The founding monarch of Jordan used to “sword” France for his younger brother
Recently, a royal “turmoil” broke out in Jordan. The Jordanian government claimed that it had thwarted an event that endangered national security, and the participants in the event included the half-brother of the King of Jordan and the former Crown Prince, Prince Hamza. On the 4th of this month, Hamza signed a letter of commitment, stating that he would abide by the national constitution and support the king’s leadership. He and the King of Jordan also attended an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of Jordan on the 11th. At this point, the royal turmoil in Jordan has been calmed down.
In history, for the sake of power, brothers smashed walls everywhere. However, there are endless models of “brothers who are of the same heart, and their profit cuts money.” In fact, Jordan’s founding monarch Abdullah I (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Abdullah”) and Iraqi King Faisal I (reigned from 1921 to 1933, and later collectively referred to as “Faisal”) are Such a pair of brothers. After the First World War, Faisal had hoped that his brother Abdullah would be the king of Iraq, and Faisal’s rule in the “Syrian Arab Kingdom” (which existed from March 8th to July 25th, 1920 and was not recognized) was After France was “overthrown”, Abdullah had planned to send troops to France.
Younger brother seeks the throne for elder brother
Abdullah was born in 1882, the second son of Hussein Ibn Ali, who served as the emir of Mecca from 1908 to 1917, and Faisal was Hussein’s third son. After the outbreak of World War I, the Ottoman Empire joined the Allied Powers and went to war with the Allied Powers such as Britain. In order to expand its power, Britain hoped that Hussein could lead the Arab people against the Ottoman Empire.
After the outbreak of World War I, Abdullah has been in contact with Britain. In 1915, he encouraged his father to communicate with McMahon, the British High Commissioner in Egypt at the time, to discuss the separation of the Arab region from the Ottoman Empire. Hussein agreed to help Britain organize an uprising against the Ottoman Empire on the condition that Britain would support him in establishing a vast Arab country after the war. In 1916, Hussein launched the Arab uprising, and Faisal and Abdullah were both leaders in the uprising.
The Arab Uprising was part of the Middle East battlefield of World War I. After the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire collapsed, and Hussein demanded that a unified Arab country be established in accordance with the previous agreement with the United Kingdom. At the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919, Faisal made relevant demands to the Allied Powers, but the Allied Powers did not agree. In fact, countries such as Britain and France signed a secret agreement before the Arab Uprising. According to the “Sykes-Pico Agreement” aimed at dividing the Ottoman Empire after the war, Syria, southern Anatolia, and Mosul in Iraq were classified as French spheres of influence, while southern Syria and Mesopotamia Southern Asia (most of now Iraq) is under British control. In April 1920, representatives of the Allied Powers of the First World War convened the San Remo Conference. This meeting further consolidated the “Sykes-Pico Agreement.”
On September 30, 1918, Faisal led the vanguard of the Arab army to Damascus and later declared himself the local ruler. According to books such as “History of Iraq” by American scholar Thabet A.J. Abdullah and “History of Jordan” by British scholar Philip Robbins, in 1920, most of Syria was under Faisal’s rule. under. While stubbornly resisting French aggression, Faisal held a National Assembly in Damascus in March 1920 to declare the independence of Syria (including now Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine) and establish a constitutional monarchy. Faisal was chosen as the founding monarch. Soon, a smaller “Iraqi Congress” held a meeting, and most of the participants were officials from Faisal. They elected Abdullah as the king of Iraq at the meeting. The two congresses agreed that the two countries would form a federation in some way. It is hard to say that the “Iraqi Congress” is a representative system, and Abdullah did not want to accept the requirements of the Congress, so he refused to become the king of Iraq.
The elder brother “gets out” for the younger brother
Soon after the San Remo Conference, France sent troops to attack Syria and issued an ultimatum to the Syrian government, demanding that the Syrian government disband the army and obey French rule. For many reasons, Faisal surrendered to France on July 14, 1920, and 10 days later, the French army occupied Damascus, the capital of Syria. After France established its rule, Faisal was expelled from Syria.
After learning of this news, Abdullah sent his army to Syria, planning to liberate the area and drive the French out. When the British Minister of Colonial Affairs Winston Churchill heard about Abdullah’s plan, he invited him to participate in the Middle East conferences in Cairo and Jerusalem, and asked Abdullah not to attack France, because Abdullah The army is not as strong as the French army; in addition, France is an ally of the United Kingdom. If Abdullah, supported by the United Kingdom, attacks France, the relationship between Britain and France will deteriorate. Abdullah was persuaded and made concessions. He also paid off. Britain agreed to establish a protectorate for him, the later Trans-Jordan emirate. In addition, the meeting decided to establish an Iraqi government “under the custody” of Britain, and Faisal was “invited” to be the king of Iraq.
The West steals democracy from the Arab world
After the Middle East Conference, Abdullah went to the British “Mandate Place” Trans-Jordan region, accepted the oath of allegiance from the local chieftain, and became the Emir of Trans-Jordan on April 11, 1921. Next, Abdullah tried to use this as a base to recover Syria occupied by France. This caused strong dissatisfaction among British colonial officials. Historian Ullil Dahn said that British colonial officials almost reached agreement on Abdullah’s resignation. After receiving a large number of negative reports about Abdullah from colonial officials, Churchill sent a British officer, “Lawrence of Arabia” to check the situation. At a critical moment, Lawrence rescued Abdullah, and in his report he recommended not to replace Abdullah.
Although Abdullah is the Emir of the Trans-Jordan emirate, in fact it is a ruling class made up of British officials and elites that is in charge of this country. Abdullah has never forgotten the history of France’s “invasion and occupation” of Syria. In 1941, 1942 and 1944, he repeatedly called for the unification of the Trans-Jordan emirates and Syria.
Elizabeth Thompson, professor of modern history of the Middle East at American University and historian, wrote in her book “How the West Stole Democracy from the Arab World” that after the First World War, representative democracy has become the political choice of Arabs. , And the West has taken away this opportunity. Thompson believed that European colonists worried that Arab democracy would threaten their rule in North Africa and their oil supply in Iraq and the Gulf region. Therefore, the leaders of the Paris Peace Conference decided to destroy the “democracy” of Damascus. Thompson stated that the French occupation of Syria has led to the stigmatization of liberalism in the Arab world. Under such circumstances, the secular and Islamic elites in the Arab world are separated from each other, thus forming a sharp relationship between Islamists and liberals.
