November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état
| November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Cold War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Ba'ath National Guard Militia |
 Pro-Nasserists Iraqi Army Iraqi Navy Iraqi Air Force | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr |
Abdul Salam Arif Abdul Rahman Arif | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 34,000 (Ba'ath National Guard Milita) | |||||||
| Part of a series on |
| Ba'athism |
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The November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état took place between November 10-11, 1963, when following internal party divisions, pro-Nasserist Iraqi officers, led a military coup within the Ba'ath Party. The coup was bloodless.
Background
After seizing Iraqi state power in February 1963, divisions between pro and anti-Nasser Ba'th leaders, as well as between right and left pan-Arab nationalist Ba'ath leaders led to the first Ba'ath regime in Iraq's collapse in November 1963, while 7,000 Iraqi communists remained imprisoned.
Although the presidency was occupied by Abdul Salam Arif, a non-Ba'athist Arab nationalist and a member of the Homeland Officers' Organization, most of the ministries were divided among Ba'athists. The virtual ruler of the country was the prime minister Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr.
Coup
On November 11, 1963, 15 armed Iraqi Army military officers burst into a Ba'ath Congress meeting, seized the Ba'ath left nationalist faction leaders at gun point and flew them to Madrid. Then, on November 18, 1963, Iraqi president Abdul Salam Arif, his brother, Brigade General Abdul Rahman Arif and their Iraqi Army supporters suppressed the Ba'ath National Guard Militia (which had increased in size from 5,000 to 34,000 between February and August 1963) and bombed the Ba'th National Guard Milita headquarters. As a result, the first Ba'th regime was overthrown and a new, pro-Nasserist regime was established with Abdul Salam Arif as Head of State.