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the armies of Nazi Germany invaded Poland. As the German war
machine rolled over Europe, crushing France by June 1940, Great
Britain found itself in a desperate struggle against the Nazis.
Because many Arab nationalists in Iraq did not like British influ-
ence over their government, some officers in the Iraqi army sup-
ported the German dictator Adolf Hitler. In 1941 these officers
revolted against the administration of Abdulillah, forcing the regent
to flee the country.
To restore order, British troops landed in Iraq, put down the
coup
, and placed Abdulillah back in charge of the government.
When he was returned to power, Abdulillah tried to purge Iraq of
those who dissented with his rule, imprisoning or executing many
nationalists and establishing tight restrictions.
After World War II ended in 1945, Iraqi society grew more open.
The press, which had been censored during the war, was allowed
greater freedom. Political parties, once banned, were given permis-
sion to organize. When the economy weakened, though, unrest
grew. The government again began to limit freedom, increasing dis-
satisfaction with the monarchy. Other events in the Middle East
would also lead to unrest, particularly the conflict in the area of
British Palestine.
After the First World War, the region along the eastern
Mediterranean coast known as Palestine had been placed under
British rule by the League of Nations. In ancient times the region
had been the homeland of the Jewish people; some Jews had never
left the land, while others arrived as settlers during the 19th and
early 20th centuries. At the same time, Arabs who had lived in the
land for centuries were not happy about the arrival of these Jewish
settlers, and they often attacked settlements. During World War II,
the Nazis had attempted to carry out Hitler’s “final solution”—the
extermination of the Jews—and approximately 6 million European
Jews were killed in concentration camps. After the end of the war,
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