Asian & Middle Eastern Monarchs & Strongmen Codexery

Hussein of Jordan

Last updated

The kingdom he inherited was impoverished, lacking abundant natural resources, and contained a substantial population of Palestinian refugees.[1]

Life and work

Hussein was born on 14 November 1935 in Amman to Crown Prince Talal and Princess Zein al-Sharaf.[2] In 1956, Hussein allowed the formation of Jordan's only democratically elected government, which he forced to resign a few months later and declared martial law.[3] Hussein signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, becoming the second Arab head of state to do so.[4] During the 1951 assassination of his grandfather Abdullah I, Hussein survived when a bullet was stopped by a medal on his uniform.[5][1]

Following his father Talal's forced abdication for schizophrenia, Hussein was declared king on 11 August 1952 while he was in Lausanne, Switzerland.[6][1] The 1970 conflict known as Black September involved Hussein's expulsion of Palestinian militants from Jordan.[3]

What the cited sources add

A CNN obituary notes that Hussein's family claims descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad and ruled Mecca for over 700 years until 1925.[1] The same source reports that in 1956 Hussein sacked his British-born military commander to quiet criticism of foreign influence.[1] The Chicago Tribune reported that Hussein's second bone marrow transplant failed and he returned to Jordan to die.[7] The BBC stated that thousands of people gathered outside the hospital weeping and chanting his name when he died.[8]

CNN reported that in 1997 Hussein knelt with the families of seven Israeli schoolgirls killed by a Jordanian soldier, calling the shootings "a crime that is a shame for all of us".[9]

References

  1. "King Hussein is dead", CNN, 7 February 1999. facts only, no text reused. cnn.com
  2. Wikipedia, "Hussein of Jordan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Biography – King Hussein bin Talal", jewishvirtuallibrary.org; "The Royal Palaces", www.kinghussein.gov.jo; Miller, "Death of a King; Cautious King Took Risks in Straddling Two Worlds", The New York Times, 8 February 1999; Shlaim 2009, p. 201 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Hussein of Jordan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Martin Gilbert, "The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict", Routledge, 2005, p. 58 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Hussein of Jordan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Jordan-Israeli Peace Treaty", www.kinghussein.gov.jo (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Hussein of Jordan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shlaim 2009, p. 201; Shlaim 2009, p. 201; "Biography – King Hussein bin Talal", jewishvirtuallibrary.org; "King Hussein is dead", CNN, 7 February 1999; "King Hussein is dead", CNN, 7 February 1999; "King Hussein is dead", CNN, 7 February 1999 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Hussein of Jordan" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "King Hussein of Jordan", The Telegraph, 8 February 1999; "King Hussein of Jordan", The Telegraph, 8 February 1999; "King Hussein of Jordan", The Telegraph, 8 February 1999; "Ex‐King Talal of Jordan Dies; Abdicated in '52 in Favor of Son", The New York Times, 9 July 1972; "King Hussein of Jordan", The Telegraph, 8 February 1999; "King Hussein of Jordan", The Telegraph, 8 February 1999; "King Hussein of Jordan", The Telegraph, 8 February 1999; "King Hussein of Jordan", The Telegraph, 8 February 1999; "King Hussein of Jordan", The Teleg en.wikipedia.org
  7. "Jordan's King Flies Home", Chicago Tribune, 5 February 1999. facts only, no text reused. chicagotribune.com
  8. "King Hussein dies", BBC, 7 February 1999. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
  9. Jerrold Kessel, "With condolence visit to Israel, King Hussein spurs talks", CNN, 16 March 1997. facts only, no text reused. cnn.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Hussein of Jordan (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

More in Asian & Middle Eastern Monarchs & Strongmen

Islam KarimovIsmail HaniyehJaber Al-Ahmad Al-SabahJiang QingKim Il-sungFaisal of Saudi ArabiaGyanendra of NepalHamad bin Isa Al KhalifaHamad bin Khalifa Al ThaniHamid KarzaiHassan NasrallahHassan Rouhani

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →