– during which Jewish shops and homes are attached by angry anti-British mobs.
The royal family returns to Baghdad with British help. Some coup d’état leaders are arrested, others flee. The British temporarily reoccupy Baghdad.
Thamina marries Bibi’s cousin Saleh Bassam.
Rushdi becomes involved in Freya Stark’s anti-Nazi Brotherhood of Freedom.
Four officers behind the coup are executed by order of the Prince regent, in a move that proves unpopular.
1942
Thamina gives birth to Leila, Bibi’s first granddaughter.
1943
Iraq enters World War II, fighting against the Axis powers.
Raifa marries Abdul Amir Allawi.
Rumia dies.
1944
Hadi makes his first trip to America as part of a business delegation.
Ahmad is born.
Hassan goes to university in Egypt to pursue a doctorate in law. Jamila goes with him.
Raifa and Thamina give birth one after the other to Ghazi and Mahdi, respectively.
1946
The Communist leader ‘Fahd’ is imprisoned for inciting workers to protest against the government.
1947
Rushdi marries Ilham and becomes MP for Kazimiya.
Hadi becomes a senator.
Hassan briefly returns to Baghdad before moving to Paris to continue his doctorate at the Sorbonne. Jamila follow him.
1948
Raifa’s second son, Ali, is born. Rushdi first child, Hussein, is born.
The Arab Israeli war – what the Israelis call the War of Independence and the Palestinians call the Catastrophe (Nakba) – breaks out with the abrupt ending of the British mandate in Palestine. As part of the Arab Legion that included forces from Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Iraq initially sends 3,000 men to fight, later increasing that number to 21,000. Pressure on Iraq’s Jewish population increases.
1949
Bibi travels to Europe for the first time to visit Hassan in Paris.
Fahd is executed.
Salim Chalabi temporarily becomes secretary general of the Iraqi Communist Party.
1950
Najla marries Abdul Latif Agha Jaafar, Ilham’s brother.
1951
Hassan is hospitalized in Paris.
Hadi, Bibi and their three youngest boys take a family trip to Europe.
1952
Hassan returns to Cairo to defend his PhD.
Revolution in Egypt topples the monarch. Jamal Abdul Nasser, a military officer, takes over.
Hassan begins a career as a professor at Baghdad University.
1953
18-year-old King Faisal II is crowned in Baghdad.
1954
Hadi buys Latifiyyah Estate from Andrew Weir.
Rushdi becomes Minister of Agriculture.
1955
The Baghdad Pact is signed, including Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Britain in a political and economic bloc aimed at countering Soviet influence in the region.
Hadi becomes deputy head of the Senate.
1956
During the Suez crisis, Britain, France and Israel attack Egypt in response to the nationalization of the Suez Canal.
1957
Frank Lloyd Wright visits Baghdad before designing the Baghdad Opera House. Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius are likewise commissioned to design public buildings.
1958
Rushdi participates in successful negotiations with British Petroleum. Iraq’s share of its oil revenue increases to 80 per cent.
In a coup d’etat on 14 July, the entire royal family is murdered, except for Princess Badiya and her children.
Prime Minister Nuri Said hides in Thamina’s house, then is taken to her in-laws in Kazimiya.
On 15 July, Rushdi is arrested with Abdul Amir Allawi and Fadhil Jamali.
Nuri’s location is discovered. He seeks refuge with the Istrabadi family but is shot dead alongside Bibi’s old friend, Bibi Istrabadi.
Thamina’s husband Saleh is arrested for helping Nuri Said.
Britain officially recognizes new Iraq government on 1 August.
Hadi arrives in London in September and is joined a month later by Ahmad and Ghazi.
Rushdi is released from jail and put under house arrest.
1959
In January Bibi joins Hadi in London.
In March, Rushdi and his remaining siblings try to escape by car to Jordan. Their attempt is thwarted.
Rushdi’s house arrest ends in July. He leaves for London to join the rest of the family.
Thamina’s husband, Saleh, is released from jail.
The Mahdawi court – known as ‘the clown court’ – is set up to try officials of the old regime. Four are executed.
Saeeda dies.
1960
Bibi and Hadi move to Beirut. The rest of the family will follows in following years. Only Hassan and Jawad remain in Baghdad.
1961
Ahmad is admitted to MIT.
1962
Hadi is given permission to visit Baghdad briefly. It was his last visit.
1963
In a Ba’ath coup, President Abdul Karim Qassim is executed in Baghdad. Shortly thereafter, General Abdul Salam Arif becomes president.
1967
Arab countries suffer a major defeat in the Arab–Israeli War.
