To write about King Hussein is always an honor, a man that I grew up reading his tale, and I tell you no matter how much I read about him, I never get bored, so let’s find out why, let’s begin

King Hussein the first Jordanian king to be born in Jordan, the two previous kings being born in Ottoman Makkah, from a young age Hussein was destined to greatness, because of the devotion of his grandfather Prince Abdullah he was able to experience the political arena from a young age, making him somewhat of an aid de camp to him, he was by his side all the way the old prince especially made use of his grandson’s knowledge of the English language to interpret the meetings that happen between him and the British who were in control of the country, this helped the young Hussein gain experience in foreign affairs and how the British deal with their “dependencies”, Hussein was also born and lived in an interesting time born a year before the Palestinian revolution which his father was a patron of and almost became a fighter, WW2, the independence of Jordan, the Nakba (war of 1948) which I personally helped in the development of his mindset of politics in the Middle East there was one fateful event that also affected him for life.
On the 20th of July 1951 on a visit to Masjid Al-Aqsa, Hussein witnessed the murder of his grandfather when a lone gunman shot the king three times in the head and chest and then the gunman proceeded to shoot the young prince who narrowly survived as the shot had been dodged by hitting a medal his grandfather had pinned on him that very morning.
With the death of the old king a small succession crisis happens between the crown prince who was absent for receiving treatment in Switzerland, some British wanting the enthronement of the regent Prince Nayef bin Abdullah, and the Iraqi regent who wanted the unification of the Hashimite thrones of Iraq and Jordan.
It ended with the heir apparent claiming his throne, Hussein’s father now King Talal returns to Jordan and is crowned king with his eldest son Hussein as crown prince, while his father implemented lasting reforms, Hussein spent the next year in studying in Egypt, until a year later while on vacation he received a letter that would change his life as it was addressed to: His Majesty King Hussein. The content of the letters revealed that his father was removed and that as heir he is now the king; now we have a country barely a few years old fresh out of war with more than half of its population being refugees, with its first king dead, it’s second king overthrown, and now a boy on the throne, it should be fair to mention that when Hussein and his cousin future King Faisal II were both schoolboys in London their teachers expected Faisal to have successful career as King of Iraq one of the greatest countries of the Muslim world while Hussein wouldn’t but truly only God determines the future as we shall see.
Hussein began his reign with Jordan being on bad terms with several of its neighbors being still dependent of the British while all most of them were removing the control of their colonial masters, Hussein would reply: I have a country with no water nor oil what am I to do? Which resulted in an agreement in which every year the gulf states are to send aid to Jordan, in another incident which proves where Hussein’s loyalty lies Jordan was a few days away from losing all power, being short on fuel and on odds with most neighbors he sent fuel jets to Saudi Arabia to fill up only for the Saudi to not only reject giving fuel to the Jordanians and grounding their planes but when the King called King Saud to know what’s going on, waiting for more than an hour on speaker till Saud answered when asking for fuel that he cannot give them fuel, and answered in regards to the planes: I have no power to send back your planes, (relations would later cool after King Faisal receives power) shocked Hussein would call the British and Americans for help who told him to go to Lebanon to refuel but since Syria shut down it’s airspace to Jordan, he had to go through occupied enemy airspace west with American assurances that they would pass, he would later state: I had to swallow bitterness down my throat because I was forced to fly over the enemy.
This period between 1952 and 1970 was an unstable one, coups against all monarchies all over the Middle East and North Africa, such as Egypt, North Yemen, Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Iraq.
Hussein also faced his own problems with coups by decisively taking down a coup led by Ali Abu Nuwar before it even started in 1957, but he would suffer from a coup next door.
