This is the third of a series on the history of Iraq. The first covered the British Occupation years. The second covered the British Mandate years. But now Iraq was fully independent.

Newly independent Iraq was a mixed bag in late 1933. The restless Kurds in the north. The ruling Sunnis in the middle. The forgotten Shiites in the south. The country wasn't even a year into full independence and it had already engaged in a massacre of minority christians. (note: the Assyrain massacre brought about the end of Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Kaylani's term in office)

On the other hand, the huge, new oil wells around Kirkuk were now online, bringing in new revenue and jobs. The internal revolts seemed to be over for now. And while Britain retained military bases in the country, they no longer had a say in Iraqi internal affairs.

And now, with the death of King Faisal, Iraq was facing its first change of leadership. He was succeeded by Faisal's only son, King Ghazi, who took office in December 1933.

King Ghazi was known for his Nazi sympathies and his love for fast cars. However, his rule is remembered for three things:

1) His death in a mysterious car accident

2) His calls for the annexation of Kuwait

3) The October 1936 military coup

King Ghazi was an ineffective leader who held none of the respect his father had, so his death wasn't a great loss to Iraq. His calls for annexation of Kuwait was notable only because of events that would transpire in later years.

However, the 1936 coup is a window into the political and social makeup of Iraq of the 1930's. And that makeup can be personified by the name General Bakr Sidqi.

Political Ambition

Bakr Sidqi, who was born Kurdish, learned his military training in the Ottoman Army and fought against the British. After Iraq's independence in 1932, King Faisal appointed him a general in the new Iraqi Army. One of his first tasks was to put down an armed rebellion by the christian Assyrians. It was Sidqi's orders that led directly to the 1933 massacre at Shemail.

But Sadqi wasn't done yet. He was also the leader in putting down tribal revolts in 1934 and 1935, both of which were against Shia, both of which he was especially cruel.

Interlude

I'm going to pause for moment because those tribal revolts deserve more examination. In 1932, just as the British were turning over power, they managed to push through the Lazmah land reforms.

In order to consolidate the social base of the new regime, Britain sought to shore up the power of the tribal leaders by creating a conservative élite based on land ownership. The British-supported 'Lazmah' land reforms of 1932 effectively completed the transformation of the tribal leaders from tribute receivers into landowners, thereby increasing their economic power.[4] These reforms, however, also served to accelerate the process of fragmentation of tribal relations, thereby further destabilising the traditional social order. Furthermore the establishment of private property in the rural areas had the effect of dispossessing agriculturists from common land. This lead to discontent which would later encourage widespread migration to the cities, altering the traditional urban social structure.

It was the transition of power from tribal regions to the cities that was reflected by the ease in which Bakr Sidqi put down the tribal revolts.

Besides the economic disruptions, the borders that the British drew caused disruptions in the tribal migrations patterns of thousands of years. Finally, 1934 was the year that Iraq decided to spend money on new army conscription, rather than agriculture development. This further strengthened the army at the expense of the tribes.

coup d'etat

There were two groups that were unhappy with the makeup of the pan-Arab Sunni government of Yasin al Hashimi in 1936.

One group was called the Ahali group (the name coming from the leftist-leaning Al Ahali newspaper), headed by Hikmat Sulayman. This group supported democratic socialist reforms. The other group was the military group headed by Bakr Sidqi, which supported military expansion.

It was Hikmat Sulayman, however, who urged General Bakr Sidqi, commander of an army division, to stage a surprise attack on Baghdad in cooperation with another military commander and forced the Cabinet to resign. Apparently King Ghazi was also disenchanted with the group in power and so allowed the government to resign. Hikmat Sulayman became prime minister in October 1936, and Bakr Sidqi was appointed chief of the general staff.

The coup wasn't entirely bloodless, as Jafar Pasha al-Askari, the minister of defense, was killed in the coup.

The Sidqi coup was the first military coup in the post-Ottoman arab world. It also marked an opening for military involvement in Iraqi politics that would never totally be closed. The coup also displaced the elite that had ruled the country since it was originally set up by the British in 1921. The Sunnis were largely kicked out of the government and the foreign policy was shifted towards Turkey and Iran, rather than the arab world.

The new government was also remarkably effective. The border dispute with Iran was solved, a non-aggression pact with Turkey and Iran was signed, the Kut al-'Amarah irrigation project and major railway projects were completed.

However, this is Iraq and nothing is easy. The nationalists resented Sadqi because of his kurdish background. The Shias hated him because of his brutal suppression of the 1934 and 1935 revolts. And the late Jafar Pasha al-Askari had a brother-in-law living in exile named Nuri al-Said who wanted revenge. Nuri al-Said was the only politician during the 1936 coup that sought refuge in the British embassy, an embarrassing fact considering the way the British suppressed the Palestinian revolt that year.

On August 12, 1937, while Sadqi was in Mosul, the conspirators launched a coup of their own. Sadqi was murdered when the military officers turned against him. Sulayman was forced to step down as Prime Minister.

Palace Intrigue

The military as now the dominating feature in Iraqi politics.

Nuri as-Said came back from exile after the death of Sadqi and immediately began to plot his own coup. It didn't take long. Nuri conspired with Colonel Salah al-Din al-Sabbagh to overthrow the government on December 24, 1938. Nuri was now Prime Minister again. He then claimed to have uncovered a plot to kill King Ghazi, and used this as an excuse to purge military officers from the Army who opposed him.

King Ghazi died in a car crash on April 4, 1939, and Nuri was immediately suspected. At the king's funeral crowds chanted "You will answer for the blood of Ghazi, Nuri". However, the day that Nuri would pay for his crimes was still in the distant future.