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Jordan: Emir Abdullah I, King of Jordan (1921-1946), centre, with Emir Shakir to the right, April 1921

Jordan: Emir Abdullah I, King of Jordan (1921-1946), centre, with Emir Shakir to the right, April 1921

Abdullah I bin al-Hussein, King of Jordan [‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Husayn, عبد الله الأول بن الحسين], February 1882 – 20 July 1951, born in Mecca, Second Saudi State, (in modern-day Saudi Arabia) was the second of three sons of Sherif Hussein bin Ali, Sharif and Emir of Mecca and his first wife Abdiyya bint Abdullah (d. 1886). He was educated in Istanbul, Turkey and Hijaz. From 1909 to 1914, Abdullah sat in the Ottoman legislature, as deputy for Mecca, but allied with Britain during World War I. Between 1916 to 1918, working with the British guerrilla leader T. E. Lawrence, he played a key role as architect and planner of the Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule, leading guerrilla raids on garrisons. He was the ruler of Transjordan and its successor state, Jordan, from 1921 to 1951—first as Emir under a British Mandate from 1921 to 1946, then as King of an independent nation from 1946 until his assassination in 1951.

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