Rashid Ali al-Gaylani

Infobox Officeholder
name =Rashid Ali al-Gaylani


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order =13th, 21st, 23rd
office =Prime Minister of Iraq
term_start =March 20, 1933
term_end =November 9, 1933
March 31, 1940 – February 3, 1941
April 13, 1941 – May 30, 1941
monarch =Faisal I
Ghazi
predecessor =Naji Shawkat
Nuri as-Said
Taha al-Hashimi
successor =Jamil al-Midfai
Taha al-Hashimi
Jamil al-Midfai
birth_date =1892
birth_place =Baghdad, Iraq
death_date =1965
death_place =Saudi Arabia?
nationality =
party =Party of National Brotherhood
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Rashid Ali al-Gaylani ( _ar. رشيد عالي الكيلاني) also spelled Sayyad Rashid Ali al-Gillani or Sayyad Rashid Ali al-Gailani , son of Sayyad Abdul Wahhab al-Gillani ‎ (1892–1965) served as prime minister of Iraq on three occasions:

# March 20, 1933 – October 29, 1933
# March 31, 1940 – January 31, 1941
# April 3, 1941 – May 29, 1941

He is chiefly remembered as an Arab nationalist who wanted to remove British influence from Iraq. During his brief tenures as Prime Minister in 1940-1941, he attempted to negotiate settlements with the Axis powers during World War II in order to counter British influence in Iraq.

Early life and career

Born to a prominent Baghdad family, he was related to Iraq's first prime minister, Abd Al-Rahman Al-Kayyali, though the two parts of the family were estranged. Rashid Ali al-Gaylani began his career in politics in 1924 in the first government led by Yasin al-Hashimi, who appointed him Minister of Justice. The two men were ardent nationalists, opposed to any British involvement in the country's internal politics. They rejected the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty signed by Nuri as-Said's government in 1930 and formed their own Party of National Brotherhood to promote nationalist aims. He served as prime minister for the first time in 1933.

World War II

When Gaylani was again appointed prime minister in 1940, Iraq had just experienced the premature death of King Ghazi and a weakened regency for the new four-year-old King Faisal II of Iraq under his uncle, Emir Abdul-Illah. While Abdul-Illah supported Britain in the war, he was unable to control Gaylani, who used the war to further his own nationalist goals by refusing to allow troops to cross through Iraq to the front. He also rejected calls that Iraq break its ties with Italy and sent his Justice Minister, Naji Shawkat, to meet with the then German ambassador to Turkey, Franz von Papen, to win German support for his government.

Britain responded with severe economic sanctions against Iraq. Meanwhile, news of British victories against Italian forces in North Africa dulled support for Gaylani's government, and on January 31, 1941, under pressure from the regent, he resigned his post as prime minister. This only exacerbated his mistrust of Britain and its supporters in the government, and together with some of his pro-Axis colleagues, Gaylani made plans to assassinate Abdul-Illah and seize power. Abdul Illah fled the country on March 31, and on April 3, Gaylani returned to power. As one of his first acts, he sent an Iraqi artillery force to confront the RAF base situated in Habbaniya. Meanwhile other British forces landed at Basra initiating the Anglo-Iraqi War.

Iraq had been a major supplier of petroleum to the Allied war effort and an important landbridge between British forces in Egypt and India. To secure Iraq, Winston Churchill ordered General Archibald Wavell to protect the Habaniya base, (which had not only refused to accept the Iraqi demands for the cessation of its training activities, but in response to other Iraqi provocations had struck first and relieved the siege) and to head from there to Baghdad. Fearing a British onslaught, Gaylani fled to Berlin and a new government was installed. In Berlin he was received by Hitler and recognized as the Iraqi government in exile. Upon Germany's defeat, Gaylani found refuge in Saudi Arabia.

Later life and death

Gaylani only returned from exile after the revolution that overthrew the Iraqi monarchy in 1958. Once again he attempted to seize power, and plotted a revolt against Abdul Karim Kassem's government. The revolt was foiled and Gaylani was sentenced to death. Later pardoned, he returned to exile, where he died in 1965.

See also

* Anglo-Iraqi War

((ru:Рашид Али аль-Гайлани))