ISBN La Saga Des Hachemites, Geschiedenis, Frans, Paperback

Four brothers by two different mothers. Three were to become kings, one of them on two separate occasions. The turbulent fate of these siblings, the Bani Hashim or Hashimites, carries us through and acts as a resumé for a whole century of Middle Eastern history. It is all there: the rivalry between Ottoman, English and French imperialism; Arabia; Iraq; Syria; the Lebanon; Jordan; Zionism; the First and Second World Wars; the fight against Nazi activities in Baghdad; Glubb Pasha and the "Arab Legion"; the founding of the Hebrew State; the tragic fate of the Palestinians... and - in amongst the guerrilla wars and revolutions - oil. Winston Churchill; Lawrence of Arabia; Ibn Saud, leader of the terrifying Wahabite fighters; Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli president; Nasser the Egyptian; the great Mufti of Jerusalem, implacable enemy of the Jews and the Hashimites; Saint-John Philby, father of the future Soviet spy Kim Philby; Gertrude Bell... With their father, Sharif of Mecca, the Hashimites worked alongside Lawrence of Arabia in launching the guerrilla war of 1916 - 1918 against the Turks. They wanted a united Arab kingdom controlled by their family. The eldest, Ali (1879 - 1935), the last king of Hijaz - the western side of the Arabian peninsula which includes the holy cities of Medina and Mecca - was to be banished from his kingdom by Ibn Saud. The Hashimites had lost the sacred land of Islam. Faisal (1885 - 1933), Lawrence of Arabia's favourite, became King of Syria. But the French army drove him out of Damascus. Stripped of his crown, Abdullah (1882 - 1951) the second son, would have to settle for Jordan. He was assassinated outside the Omar Mosque in Jerusalem by a Palestinian who took exception to his moderation towards Israelis (even though he had waged war on them), and was succeeded by his grandson, King Hussein. Faisal's successor, Ghazi I, died in a car crash on the eve of the Second World War which was to threaten the throne and see Nazis reaching out to Arab nationalists. In July 1958 the entire royal family - including King Faisal II, grandson of Faisal I - was assassinated by republican soldiers. Only the baby of the family, Zayed (1898 - 1972), Iraqi ambassador in London, escaped the massacre. The saga concludes, in February 1999, with the death of Hussein of Jordan. This marked the end of the Hashimite dream, but not before it had done a great deal to shape the Middle East as we know it today. Rémi Kauffer has some fifteen works to his name and most of them have enjoyed considerable success. He divides his time between the Paris Institute for Political Studies, Sciences-Po, and the respected historical periodical Historia. Rigorously accurate and intransigent on raw facts, he is also an excellent storyteller. With this book - which took him several years to write - he proves himself an exceptional, not to say unique, smuggler of new information.