Ghazi of Iraq

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Ghazi of Iraq
King of Iraq
Image:Ghazi.jpg
Reign 8 September, 19334 April, 1939
Full name Ghazi ibn Faisal
Born 12 March, 1912
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Died 4 April, 1939
Predecessor Faisal I
Successor Faisal II
Dynasty Hashemite dynasty
Father Faisal I

Ghazi ibn Faisal (Arabic: غازي Ġāzī ibn 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.

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[edit] Early life

As Ghazi was the first son of Faisal I, he was left to take care of his grandfather, Hussein ibn 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

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Ghazi of Iraq

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.

[edit] References

Preceded by
King Faisal I
King of Iraq
1933-1939
Succeeded by
King Faisal II
ar:غازي الأول

de:Ghazi I. (Irak) es:Gazi I de Iraq fr:Ghazi Ier it:Ghazi I re d'Iraq he:גאזי, מלך עיראק nl:Ghazi van Irak ja:ガージー (イラク王) pt:Ghazi do Iraque ru:Гази I fi:Ghazi sv:Ghazi av Irak tr:Gazi I

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