ABSTRACT
All of the coups in Iraq from 1936 to 1941 aimed at removing governments with which the officers did not agree. Only in three cases was violence used to overturn a government: Sidqi’s coup of October 1936 that resulted in the death of Al-Askari, the August 1937 coup that resulted in the death of Sidqi and the conflict of April 1941. In the other four coups, the officers overturned these governments with the mere threat of violence. None of the coups resulted in overthrowing the monarchy, or changing the constitution and the parliamentary system of government. The officers as moderators, never needed a valid, detailed political program that they sought to implement, nor did they use a political organization to implement such an agenda. They lacked the institutions or vision for that matter to evolve into the military ruler regimes of 1958 to 1968. The officers after 1958 sought to change the governments by ruling directly, then violence was employed on numerous occasions and the entire political system, including the constitution, was changed according the interests of the
military officers in power, and they generated subsequent coups in rapid succession.
