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The late Uriel Dann wrote that the Jordan crisis of July 1958 was 'the one emergency in Hussein's perilous career in whose timing he had no part, and as far as we know, it was the one that brought him to the brink of giving up'.(1) In other crises in Jordanian history (for example, the coup attempt in April 1957 or Black September 1970), King Hussein preempted his opposition and acted decisively before things got out of hand. The 14 July 1958 Baghdad revolution came as a shock to Hussein, who reacted by calling for help from the West. Few contemporary observers thought Hussein's regime had much chance of survival.
Very few English or Arabic accounts have covered the crisis in detail.(2) Most authors tend to discuss the crisis as if it were simply a manifestation of a much larger political event -- namely, the struggle between the Soviet-backed Nasser and the Western-backed conservative states of Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, pre-revolutionary Iraq and Jordan. The impact of the crisis on Jordan has not been studied for its own sake. The purpose of this article is to provide a British perspective on the Jordan crisis of 1958. Three questions are addressed. First, what was the nature of the threat to Hussein's regime? Second, how did Hussein use British support to consolidate his regime? Finally, what were the consequences of the crisis for Jordan?
Jordan officially became an independent kingdom in 1946. However, Britain retained its influence in the country through a network of British advisers, military commanders, and development experts. The 1955 anti-Baghdad Pact riots marked the beginning of the devolution of British control over Jordan.(3) The pro-Nasser Jordanian opposition called for the expulsion of Britain from the country. In March 1956, Hussein dismissed the British commander of the Jordanian armed forces, General John Glubb. The new 'British-free' atmosphere went hand-in-hand with
liberalization of the electoral process. The National Socialist Party under Suleiman al-Nabulsi triumphed in the October 1956 parliamentary elections.(4) Taking advantage of anti-British popular sentiments generated by the Suez crisis, Nabulsi abrogated the Anglo-Jordanian treaty in March 1957. He also called for closer relations with China, the Soviet Union, and Egypt.(5)
Hussein sensed a challenge to his regime. He dismissed the Nabulsi government before it...