In 1958 Egypt and Syria signed an agreement to unit both countries to create the United Arab Republic, now being encircled by unfriendlies on three side, King Hussein met with his cousin King Faisal II of Iraq in a bid to finally achieve the long awaited dream of both Hashimite Kingdoms, but it would not bear fruit, that same year Hussein sent several reports to the Iraqi regime which bore information that a plot to overthrow the monarchy was being planned under their noses but the Iraqis brushed it off when they saw the names of the officers involved claiming that these officers were the most loyal, but they were wrong a few days later the 19th and 20th brigades crossing from east Iraq on their way to Jordan entered Baghdad slaughtered the royal family, abolished the monarchy and declared a republic, Hussein angered by the murder of his cousin and best friend ordered the Jordanian army to invade Iraq, remove the new government and reclaim the Iraqi throne, under the legendary Jordanian commander Field Marshall Habis Al- Majali the Jordanian army entered 241km in Iraq before being recalled. Now Hussein was truly alone, Hussein would survive numerous assassination attempts and more: In 1960 Syrian agents detonated a bomb in the Prime Minister’s Office because Hussein had a scheduled visit there luckily he was running late his prime minister was as lucky, Hazza Al-Majali cousin and brother in law to the Field Marshal, Hussein wanted revenge first by executing the Syrian agents then by Ordering Habis to prepare for an invasion of Syria, through the British and because several army commanders opposition to the invasion because of the lack of strength on the Jordanian side, another confrontation was when Hussein flying his plane with his family on board to Greece for a vacation through Syrian airspace, to Syrian jets intercepted his plane ordering to land to arrest him not one to quit, Hussein flew altitude to escape the jets until he reached Jordanian airspace.
Hussein’s best bet to get the Arabs off his back was to court Gamal Abdul Nasser president of Egypt and the man who made his life a living hell, in May 1967 Nasser was surprised when he was informed that Hussein’s plane was about to land in Egypt without a prescheduled visit, Hussein landed in his army uniform with his pistol on his hip while Nasser was wearing a suit, Nasser still in shock of how his mortal enemy was in his grasp told him: You know I could have you arrested, Hussein simply replied I know, by the end of the day Hussein single handedly amended his relations with the “Demigod” of the Arabs, with that all the Arabs lifted their Hands against him, but this blessing would also prove to be a curse, because as part of the agreement between Nasser and Hussein, he had to relinquish command of the Jordanian Armed Forces to Egyptian command.
On the morning of June 5 1967 enemy aircraft invaded Egyptian Airspace and destroyed its aircraft, Jordan having a modern radar system had earlier contacted Egypt warning them of the impending attack but Nasser dismissed it and later lied that it was Egyptian aircraft returning from a mission of bombing Tel Aviv, telling Jordan that now was the time to strike (secretly lying in order to have Jordanian, Iraqi and Syrian troops help relieve the Egyptians from the stress of the Sinai front), the enemy contacted Hussein out of respect and possibly him being the only Arab western ally, telling him that they will not attack Jordan so long as Jordan remains on the sidelines, Hussein replied: I am an Arab, the die is cast.
Immediately Jordanian fighter jets and artillery begins bombarding the occupied lands making some advancements towards Ar-Ramlah and Al-Lad, only for Nasser’s lie to unfold after landing back at its airbase the Jordanian air force becomes decimated as well as the Army though it does make a tough stand before receiving orders to retreat east of the river, now half the Kingdom is lost with 200,000 of its citizens becoming refugees and 80% percent of the army lost, Hussein would later be asked why he joined the war if he believed such a loss was the price, he would reply: I knew we were unprepared but all the Arabs had their sights on us if we hadn’t joined we would be blamed why didn’t join to aid the Arabs and that we were the reason behind this loss; truly o great king you were right when they called you a traitor and a liar when you were the wise one, and now because the arrogance of such buffoons, Hussein lost the West Bank, East Al-Quds and most importantly Masjid Al-Aqsa.

Hussein would spend the next year meeting with the Americans hoping to negotiate a full return of the West Bank in exchange for peace, but they only kept postponing and gave false promises, but soon enough Hussein would have a chance to exact revenge, on the 21st of March 1968 the enemy crossed the Jordan river with the aim being the destruction of the Fedayeen camps and the occupation and annexation of the mountainous regions of western Jordan, only to be surprised the Jordanian army though still recovering from the previous war and still without an air force, alongside the Palestinian Fedayeen unleashing hell upon them, the Jordanian army thanks to God showed the enemy what they were made of, Field Marshal Zaid bin Shaker one of Jordan’s top military minds and a distant cousin of Hussein would later recall the king calling him and telling him: The fun has started!
The Jordanian and Palestinian forces pulverized the enemy, when enemy high command saw that they could not keep move forward, asked the Americans to have Hussein declare ceasefire, Hussein replied: No, not with one enemy soldier east of the river, true to his word after 16 hours’ ceasefire was declared when all enemy forces were pushed back toe west of the river, Hussein would later say of the army’s heroic acts: The roars of our Lions exploded upon this black plague, Allahu Akbar. This would be first Muslim victory against the enemy.
There are still a great many things I wish to say but unfortunately 2000 words are not enough to describe the Lion of Jordan, Al-Hussein Bin Talal.