Shortly before the end of World War II, on 22 March 1945, the League of Arab States was formed in Cairo with Iraq as one of the six founding members. After World War II, likewise in other countries, the necessity for a new beginning prevailed in Iraq. On 27 December 1945, the regent announced the end of martial law, more political freedom, readmission of political parties, lifting of press censorship, measures to improve social security, economic reform and an open door for the younger generation, especially in the military. In 1947, The Central Bank of Iraq was established. 

In contrast to nation-wide interests, Nuri Al Said negotiated a new contract with the British and on 15 January 1948 a new Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, the Portsmouth Treaty, was signed which codified the British privileged status until 1973 (instead of 1957). A mass demonstration sparked which is known as al Wathba (the leap) uprising. For the first time, the people themselves were protesting with students on the forefront, workers and Baghdad's destitute to protest against the Portsmouth treaty amid deteriorating living conditions: poverty, negligence, greed, and injustice. The protest was bloodily suppressed, but the Portsmouth Treaty was cancelled. 

Due to an enormous increase in oil royalties accruing to the state, the Iraq Development Board was established which was operating from 1950 to 1958. In 1952 Nuri Al Said negotiated a fifty-fifty profit-sharing agreement between the government and the Iraqi Petroleum Company (IPC). The Iraqi government had allocated 70% of oil revenue to development which included to establish industries, to improve land, water irrigation, drainage and storage, air communication, roads, bridges, ports and airports, and to construct both public buildings and low-income houses. The work of the Board was highly criticised as it put prestige projects before the needs of the people, which included as example forced industrialization, a concentration of investments in metropolitan centres and unrestrained irrigation and land reclamation schemes. The British economist Lord Salter advised the board in his report "Plan of Action" presented to the Development Board in spring 1955, to spend much greater resources on housing, health, clean water system and education in order to bring more immediate benefits to wider sections of the population. Even though his recommendations were acted upon at least in the plan, the actual expenditure proved to be less than planned. The welfare was only for an elite group of leaders in the government. The people still suffered under deteriorating living conditions. 

On 2 May 1953, King Faisal II attained his majority and was enthroned. He was more an art lover than a politician. Apart from providing art education and scholarships which goes back to the thirties, the state's recognition of artists was first accorded officially in February 1956, when the first comprehensive exhibition of Iraqi art was held at Al Mansour Club in Baghdad under royal patronage and later that year the Iraqi Artists Society was launched with King Faysal II as a founding member. King Faisal II had a huge vision of a 'Greater Baghdad'. Via the Iraq Development Board renowned international architects were invited to design for public buildings, e.g. Alvar Aalto, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Werner March, Oscar Niemeyer, Frank Lloyd Wright, J. Brian Cooper and William Dunkel. Only a few design drafts were implemented such as the Baghdad University Compound designed by Walter Gropius and his architectural firm 'The Architects Collaborative' (TAC). These visions for a 'Greater Baghdad' had many critics who considered the plans as very much westernised in a country and in a time of Iraqi nationalism, Arab nationalism and Nasserism.

On 24 February 1955, the Baghdad Pact was formed by Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and the United Kingdom, as a military alliance of the Cold War and initiated by the United States. It was again Nuri Al Saeed who pushed for the agreement. One consequence of the pact was that Iraq fought on the side of Israel in the second Middle East conflict, not on the side of Palestine, as the people and the meanwhile strong opposition would have been preferred.

Despite the country's material progress, the monarchy failed to win public support and in particular, the confidence of the younger generation of leaders. The Egyptian Revolution of 1952, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, provided an impetus for a similar undertaking in Iraq. The opposition began to coordinate its activities and formed the Front of National Union. A group of young officers formed the Supreme Committee of Free Officers, similar to the Egyptian model. As a contrasting answer to the United Arab Republic between Egypt and Syria, and pushed by Great Britain, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan formed the Hashemite Arab Federation on 14 February 1958. This became the final straw. On 14 July 1958, through a military coup by Iraqi Free Officers, led by Brigadier Abd Al Karim Qasim and Colonel Abdul Salam Arif, and with the support of the mass of the street, the Hashemite Monarchy was overthrown and the Republic of Iraq was proclaimed. King Faisal II, the Regent and other Royal family members were executed. Nuri Al Saeed one day later. Their bodies were hanged in front of the Ministry of Defense, on exactly the same site, where the Golden Square members were hanged in 1942.

This article was written by Hella Mewis and is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.