Faisal II
Faisal II (Arabic: الملك فيصل الثاني, romanized: al-Malik Fayṣal al-thānī; 2 May 1935 – 14 July 1958) was the last King of Iraq. He reigned from 4 April 1939 until July 1958, when he was killed during the 14 July Revolution. This regicide marked the end of the thirty-seven-year-old Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, which then became a republic.
Faisal II
4 April 1939 – 14 July 1958
2 May 1953
- Monarchy abolished
- (Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i, President of Iraq)
- Nuri al-Said (7 times)
- Rashid Ali al-Gaylani (twice)
- Taha al-Hashimi
- Jamil al-Midfai (twice)
- Hamdi al-Pachachi
- Tawfiq al-Suwaidi (twice)
- Arshad al-Umari (Twice)
- Salih Jabr
- Muhammad as-Sadr
- Muzahim al-Pachachi
- Ali Jawdat al-Aiyubi (twice)
- Mustafa Mahmud al-Umari
- Nureddin Mahmud
- Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali
- Abdul-Wahab Mirjan
- Ahmad Mukhtar Baban
2 May 1935
Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq
14 July 1958 (aged 23)
Baghdad, Arab Federation
The only son of King Ghazi and Queen Aliya of Iraq, Faisal acceded to the throne at the age of three after his father was killed in a car crash. A regency was set up under his uncle Prince 'Abd al-Ilah.[3] In 1941, a pro-Axis coup d'état overthrew the regent. The British responded by initiating an invasion of Iraq a month later and restored 'Abd al-Ilah to power. During the Second World War, Faisal was evacuated along with his mother to the United Kingdom. There, he attended Harrow School alongside his cousin Hussein, the future King of Jordan.[3] The regency ended in May 1953 when Faisal came of age.
The overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy in 1953 and the formation of the United Arab Republic in February 1958 only provided impetuses to ideas of a revolution. The Hashemite Arab Federation was formed between Iraq and Jordan in February 1958 with Faisal as its head, which did not quell widespread opposition. In July 1958, a group of Royal Iraqi Army officers led by Abd al-Karim Qasim mounted a coup d'état and overthrew the monarchy. Faisal was executed along with numerous members of his family in the process.
Downfall and murder[edit]
An opposition forms[edit]
Faisal's political situation deteriorated in 1956, with uprisings in the cities of Najaf and Hayy. Meanwhile, Israel's attack on Egypt, coordinated with Britain and France in response to Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal, only exacerbated popular revulsion for the Baghdad Pact, and thus Faisal's rule. 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.[14] An identical process ensued within the Iraqi officer corps with the formation of a "Supreme Committee of Free Officers". Faisal's government endeavored to preserve the military's loyalty through generous benefits, but this proved increasingly ineffective as more and more officers came to sympathize with the nascent pro-republican anti-monarchist movement.
Engagements[edit]
Faisal initially asked for the hand of Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, the eldest daughter of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. However, the offer was rejected by the princess herself.
In January 1957, Faisal became engaged to Princess Kiymet Hanım, a descendant of the Mamluk dynasty of Iraq. However, the engagement was broken three months later.
At the time of his death, the king was scheduled to marry to Princess Sabiha Fazile Hanımsultan (engagement in September 1957), the only daughter of Prince Muhammad 'Ali Ibrahim of Egypt and Ottoman princess Zahra Hanzade Sultan.
Notable published works[edit]
Faisal II was the author of Ways to Defend Yourself (1951), an Arabic book on judo and self-defense, and he printed 50 copies of it and gave it to other kings and leaders on top of them his uncle King Abdullah of Jordan. He also gave a copy of it to the League of Arab Nations hoping to reprint it and distribute it for free to the youth in Arab countries, but that never happened.[17]
Faisal held the following ranks: