1957 alleged Jordanian military coup attempt

Alleged coup attempt 1957 alleged Jordanian military coup attempt the Arab Cold War King Hussein of Jordan among his troops 1 March 1957.png King Hussein among his troops on 1 March, a month before the alleged coup 13 April 1957 Zarqa, Jordan 32 05 N 36 06 E title Alleged coup attempt failed Disembodiment of Palestinian-dominated army units Imposition of martial law Jordan Jordanian Government Jordan Jordanian Free Officers Jordan King HusseinJordan Habis MajaliJordan Radi AnnabJordan Ali HayariJordan Zaid ibn ShakerJordan Sharif Nasser Jordan Ali Abu NuwarJordan Qassem Al-NasserJordan Shaher Abu Shahout The 1957 alleged Jordanian military coup attempt refers to violent confrontations on 13 April 1957 at the large army barracks in Zarqa between royalist, mostly Bedouin units, loyal to King Hussein, and Nasserist-style Arab nationalist units. A military maneuver named "Operation Hashem" was initiated on 8 April and it encircled the capital Amman. When Hussein asked Ali Abu Nuwar, the Army chief of staff, about the maneuver, he claimed that it was a normal military exercise. Hussein, suspicious that this was a show of strength by Abu Nuwar to overthrow him and enter a union with Nasserist Egypt, ordered Abu Nuwar to withdraw the unit, which he did. The Arabist government of Suleiman Nabulsi was forced to resign on 10 April after its policies clashed frequently with that of the Palace. On 13 April, rioting broke in the Zarqa barracks, Hussein (aged 21) went to end the violence between royalist and Arabist units after the Arabists spread rumors that Hussein had been killed. A 3,000-man Syrian force started moving south in support of what they perceived as a coup attempt, but turned around after the army units showed their loyalty to the King. Two principal accounts emerged regarding the events at Zarqa, with the royalist version holding that the incident was an abortive coup by Abu Nuwar, and the dissident version asserting that it was a staged, American-backed counter-coup by Hussein against the pan-Arabist movement in Jordan. In any case, Abu Nuwar and other senior Arabist officers resigned and were allowed to leave Jordan for Syria, where they incited opposition to the monarchy. Hussein imposed martial law and disbanded Palestinian-dominated military units after the incident. Although he eventually relaxed some of these measures, namely military curfews and severe press censorship, Hussein's moves significantly curtailed the constitutional democracy that had existed in Jordan in the mid-1950s. The alleged conspirators were sentenced to 15 years in absentia, but were pardoned by Hussein in 1964 as part of his reconciliation efforts with his exiled opposition, and were given senior posts in the government.Anderson 2005 202Yitzhak 2012 144 Prelude In the October 1956 general elections, the National Socialist Party (NSP) won 12 seats. King Hussein asked Suleiman Nabulsi, the leader of the NSP to form a government. Thus, he became prime minister of a socialist Arab nationalist government that identified more with Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser than Hussein.Hiro 2003 352 Nabulsi merged the Arab Legion with the Palestinian-dominated National Guard, creating a 35,000-strong Jordanian Army, and established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.Anderson 2005 176 Strained relations between the Palace and the Government reached its peak in March after Nabulsi provided Hussein with a list of senior officers in the military he wanted to dismiss, Hussein heeded initially, but then Nabulsi presented a new list which Hussein refused.Hiro 2003 352 Events at Zarqa thumb|left|King Hussein addressing his troops as Abu Nuwar observes, sometime in 1956. Amid the political chaos in Jordan and two days before Nabulsi's forced resignation, an army unit from the First Armoured Brigade commanded by Captain Nadhir Rashid engaged in a maneuver, named "Operation Hashem" in honor of the Hashemite royal family, at the major intersections of Amman. The move raised Hussein's suspicions and prompted him to order Abu Nuwar to withdraw the unit, which he did.Anderson 2005 182–183 Hussein believed the move was a presage to an impending coup.Anderson 2005 183 Abu Nuwar sought to allay Hussein's concerns and told him it was a routine exercise executed numerous times in the preceding years to monitor the traffic into and out of the city,Anderson 2005 183Shlaim 2007 132 while Rashid later claimed it was part of a broader contingency plan to move troops to the West Bank in the event of an Israeli invasion.Shlaim 2007 132 According to Pearson, Rashid's maneuver was meant to intimidate Hussein,Pearson 2010 105 while historian Betty Anderson has speculated that the "officers could have been testing the waters to see what they could achieve militarily".Anderson 2005 183 Whatever the actual reason for the maneuver, it heightened Hussein's suspicions of a coup by Abu Nuwar and the Arab nationalists, and it prompted warnings from veteran royalist officials, namely Bahjat al-Talhouni and Sharif Nasser, that such a coup was impending.Shlaim 2007 132 On 13 April, rioting broke out at the army barracks in Zarqa, which contained the largest concentration of troops in the country, between mostly hadari (non-Bedouin) units loyal to Abu Nuwar and Bedouin-dominated units loyal to Hussein. Two main accounts emerged regarding this incident, known as the "Zarqa uprising" among other names, with one account having been advanced by Hussein and Western historiographers and the other by political dissidents and many in the Jordanian and Arab press.Pearson 2010 106 Pearson has said the "incident is steeped in mystery and persistent controversy",Pearson 2010 106 and Anderson likewise has written that "questions abound about whether this coup attempt originated with the military, led by Abu Nuwar and the Free Officers, or with the king and the Americans, who wanted an excuse to remove" the Arab nationalist movement "from Jordan's political scene".Anderson 2005 183 According to Hussein's account of the events, Abu Nuwar and the Free Officers had planned for the Bedouin-dominated First Infantry Regiment in Zarqa to participate in a training exercise in the desert without ammunition to render it unavailable for Hussein to use against a planned anti-government demonstration scheduled to be held by Nabulsi on 14 April. Hussein was still wary of Nabulsi due to an alleged intercept of a message from Nasser imploring Nabulsi to resist his dismissal from the premiership.Pearson 2010 106Dann 1989 59Shlaim 2007 135 Hussein was informed of the Free Officers' alleged plot by Sharif Naser and Bedouin officers from Zarqa on the evening of 13 April.Dann 1989 59 The incident coincided with a delivery by Abu Nuwar of an ultimatum to Prime Minister Said al-Mufti (Nabulsi's successor) warning Hussein to appoint a government reflecting the will of the elected parliament or face an army revolt.Shlaim 2007 135 Al-Mufti apparently broke down emotionally in Hussein's presence, prompting the latter to inquire from Abu Nuwar about the ultimatum, to which Abu Nuwar professed his surprise.Dann 1989 59 Hussein then brought Abu Nuwar along with him to inspect the scene at Zarqa, where Hussein was told by loyalist officers from Zarqa that rumors of his death had provoked heavy clashes between his loyalists and those of Abu Nuwar and that only the physical presence of Hussein would put an end to the fighting.Dann 1989 59Shlaim 2007 135 Moreover, Hussein was told that Rashid and Ma'an Abu Nuwar (a distant cousin of Abu Nuwar) had been ordered to Amman to besiege the royal palace and arrest Hussein.Shlaim 2007 135 A 3,000 men Syrian force started moving south in support of what they perceived as a coup attempt, but turned around after the army units showed their loyalty to the King.http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/failed-coup-jordan A Failed Coup in Jordan 4 April 2007 5 July 2017 History Today Both accounts agree that the during the fighting in al-Zarqa, numerous Free Officers were rounded up and arrested by loyalist Bedouin officers.Dann 1989 59 Both accounts also agree that as Hussein made his way into Zarqa, he was cheered on by loyalist soldiers and he intervened in the middle of the clashes at his own risk and was emotionally embraced by his supporters,Pearson 2010 106 who chanted "Death to Abu Nuwar and all the traitors!"Shlaim 2007 135 Abu Nuwar remained in the car, fearful for his life by Hussein's loyalist troops and he then apparently begged Hussein to protect him and allow him to return to Amman, which Hussein agreed to. By nightfall, Abu Nuwar persuaded Hussein to allow him to leave the country and on the morning of 14 March, he officially resigned and departed for Damascus, Syria, with his family.Anderson 2005 183Dann 1989 59 Major-General Ali al-Hiyari, Abu Nuwar's chief rival in the Jordanian army,Pearson 2010 107 was appointed as Abu Nuwar's replacement,Dann 1989 59 but on 20 April,Dann 1989 60 he defected to Syria.Pearson 2010 107 Al-Hiyari claimed that prior to the incident at Zarqa and shortly after the forced resignation of al-Nabulsi's cabinet, palace officials had canvassed the army general staff to inquire about the officers' opinions regarding a change in direction of the new government away from the pan-Arabist policies of Egypt and Syria.Pearson 2010 107 Accordingly, when Abu Nuwar and the Free Officers voiced their refusal "to use the army against" the popular will in the country, palace officials laid out plans to royalist officers, including al-Hiyari, for a false flag operation at Zarqa.Pearson 2010 107 Al-Hiyari's account was widely reported throughout Jordan and the Arab world, and despite dismissal of the account by palace officials, it led to further public skepticism toward the official version of events regarding the alleged coup plot.Pearson 2010 107 Abu Nuwar consistently denied any betrayal of Hussein and claimed he was a "fall man", the victim of political intrigue in the kingdom in which his rivals sought to discredit him.Shlaim 2007 135–136 At a press conference in Damascus,Massad 2001 196 he stated that the entire incident was an overreaction by Hussein to sensational and false reports of a coup plot and that the incident was likely a preemptive coup by Hussein and the old guard, supported or engineered by US intelligence, against the main proponents of pan-Arab unity in Jordan.Shlaim 2007 135–136Pearson 2010 106–107 Rashid and Ma'an Abu Nuwar likewise strongly denied any kind of coup plot on their end.Shlaim 2007 135–136 According to Pearson, the accounts of the Free Officers and al-Hiyari were lent further credence by the lack of evidence in the military trials against the alleged conspirators who were arrested, the light sentences that they were given and the eventual rehabilitation of the alleged conspirators, including Abu Nuwar, who were later reassigned to high-ranking posts in the state and military.Pearson 2010 107 Aftermath On 22 April, Abu Nuwar issued a radio statement from the Cairo-based Voice of the Arabs radio station denouncing Hussein.Pearson 2010 109 In coordination with Abu Nuwar, the following day, a Patriotic Congress consisting of Hussein's opposition was held in Nablus in the West Bank demanding major palace officials be dismissed, expulsion of the American ambassador and military attaché, rejection of the Eisenhower Doctrine, federal unity with Egypt and Syria and reinstatement of the dismissed army officers, including Abu Nuwar.Pearson 2010 109 As a result of the congress, Hussein put Nablus, East Jerusalem and Amman under military curfew, dissolved political parties, imposed press censorship, dismissed municipal councils in the West Bank in favor of military governors, disbanded Palestinian-dominated army units, arrested al-Nabulsi (who had since been made foreign minister) and dismissed the cabinet of Prime Minister Fakhri al-Khalidi.Yitzhak 2012 125Pearson 2010 110 Although he eventually relaxed some of these measures, namely military curfews and severe press censorship, Hussein's moves significantly curtailed the constitutional democracy that had existed in Jordan in the mid-1950s.Pearson 2010 110 The incident strained Jordan's relations with Syria and Egypt.Haddadin 2012 166 Egypt and Syria announced a union under the United Arab Republic, headed by Gamal Abdel Nasser in February 1958.Haddadin 2012 166 The announcement led to Jordan and Hashemite Iraq to found the Arab Federation just a few weeks afterwards. On 14 July, King Faisal II of Iraq (Hussein's cousin) was killed in a bloody coup along with the rest of the Hashemite family in Iraq.Haddadin 2012 166 The coup transformed Iraq into a republic, thus ending the federation between the two countries. Former prime minister Ibrahim Hashem and other Jordanian officials who were on an official visit to Iraq were also killed.Haddadin 2012 166 See also Arab Federation Black September 14 July Revolution 1958 Jordan crisis References Bibliography Hiro Dilip The Essential Middle East: A Comprehensive Guide 2003 Carroll & Graf Publishers 0-7867-1269-4 registration https://archive.org/details/essentialmiddlee00hiro Anderson Betty Signe Nationalist Voices in Jordan: The Street and the State 2005 University of Texas Press 978-0-292-70625-5 Dann Uriel King Hussein and the Challenge of Arab Radicalism 1989 Oxford University Press 978-0-19-536121-6 https://books.google.com/books?id=JmYBHBTwzYQC&q=Nabulsi+April+22 Haddadin Munther Diplomacy on the Jordan: International Conflict and Negotiated Resolution 6 December 2012 Springer Science & Business Media 9781461515135 https://books.google.com/books?id=3PfjBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 7 July 2017 Massad Joseph Andoni Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan 2001 Columbia University Press 978-0-231-12322-8 https://books.google.com/books?id=RGdmxkoGqi4C&pg=PA171 Pearson Ivan L. G. In the Name of Oil: Anglo-American Relations in the Middle East, 1950–1958 2010 Sussex Academic Press 978-1-84519-388-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=xZT4SvjiTuYC&pg=PA94 Shlaim Avi Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace 2007 Vintage Books 978-1-4000-7828-8 https://books.google.com/books?id=JtrCoUf7wCsC Yitzhak Ronen Abdullah Al-Tall, Arab Legion Officer: Arab Nationalism and Opposition to the Hashemite Regime 2012 Sussex Academic Press 978-1-84519-408-6 https://books.google.com/books?id=D8H-zVfINWIC&pg=PA122 Jordan 1957 Category:1957 in Jordan Category:Hussein of Jordan