Faisal I

Faisal I (1885-1933), king of Iraq, born in Mecca, Arabia, and educated in Constantinople. He was the third son of Husein ibn Ali, the first king of Hejaz (Al Ḩijāz, now part of Saudi Arabia) and founder of the modern Hashemite dynasty. During World War I Faisal at first served with the Turkish army in Syria, but in 1916 he fled to the Hejaz, where he joined his father and brothers in the Arab revolt. Later, aided by the British adventurer and writer, T. E. Lawrence, Faisal participated in the capture of Damascus from the Turks. In March 1920 a Syrian national congress proclaimed him king of Syria, but he was deposed in July, when the French entered the country under the terms of a League of Nations mandate. In August 1921, at the urging of the British archaeologist Gertrude Bell, the British mandate government in Iraq permitted a plebiscite. Faisal was then elected the first king of Iraq, receiving 96 per cent of the votes. The national assembly of Iraq conferred the title of constitutional monarch upon Faisal in 1923. He was succeeded by his son Ghazi I.