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A Winter Of Discontent: Britain's Crisis In Jordan, December 1955-March 1956

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Michael B. Oren
Michael B. Oren
Affiliation:
Ben Gurion Research CenterBen Gurion Univertsity
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Extract

The 1950s were years of profound change in the Middle East. In the realm of great power diplomacy, British hegemony gradually gave way to American ascendancy which, in turn, competed with the rapid spread of Soviet influence in the area. Within the region, the era witnessed the crystallization of a state system and, simultaneously, the growth of ideological movements dedicated to the unification of those states on national or religious bases. Internally, Middle Eastern governments sought new of opposition groups. These transformations, together with the dislocations of decolonization, the persistence of regional rivalries, and the introduction of new technologies, caused chronic instability throughout the Middle East, and in the winter of 1955–1956, combined to produce Britain's crisis in Jordan.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , May 1990 , pp. 171 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

NOTES

1 SirAlec, Kirkbride, From the Wings. Amman Memoirs, 1947–1951 (London, 1976), p. 1;Google ScholarWilliam, Roger Louis, The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945–1951 (London, 1984), p. 350.Google Scholar

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9 On the movement of British forces into Jordan, see PRO, CAB 128/26 CC 62(53): 29 Oct. 1953; 19 Nov. 1953; 129/64 C. (15) 318: 13 Nov. 1953; 128/27 CC. 4(54): 24 Jan. 1954. On the origins of Operation CORDAGE, see CAB, 128/27 C.C. 23 (54): 31 Mar. 1954; FO371/115901/105: War Office Communique, 9 June 1954.

10 PRO, 113678/JE1194/287: Glubb to Foreign Office, 6 Oct. 1955; Sela, , ha-Ba⊃at ha-Paleshini, pp. 25–26;Google ScholarCohen, , Miflagot Politiyot, pp. 56, 158, 163, 323.Google Scholar

11 PRO, FO371/115654/VJ1051/22: Duke, to Macmillan, , 22 11 1955;Google Scholar 115653/VJ1051/22: Duke, to Shuckburgh, , 27 10 1955.Google Scholar

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14 On U.S. opposition to Jordan's inclusion in the Baghdad Pact, see PRO, FO371/115866/48: Macmillan to Shuckburgh, 24 Mar. 1955; / 115866/48: Foreign Office to Washington, 31 Mar. 1955; / 115867/58; / 113676/260: Record of Conversation, Dulles and Macmillan, 3 Oct. 1955. John Foster Dulles Papers, Allen Dulles Files, NCS Report, 7 Dec. 1955. Declassified Documents Quarterly, 1978 383A: U.S. Policy on Pact, 18 July 1955. On the motivations behind the Guildhall speech, see PRO, FO371/115880/331: Arthur Minute, 4 Nov. 1955; /115469/25: Shuckburgh Minute, 9 Nov.1955.

15 PRO, FO371/115653/27: Memorandum on Jordan and the Baghdad Pact, 10 Nov. 1955; /31: Amman to Foreign Office, 16 Nov. 1955. Majālī, , Mudhakkirātī, p. 168;Google ScholarMunīb, al-Mādi, and Sulaymān, Musa, Tārikh al-Urdunn f īal-Qarn al-⊃shrīn (Amman, 1959), p. 628.Google Scholar

16 PRO, FO371/ 115654/57: Foreign Office to Amman 2 Dec. 1955; / 115656/84: Amman to Foreign Office, 12 Nov. 1955.

17 FO371/ 115655/61: Shuckburgh Minute, Briefing for Sir Gerald Templer, 3 Dec. 1955; / 115658/127: Report by Gen. Sir Gerald Templer, CIGS, On His Visit to Jordan, 16 Dec. 1955.

18 FO371/ 115655/61: Report by Gen. Sir Gerald Templer, 16 Dec. 1955.

19 F0371/ 115655/68: Amman to Foreign Office, 7 Dec. 1955.

20 On pressure from the Iraqis, see Majālī, , Mudhakkirāti, p. 67. Chamoun's correspondence with Hussein in FO371/ 115656/79: Amman to Foreign Office, 8 Dec. 1955.Google Scholar

21 Filastīn, 3 Dec. 1955, 9 12 1955; Glubb, , A Soldier, pp. 394–95;Google ScholarMajālī, , Mudhakkirātī, pp. 169–70.Google Scholar

