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as-Sabah, Abdullah 3 bni Salem
Arabic:
¢ab allah bni 'as-sālim 'as-sabāh
(1895- 1965) Shaykh of Kuwait (1950- 65).
Abdullah was the son of Salem 1 (1917- 21) — he therefore belonged to the Salem branch — and 10 years younger than his predecessor, Ahmad 1 of the Jaber branch.
During his reign, Kuwait first gradually liberated itself from British dominance, but this eventually lead to independence for the country. There were several reasons for this development: Large oil revenues had given Kuwait much more power than before, the Suez-Sinai War of 1956 made the population of Kuwait more anti-British, and the fall of the pro-Western monarchy of Iraq in 1958 dwarfed the British power in the region. The arrival of independence came in a peaceful way.
Biography
1895: Born in Kuwait as son of Salim, who later became shaykh of Kuwait.
1938 July: Abdullah becomes president of the first elected parliament.
— December: Shaykh Ahmad 1 has the parliament dissolved.
1950: Ahmad 1 dies, and Abdullah becomes new shaykh of Kuwait.
1956: Abdullah demands more freedom from the British to act in internal affairs.
1961 June 19: The Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement of 1899 is abrogated, and United Kingdom recognize Kuwait as an independent country.
— Shortly after the independence, Iraq claims that Kuwait is Iraqi territory. United Kingdom sent 6,000 troops to Kuwait to scare Iraq from intervening.
1962 November: A constitution is drafted. According to this, a National Assembly should be elected by a selection of the male population, that only represented 5% of the total adult population in the country.
1965: Abdullah dies, and is succeeded by Sabah 3 bni Salem, who belonged to the same branch as himself.
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