The military coup was headed by the Iraqi Free Officer Brigadier Abd al-Karim Qasim and Colonel Abdul Salam Arif and supported by different opposition factions and a huge popular uprising. The people were tired of the controversial Western-oriented policies of the ruling monarchy, showed no agreement with their anti-Palestine policies and the growing welfare of a specific elite, while the majority of the people were living under harsh conditions. Officer Abd al-Karim Qasim became Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. Abdul Salam Arif became Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Deputy Commander in Chief. Thirteen days after the revolution a temporary constitution was announced, declaring Iraq as a republic and part of the Arab nation and with Islam as the official religion of the state. The parliament was abolished and the Sovereignty Council became the collective head of state. The state apparatus and the army were purged and Iraq withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and the Arab League and established friendly relations with the Soviet Union. 

Qasim's domestic reforms helped to implement a number of positive domestic changes e.g. the present-day area of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad. Built in 1959 and called Revolution City at that time, it offered housing for Baghdad's urban poor, many of whom had come from the countryside during the 1950s. He introduced changes in the Iraqi agrarian sectors. The Agrarian Reform Law from September 1958 dismantled the old feudal structure of rural Iraq. Under Qasim the status of women in Iraq was brought to a better equality level. He promulgated a revision of the personal status code, regulating family relations. Polygamy was outlawed, a minimum age for marriage was set and women were protected from arbitrary divorce. The laws, which brought women into a more equal status, did not survive Qasim's government.

Abdul Kareem Qassim commissioned major monuments celebrating the 14. July revolution. The three first were the Monument of Unknown Soldier (1961) in Firduz Square, the Peace Mural by Faek Hassan at Teyeran Square (1959) and the Freedom Monument in Al Tahrir Square (1961). When after the 1958 Revolution the Ministry of information was established, it extended state patronage to artists and their exhibitions on a large scale. Building up its permanent collection of modern art, the Ministry bought works from nearly every artist who held an exhibition.

The political landscape at that time was as diverse as its population with an ongoing debate between Watani (Iraqi nationalists) and Qaumi (Arab nationalist). Brigadier Qasim, who adopted a wataniyah policy of "Iraq First '', soon outranked Colonel Arif, who followed the qawmiyah theory and who will later in Iraq history play an important role again. Qassim's ties to the Iraqi Communist Party and his practised Qasimism as a "Sole Leader '' led to the Mosul Uprising in 1959 when Arab nationalists in Mosul wanted to depose him. The coup became a scene of score settling between rebel and loyalist soldiers, communists and Arab nationalists, Bedouin tribesmen and pro-government Kurdish tribes. Although the rebellion was crushed by the military, it had a remaining effect on Qasim's position and authority. 

Qassim's reform efforts included lifting the ban on the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which brought Mustafa Barzani back from exile. After unsuccessful attempts by the Kurds to achieve a greater degree of self-determination under the monarchy, hopes for autonomy now turned to the new republic. The KDP had effectively used his licensed operation to gain recognition in the Kurdish provinces. Mustafa Barzani submitted a memorandum on autonomy which was rejected by the government in July 1961. Qassim not only had no clear concept on the question of autonomy. Most of the free officers were Arabs who showed no understanding of Kurdish autonomy, which many saw as a betrayal of the Iraqi unified state. Barzani feared for the KDPs reputation if the Qassim government's 'promise' was not kept and in the summer of 1961, he resorted to military force. Fighting between the Peshmerga, the standing military of the KDP, and the Iraqi army broke out which lasted until 1970. 

On 19 June 1961, Kuwait gained independence from Great Britain and Qasim, like his ancestor King Ghazi, declared Kuwait an integral part of Iraq on June 25. Because of pressure from the international community he withdrew his proclamation on Kuwait and thus acted wiser than Saddam would do almost 30 years later.

Popularly known as al-za'im (The Leader), Qassim lost many of his constituency during his incumbency. On 8 February 1963, a military coup led by the Iraqi branch of the Ba'ath Party and known as the Ramadan Revolution overthrew Abdul Karim Qasim. He was executed on 9 February 1963. The Ba'ath Party took the lead for the next nine months.

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