The Muslim Nazis IV: Farhud

History Impossible

31-05-2021 • 3 hrs 36 mins

What do you get when all of your best laid plans seem to be falling apart around you with nothing but the suffering of your people to show for it?

Bitterness.

As the 1920s turned into the 1930s, Hajj Amin al-Husseini's power started to look increasingly fragile and precarious, largely thanks to the effects of the violence that rocked Palestine in the summer of 1929 that only served to raise the temperature across the nation. The nationalist movement would continue to splinter and many different factions would take much more strident, even recognizably jihadist measures against the British Mandate which only served to incentivize the colonizers to redouble their suppression efforts, culminating in the second great Arab Revolt of the 20th century, from 1936-1939.

In this episode of the Muslim Nazis we see the power Hajj Amin al-Husseini accumulated during the 1920s start to slip through his fingers until he is yet again on the run from the British. This part of our story takes us from Palestine to Syria to Iraq. It is Iraq where al-Husseini manages to get himself deeply involved in the coup that brought the British down to bear on Iraq's new government, a government supported by another imperial power beginning to make its moves in Europe. And what ultimately follows such a dramatic confrontation is so devastating that the only word that can sufficiently describe it is in Arabized Kurdish.

That word is farhud, translated as “violent dispossession”, though it could also reasonably be simplified into one word: disaster.


History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon and PayPal:

Benjamin Bernier
Elias Borota
Miklos Buksa
Matthew Dakus
Kyle Dillon
Gavin Edwards
Kevin Gony
Nathan Grote
Peter Hauck
Devin Hreha
Mike Kalnins
Benjamin Lee
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Monica
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Ben Mullen
Molly Pan
Jake Petersen
Edmund Plamowski
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Jon André Sæther
Alison Salo
Sam
Emily Schmidt
Cameron Smith
Jared Cole Temple
Steve Uhler
Ricky Worthey
F. You

History Impossible has also launched a storefront where you get History Impossible goodies, including shirts, mugs, and stickers. More designs will be uploaded in the coming months, but get your History Impossible gear over at TeePublic now; just click the link and you'll be taken there.
https://www.teepublic.com/stores/the-history-impossible-storefront?utm_campaign=23070&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=The%2BHistory%2BImpossible%2BStorefront
Final note: If you want to skip the opening housekeeping, jump ahead to 11:30.