22 FO371/ 115656/81: Foreign Office to Amman, 10 Dec. 1955.

23 FO371/ 115657/93: Amman to Foreign Office, 13 Dec. 1955; Mādī, , Tārīkh al-Urdunn, 615–16;Google ScholarHazzā⊃, al-Majālī, Hādhā Bayān al-Nass: Qissah Muhādathat Tamblar (Amman, 1956), pp. 8–12. A codicil citing the 1947 resolution as the basis for solving the Palestine problem had been attached to the Turco-Iraqi treaty of February 1955. Britain had disassociated itself from the letter but was willing to support its inclusion in Jordan's accession treaty. See FO371 / 115656/84: Foreign Office to Amman, 12 Dec. 1955.Google Scholar

24 FO371/ 115657/103: Amman to Foreign Office, 12.13.55; Report by Gen. SirGerald, Templer (cited above, n. 18); Majālī, Hādha Bayān al-Nass, p. 12;Google ScholarMādī, , Tārīkh al-Urdunn, p. 216.Google Scholar

25 FO317/ 121492/42: Duke to Lloyd, 8 Feb. 1956; / 121476/3: Mason (Amman) to Rose, 31 Dec. 1955.

26 FO371/ 115657/106: Amman to Foreign Office, 14 Dec. 1955; / 115659/130: Amman to Foreign Office, 22 Dec. 1955; / 115652/1: Shuckburgh Minute, 23 Dec. 1955.

27 FO371 / 115658/121: Duke to Foreign Office, 19 Dec. 1955; / 121530/11: Amman to Foreign Office, 25 Jan. 1956; Glubb, , A Soldier, p. 400;Google ScholarMajālī, , Hādhā Bayān al-Nass, p. 17.Google Scholar

28 John, Glennon, ed., Foreign Relations of the United States. 1955–1957 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1988),Google Scholar vol. 13, Near East: Jordan-Yemen, pp. 9–15.

29 PR0, CAB 128/38 C.C. (54), 11 Jan. 1956. Israel State Archives (henceforth, ISA), Foreign Office Files, 2593/10: Eytan to Elath, 30 Dec. 1955; 2408/14: Yeshiyahu to Eytan, 19 Jan. 1956. Glennon, , Foreign Relations of the United States, pp. 18–19, 22; Filastīn, 6 Jan. 1956, 11 Jan. 1956, 3 Feb. 1955; Mād, Tārikh al-Urdunn, p.629;Google ScholarFaddah, , The Middle East in Transition, pp. 202, 252;Google ScholarGlubb, , A Soldier, p. 505.Google Scholar

30 FO371/ 115683/4: Amman to Foreign Office, 5 Nov. 1955.

31 ⊃Ārif Al-⊃Ārif, al-Nakba (Beirut, n.d.), vol. 3, pp. 216–18; ⊃Abd, Allāh Al-Tall, Karithat Filastīn (Cairo, 1959), p. 245;Google ScholarBenjamin, Shwadran, Jordan: A State of Tension (New York, 1959), p. 306;Google ScholarMādī, ;, Tārīkh al-Urdunn, pp. 609, 628;Google ScholarGlubb, , A Soldier, pp. 241, 251, 256–57, 287–88, 293.Google Scholar

32 In January 1956, at a time when British observers believed an Israeli thrust into Gaza imminent, Glubb suggested that once fighting broke out, the legion, backed by British reinforcements, advance to the 1947 partition lines. Deeming the plan “unacceptable,” Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd further commented: “Gen. Glubb's ideas seem rather confused. But what they amount to is that we should assist Jordan to make an Israeli attack on Egypt the occasion for extending her present frontier at Israel's expense.” See FO371/ 12733/37: Duke to Rose, 23 Jan. 1955.

33 Glubb, , A Soldier, pp. 275, 412;Google ScholarVatikiotis, , Politics and the Military, pp. 98–99;Google ScholarYoung, , Bedouin Command, pp. 167, 173–75; FO371/l 15909/VRIO92/409: Tel Aviv to Foreign Office, 11 Nov. 1955; 115899/VR1092/ 120: Amman to Foreign Office, 19 April 1955;Google ScholarGlubb, , A Soldier, pp. 382–83; Christian Science Monitor, “Intrigue Swirls in Jordan,” by George Hackett, 7 Aug. 1954.Google Scholar

