The Iraqi Revolution

The coup d’etat in Iraq early on the morning of 14 July 1958, which swept away the Hashemite Royal Family and replaced it with a cadre of officers led by Brigadier Abdel Karim Qassem, seems to have struck both the British and American Governments as a bolt from the blue.’ In fact, closer attention to the internal situation in the country might have revealed that the atmosphere in the capital was unusually tense even by Iraqi standards in the weeks immediately preceding the coup attempt. For instance, a visit by King Feisal to a degree-giving ceremony at the University of Baghdad early in July met with a particularly sullen response, with one observer sympathetic to the government arguing that it was reminiscent of the period immediately preceding Rashid Ali’s insurrection in 1941.2