Sharifian Army

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The Sharifian Army were a group of Arab officers serving in the Ottoman military who were the main supporters of the Arab Revolt and who played a major role in Iraqi politics until the 1958 revolution. Many of these officers belonged to the Covenant Society, a secret military society influenced by the Young Turks, secular nationalism, and Western modernization. They sought Arab independence and social change, which they believed had to be directed from above. Most of these officers were Sunni Arabs from middle-class and lower-middle-class families; a small number came from wealthy families.

Many Sharifian officers fought in the Arab Revolt and later joined Faisal in Syria and Iraq. A number of them became prominent officers or ministers in Iraq, including Nuri as-Said, Jafar al-Askari, Jamil al-Midfai, Ali Jawdat al-Aiyubi, and Jamal Baban. They played a major role in demanding that Faisal become king of Iraq, and they formed his main base of support. They supported Faisal's demand that the British mandate be replaced by a treaty of friendship and alliance, a stand that allied them with nationalist and religious opponents of the British. They received the support of the Shi'ite community in this as well as in their effort to establish a strong Iraqi military.

When Nuri as-Said formed his first cabinet in 1930, five of the six posts were given to Sharifian officers. The influence of these officers increased as the palace's role in political affairs declined in the wake of Faisal's death in 1933. The Sharifian officers began to interfere in a more direct manner in politics, which ultimately had a negative effect on their unity and cooperation. Bakr Sidqi and Abd al-Latif Nuri, two of the officers who led the first coup in the Arab world in 1936, and the four officers who led the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état were Sharifian officers. After the British defeated the Rashid Ali regime, many of the officers became closely tied to the British. Many of them also gained the support of the large landowners as well as the foreign companies operating in the country, allowing them to become the dominant ruling elite until the monarchy was overthrown in 1958.

[edit] References

• Ghareeb, Edmund A. Historical Dictionary of Iraq, pp. 217-18. Scarecrow Press, 2004, ISBN 0810843307.