34 Glubb's efforts to stop the recruitment of fidā⊂iyyūn in FO371/115899/120: Amman to Foreign Office, 19 04 1955; Hussein, I, Uneasy Lies the Head (London, 1962), pp. 381–82;Google ScholarGlubb, , A Soldier, pp. 382–83; Fawzi's comment in FO371/115645/2: Trevelyan to Duke, 2 Nov. 1955.Google Scholar

35 FO371/ 115683/1: Duke to Shuckburgh, 6 Oct. 1955; / 115655/57: Glubb to Foreign Office, 24 Nov. 1955; Mādi, , Tārīkh al-Urdunn, p. 629.Google Scholar

36 On Jordan's motivations and Glubb's ignorance thereof, see Mādī, , Tārīkh al-Urdunn, pp. 628, 630;Google ScholarMajālī, , Mudhakkirātī, 169; FO371/115659/150: Glubb to Foreign Office, 29 Dec. 1956; /115654/39: Rose Minute, 17 Nov. 1956; Glubb's attitude toward Jordanian membership in the pact in FO371/115653/27: Duke to Shuckburgh, 10 Nov. 1955.Google Scholar

37 The charge that Glubb used to legion to dispense pamphlets supporting the pact was prominent in Egyptian propaganda in January-February 1956, and later cited by Hussein as one of the reasons for Glubb's dismissal. The accusation appears to be substantiated in FO371/ 121491 / 11: Jerusalem to Foreign Office, 8 Jan. 1956.

38 Hussein's public explanations in FO371/ 121492/50: Amman to Foreign Office, 4 Mar. 1956; Mādī, , Tārīkh al-Urdunn, pp. 632–33. Private remarks in FO371/121540/16: Amman to Foreign Office, 1 Mar. 1956;Google ScholarGlennon, , Foreign Relations of the United States, pp. 30–34.Google Scholar

39 FO371/121540/21: Foreign Office Minute, 2 Mar. 1956; /121541/30: Amman to Foreign Office, 3 Mar. 1956; / 12 1492/47: Amman to Foreign Office, 4 Mar. 1956; Glennon, , Foreign Relations of the United States, pp. 20–28. Hussein's decision to sever the legion's communications derived from his fear of a British-directed coup in the country; see FO 371/ 121540/29: Amman to Foreign Office, 3 Mar. 1956.Google Scholar

40 FO371 / 121492/41: Arthur Minute, 1.14.56; CAB 128/30 C.C. 8 (56): 5 Mar. 1956; 9 Mar. 1956.

41 On the legion's cooperation with Egypt, see FO371/ 121776/158: Tel Aviv to Foreign Office, 5 June 1956; Israel State Archives, 2440/7: Yeshiyahu to Eytan: 19 April 1956; Britain's fear of Jordanian involvement in an Arab-Israel war in FO371/ 121497/183: Amman to Foreign Office, 13 Aug. 1956; Britain's retreat from its defense commitments in FO371/ 121535/102: Air Ministry to Headquarters, MEAF, 21 Sept. 1956.

42 FO371 / 121497/79: Amman to Foreign Office, 11 Aug. 1956; / 121536/123: Rose Minute, 20 Oct. 1956. CAB 128/130: 9 Oct. 1956; 25 Oct. 1956. FO371/ 121780/29: Amman to Foreign Office, 11 Oct. 1956; ISA, 2410/10: The New Anglo-Iraqi Campaign 9 Oct. 1956; 2474/16: Eban to Shiloah, 2 Oct. 1956.

43 FO371/121499/224: Amman to Foreign Office, 1 Nov. 1956; /121787/548: Amman to Foreign Office, 3 Nov. 1956; 121499/243: Duke to Foreign Office, 26 Nov. 1956.

44 FO371/ 121501/273: Rose Minute, 21 Dec. 1956; /263: Record of Conversation, the Secretary of State and Mr. Dulles, 10 Dec. 1956; CAB 128/30 (2) CM (56): 3 Jan. 1957.

45 FO371/ 121501/263: Record of Conversation, the Secretary of State and Mr. DulIes, 10 Dec. 1956; Glennon, , Foreign Relations of the United States, pp. 73–74.Google Scholar

46 FO371/121492/47: Amman to Foreign Office, 5 Mar. 1956. Compare Duke's comment to that of William M. Rountree, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian and African Affairs, in November 1956: “Jordan, which has never been a viable state, economically or politically, was created and maintained by the British.” From Glennon, , Foreign Relations of the United States, p. 67.Google Scholar