Ghazi of Iraq

Infobox Monarch
name =Ghazi of Iraq
title =King of Iraq


caption =
reign =8 September, 1933 – 4 April, 1939
coronation =
othertitles =
full name =Ghazi bin Faisal
predecessor =Faisal I
successor =Faisal II
suc-type =
heir =
consort =Princess Aliya bin Ali
issue =HM Faisal II, King of Iraq
royal house =Iraq
dynasty =Hashemite
royal anthem =
father =Faisal I
mother =Huzaima bint Nasser
date of birth =12 March, 1912
place of birth =Mecca
date of death =death date and age|1939|4|4|1912|3|12
place of death =
date of burial =
place of burial =| Ghazi bin Faisal ( _ar. غازي "Ġāzī bin Fayṣal") (March 21, 1912 - April 4, 1939) was king of Iraq from 1933 to 1939. He was born in Mecca (in present-day Saudi Arabia), the oldest son of Faisal I, the first king of Iraq.

Early life

As Ghazi was the first son of Faisal I, he was left to take care of his grandfather, Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Sharif of Mecca, while his father was busy in his campaigns and travels. He therefore grew up, unlike his worldly father, a shy and inexperienced young man. He left the Hijaz to Jordan with the rest of the Hashimites in 1924. He came to Baghdad at the same year and was appointed as the crown prince.When he was 16 Ghazi was taken for his first airplane flight by the American adventurer Richard Halliburton and pilot Moye Stephens. They buzzed the school yard so his school mates could see him in the biplane and stopped in Samarra to have a picnic atop the famed spiral minaret.

As King of Iraq

On the 8 September 1933 King Faisal died and Ghazi was crowned as Ghazi I. On the same day, Ghazi was appointed Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Iraqi Navy, Field Marshal of the Royal Iraq Army and Marshal of the Royal Iraqi Air Force. A staunch pan-Arab nationalist, opposed to British interests in his country, Ghazi's reign was characterized by tensions between civilians and the army, which sought control of the government. He supported General Bakr Sidqi in his coup, which replaced the civilian government with a military one. This was the first coup d'état to take place in the Arab world. He was rumored to harbor sympathies for Nazi Germany and also put forth a claim for Kuwait to be annexed to Iraq. For this purpose he had his own radio station in al-Zuhoor royal palace in which he promoted that claim. He died in 1939 in a mysterious accident involving a sports car he was driving. Some believe he was killed on the orders of Nuri as-Said. His only son Faisal succeeded him.

Marriage and Children

On January 25 1934 Ghazi married Princess Aliya bin Ali daughter of HM King Ali of Hejaz in Baghdad Iraq. They had only one son:
* HM Faisal II, King of Iraq - born May 2 1935 died July 14 1958

See also

When the Prince was a school boy he was taken for a biplane ride by Moye Stephens, pilot of The Flying Carpet and Richard Halliburton, traveler-adventurist, during their round-the-world flight, shortly after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. An account of a young prince Ghazi's experience flying over his country can be found in Richard Halliburton's "The Flying Carpet".

References

* Ali, Tariq. "Bush in Babylon: the Recolonisation of Iraq". W.W. Norton, 2003. ISBN 1-85984-583-5.