Home > Abdullah I of Jordan

King Abdullah I of Jordan ( 1882 - July 20, 1951), known as Abdullah bin Husayn, was, successively, Emir of Trans-Jordan ( 1921- 1946) under a British Mandate, then King of Transjordan ( May 25, 1946 - 1949), and finally King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan ( 1949- 1951).

The son of the Hashemite Husayn ibn Ali, Abdullah fought as a pro-British partisan in World War I, and received Trans-Jordan as a fief under British protection in 1921. He embarked on negotiations with the British to gain independence, resulting in the announcement of the Emirate of Trans-Jordan’s independence on May 25, 1923Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 Events January 1 Grouping of all UK railway companies into four larg. This date is Jordan’s official independence day. His brother FaisalFaisal ibn Husayn ( May 20, 1883 September 8, 1933) was for a short while king of Greater Syria in 1920 and king of Iraq from 1921 to 1933. He was a member of the Hashemite dynasty. He was born in Taif (in present-day Saudi Arabia) in 1883, the third son became King of Iraq.

Prime Ministers under Abdullah formed 18 governments during the 23 years of the Emirate.

Abdullah, alone among the Arab leaders of his generation, was a moderate with a modestly pro-Western outlook. He would actually have signed a separate peace agreement with Israel, but for the Arab LeagueFlag of the League of Arab States The Arab League or League of Arab States ( Arabic: ), is an organization of Arab states. It is similar to the Organization of American States, the Council of Europe, or the former Organization for African Unity, in that i's militant opposition. Because of his dream for a Greater Syria comprising Jordan, Syria, and Iraq under a Hashemite dynasty, many Arab countries distrusted Abdullah, and the rivals of the Hashemites, the Saudis most of all.

On July 20, 1951, Abdullah died at the hands of an assassin in Jerusalem. Four days before, July 16, Riad Bey al-Solh, the Prime Minister of Lebanon, had been assassinated in Amman, where rumors were circulating that Lebanon and Jordan were discussing a joint separate peace with Israel. The assassin passed through apparently heavy security. Abdullah was in Jerusalem to give a eulogy at the funeral and was shot while attending Friday prayers at the Dome of the Rock in the company of his grandson, Prince Hussein. The Palestinian gunman, motivated by fears that the old king would make a separate peace with Israel, fired three fatal bullets into the King's head and chest. Abdullah's grandson, Prince Hussein Ibn Talal was at his side and grappled with the assailant until he was shot himself. A medal that had been pinned to Hussein's chest at his grandfather's insistence deflected the bullet and saved his life.

The assassin was a Jerusalem tailor, and a member of the Arab Dynamite Squad involved in Arab-Jewish fighting. Ten conspirators were accused of plotting the assassination and were brought to trial in Amman. The prosecution named Colonel Abdullah Tell , ex-Military Governor of Jerusalem, and Dr. Musa Abdullah Husseini as the chief plotters of "the most dastardly crime Jordan ever witnessed". The Jordanian prosecutor asserted that Col. Tell had given instructions that the killer, made to act alone, be slain at once thereafter to shield the instigators of the crime. Tell and Husseini fled to protection in Egypt and four local co-conspirators were sentenced to death in Amman. Jerusalem sources added that Col. Tell had been in close contact with the former " Grand Mufti of Jerusalem", Amin al-Husayni, and his adherents in Arab Palestine.

Abdullah was succeeded by his son Talal; however, since Talal was mentally handicapped, Talal's son – the aforementioned Prince Hussein – became the effective ruler as King Hussein at the age of seventeen. Hussein was in turn succeeded by his half-British son, King Abdullah II.