Ramadan Revolution

Ramadan Revolution
Part of the Cold War and the Arab Cold War

A sign with the image of Qasim taken down during the coup
Date8–10 February 1963
Location
Result
Belligerents

Iraqi Government

National Council of the Revolutionary Command

Supported by:
United States United States[1]

Commanders and leaders
Abd al-Karim Qasim Executed Ali Salih al-Sa'di
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Abdul Salam Arif
Casualties and losses
100[2] 80[3]
1,500–5,000 alleged civilian supporters of Qasim and/or the Iraqi Communist Party killed during a three day "house-to-house search"[2][4]
The corpse of Abd al-Karim Qasim

The Ramadan Revolution, also referred to as the 8 February Revolution and the February 1963 coup d'état in Iraq, was a military coup by the Iraqi branch of the Ba'ath Party which overthrew the Prime Minister of Iraq, Abdul-Karim Qasim in 1963. It took place between 8 and 10 February 1963. Qasim's former deputy, Abdul Salam Arif, who was not a Ba'athist, was given the largely ceremonial title of President, while prominent Ba'athist general Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr was named Prime Minister. The most powerful leader of the new government was the secretary general of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, Ali Salih al-Sa'di, who controlled the National Guard militia and organized a massacre of hundreds—if not thousands—of suspected communists and other dissidents following the coup.[5]

The government lasted approximately nine months, until Arif disarmed the National Guard in the November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état, which was followed by a purge of Ba'ath Party members.

  1. ^ Matthews, Weldon C. (9 November 2011). "The Kennedy Administration, Counterinsurgency, and Iraq's First Ba'thist Regime". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 43 (4): 635–653. doi:10.1017/S0020743811000882. ISSN 0020-7438. S2CID 159490612. [Kennedy] Administration officials viewed the Iraqi Ba'th Party in 1963 as an agent of counterinsurgency directed against Iraqi communists, and they cultivated supportive relationships with Ba'thist officials, police commanders, and members of the Ba'th Party militia. The American relationship with militia members and senior police commanders had begun even before the February coup, and Ba'thist police commanders involved in the coup had been trained in the United States.
  2. ^ a b Makiya, Kanan (1998). Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq, Updated Edition. University of California Press. p. 29. ISBN 9780520921245.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Proxy Warriors was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Gibson 2015, p. 59.
  5. ^ Gibson 2015, pp. 59–60, 77.

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search