Warriors of Desert Winds: Difference between revisions
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{{Useful Notes}}
This is the army of [[Lawrence of Arabia]]. It has gallantly defended the interests of the Kingdom of Jordan for a century. It is not a nationalist army. Rather it is an [[Good Old Ways|old-fashioned]] dynastic army and as such seems [[Born in the Wrong Century|out of place]] in the modern world.
▲This is the army of [[Lawrence of Arabia]]. It has gallantly defended the interests of the Kingdom of Jordan for a century. It is not a nationalist army. Rather it is an [[Good Old Ways|old-fashioned]] dynastic army and as such seems [[Born in the Wrong Century|out of place]] in the modern world.
The Hashemite dynasty is the ruling [[The Kingdom|power]] over Jordan. In a way it is a [[Government in Exile]]. The Hashemites (or House of Hashem) were among the losers in a three-way power struggle in what is now Saudi Arabia between the House of Saud, the House of Rashid, and the Hashemites (The winner was the House of Saud, led by [[Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud]] who was sort of a Bedouin [[Magnificent Bastard]]). During [[World War I]], the Hashemites took the [[The British Empire|British]] side, leading a revolt of the Arab tribes against the [[Vestigial Empire|Ottoman Empire]] and recruiting a fair number of more sedentary Arabs in the process. The Brits promised the head of the family, Hussein bin Ali, that he would be king of all the Arab lands east of Egypt (modern Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, plus Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, and much of Yemen if he could win them). However, the British had also [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|promised a homeland in Palestine for the Jews and had secretly planned to split the Middle East with France]]. As a result, Hussein got nothing (and was kicked out of his stronghold of Mecca by Abdulaziz bin Saud), but his sons, Abdullah and Faisal, were both given rule over British mandates; Faisal originally tried to rule all of "greater Syria" (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan), but the French kicked him out of Damascus and Palestine was a mess, so the British put him on the Iraqi throne. His older brother Abdullah was assigned Jordan (at the time, Transjordan) as his measly share of the [[Plunder]]. As it turned out, Jordan is today the only Hashemite kingdom left, ruled by Abdullah's great-grandson King Abdullah II. The memoirs of a [[Lawrence of Arabia|certain liaison officer]] who served with Abdullah, Faisal, and their troops during the Arab Revolt managed to be made into a movie.
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* [[Born in the Wrong Century]]: The Jordanian Army is really a dynastic army of the sort raised in the eighteenth century rather then a national one. It enforces the rule of the Hashemite [[The Clan|tribe]], which is fairly decent [[Fair for Its Day|for the area]].
* [[By-The-Book Cop]]: In most Arab countries, the army doubles as [[Secret Police]]. Not so much in Jordan.
* [[Cool Tank]]: They operate 392 Challenger I tanks, second-hand from the [[Brits With Battleships]].
* [[Determinator]]: The '48 Siege of Jerusalem was a ''mutual'' exercise in determination.
* [[Friendly Enemy]]: You will have to search long and hard to find a Jordanian who admits he is any kind of friend to Israel, but they kind of, sort of ''understand'' one another. YMMV, of course.
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* [[The Kingdom]]: Jordan
* [[Last Stand]]: Not quite. They did surrender after all; they were professionals and knew when [[Honor Before Reason|Honor]] was satisfied. But the storming of Jerusalem in '67 has elements of this.
* [[My Master, Right or Wrong]]: the service of the Hashemites. YMMV, depending on what you think of the Hashemites.
* [[Proud Warrior Race]]: Bedouin
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: During the Six-day war Hussein was unusual among VIP s in actually coming near the fighting personally.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Forces With Firepower]]
[[Category:Warriors Of Desert Winds]]
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