Ramadan Revolution

The Ramadan Revolution, also referred to as the 8 February Revolution and the February 1963 coup d'état (Arabic: حركة 8 شباط) in Iraq, was a military coup by the Iraqi branch of the Ba'ath Party in February 1963 that overthrew the prime minister of Iraq, Abdul-Karim Qasim in favour of a Ba'athist government. The coup was followed nine months later by a counter coup that saw the removal of the new government and a purging of Ba'ath Party members. The most powerful leader of the Ba'athist government that emerged from the coup was the secretary general of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, Ali Salih al-Sa'di, who controlled the National Guard militia and organized a massacre of hundreds—if not thousands—of suspected communists and other dissidents following the coup. Qasim's former deputy, Abdul Salam Arif, who was not a Ba'athist, was given the largely ceremonial title of president, while prominent Ba'athist general Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr was named prime minister. The government lasted approximately nine months, until Arif disarmed the National Guard in the November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état. This was followed by a purge of Ba'ath Party members.