had its damaging influence on the stature of the government in the eyes of the people and the Free Officers movement began to form in the Iraqi army, very much under the impact of the military coup in 1952 in Egypt, which served as a model for Iraqi officers too. But the early 1950s were actually the good years for the regime, these were the years where Iraq was beginning to really enjoy its oil wealth, but all of that rested on very shaky foundations. And in July 1958, a military coup overthrew the regime with incredible ease. The general public was absolutely delighted with the coup, which was received with great public excitement. The Hashemite monarchy in Iraq was after all, a small elite group without any really large social basis and as a pro-Western monarchy, it was not at all popular. The leader of the coup was Brigadier Abd al-Karim Qasim, who brought about the abolition of the monarchy by the execution of its leading figures. Like in Egypt, this was followed by the demise of the land-owning elite. Land reform therefore, was designed to destroy the big landlords. And the old elite was replaced by the rule of a civil and military bureaucracy. At the top, were Sunni officers. Mainly from middle and lower classes and a very small minority of Shiites. The coup did not build strong institutions and everything revolved around the personality of Qasim him, himself. He and his number two, Abd al-Salam Arif, soon split in disagreement on the pace of unity with the United Arab Republic that had been formed in this union between Egypt and Syria in early 1958. Other enemies were eliminated through the regular use of the revolutionary court, which dispensed with most of Qasim's challengers. Popular support was built up by extensive social welfare programs that were managed in the towns in particular. This was an urban revolution and Qasim invested in the well-being of the urban population at the expense of the villagers in order to create a loyal constituency for his regime. Agrarian reform did not change a great deal in the rural areas and the pattern of massive migration to the cities continued unabated. Population growth continued to bring pressure to bear on the standard of living of the people. In the 20 years between 1957 and 1977, the population of Iraq doubled form about six million to 12 million. And in the 20 years after that, it almost doubled again to 22 million in 1997. And presently, over 30 million. Fortunately, for Iraq, oil wealth was available to improve the Iraqi economy. But the regime was deeply divided within itself. Qasim never had the charisma of Abdel Nasser. It never captured the imagination of the masses, like Abdel Nasser did. Competing factions of officers within the military joined with civilians in the Ba'th Party to set the stage for yet another coup. What was the Ba'th Party? The Ba'th Party was established in Syria in the early 1940s as a secular, Arab-nationalist party that believed in Arab unity and socialism as the avenue to Arab revival, Ba'th. Ba'th means revival in Arabic. And Qasim was overthrown and executed in February 1963 by new rulers, many of whom came from the Ba'th. The new rulers, however, were not united amongst themselves either and internal power struggles led to another coup in November 1963, led by Abdul Salam Arif and the Ba'th supporters were ejected from the new ruling group. The Arif regime, like its predecessor was made up of a few personalities. Loose army factions and cronies, but no serious building of supportive institutions.
