8 March Revolution

Syrian March Revolution
Part of the Cold War
Date March 8, 1963 Location Syria Result Overthrow of Nazim al-Kudsi Establishment of Ba'athist government
Belligerents
Syrian Government	Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Syrian Army Syrian Navy Syrian Air Force
Commanders and leaders
Nazim al-Kudsi Khalid al-Azm	Michel Aflaq Luai al-Atassi Salah Jadid Salah al-Din al-Bitar Amin al-Hafiz Nureddin al-Atassi Hafez al-Assad
Casualties and losses
820 killed[1]

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Ba'athism
Organisations Arab Ba'ath (1940–1947) Arab Ba'ath Movement (1940–1947) Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (1947–1966) Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party (1966–present) Syrian-led Ba'ath Party (1966–present)
People   Zaki al-Arsuzi   Michel Aflaq   Salah al-Din al-Bitar   Fuad al-Rikabi   Salah Jadid   Hafez al-Assad Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr   Saddam Hussein   Bashar al-Assad   Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri
Literature Ba'ath Constitution On the Way of Resurrection The Battle for One Destiny The Genius of Arabic in its Tongue
History Syrian Committee to Help Iraq Ramadan (8 February) Revolution 8 March Revolution November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état 1966 Syrian coup d'état 17 July Revolution Corrective Revolution Iran–Iraq War Ba'athist Iraq Ba'athist Syria Gulf War Iraq War Syrian uprising
Regional organisations Algeria (pro-Iraqi) Bahrain (pro-Iraqi) Iraq (pro-Iraq · pro-Syria) Jordan (pro-Iraq · pro-Syria) Lebanon (pro-Iraqi · pro-Syrian) Libya (pro-Iraqi) Mauritania (pro-Iraqi) Palestine (pro-Iraqi · pro-Syrian) Sudan (pro-Iraqi · pro-Syrian) Syria (pro-Iraq · pro-Syria) Yemen (pro-Iraqi · pro-Syrian)
Related topics Arab nationalism Arab socialism, Nasserism Pan-Arabism Saddamism
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The 8 March Revolution, also referred to the 1963 March Revolution, was a coup which followed a successful Ba'athist coup d'état in Iraq. Syrian party’s military committee succeeded in persuading Nasserist and independent officers to make common cause with it, and successfully carried out a military coup installing the Ba'ath party to power. The bloody revolution resulted in more than 800 killed.^[1]

The Ba'ath in Syria, 1954–1963

Syrian politics took a dramatic turn in 1954, when the military regime of Adib al-Shishakli was overthrown in a coup and a democratic system restored. The Ba'ath, becoming a large and popular organisation, gained representation in the parliamentary elections that year. Ideologically-based organisations appealing to the intelligentsia, the petty bourgeoisie and the working class were gaining ground in Syria, threatening to displace the old parties that represented the notables and bourgeoisie. The Ba'ath was one of these new formations, but faced considerable competition from ideological enemies, notably the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), which was intrinsically opposed to Arab nationalism and was seen as pro-Western, and the Syrian Communist Party (SCP), whose support for class struggle and internationalism was also anathema to the Ba'ath. In addition to the parliamentary level, all these parties as well as Islamists competed in street-level activity and sought to recruit support among the military.

The assassination of Ba'athist colonel Adnan al-Malki by a member of the SSNP allowed the Ba'ath and its allies to launch a crackdown on that party, thus eliminating one rival, but by the late 1950s, the Ba'ath itself was facing considerable problems, riven by factionalism and faced with ideological confusion among its base. The growth of the Communist Party was also a major threat. These considerations undoubtedly contributed to the party’s decision to support unification with Nasser’s Egypt in 1958, an extremely popular position in any case. In 1958, Syria merged with Egypt in the United Arab Republic. As political parties other than Nasser’s Arab Socialist Union were not permitted to operate, the Ba'ath along with Syria’s other parties faced the choice of dissolution or suppression.

In August 1959, the Ba'ath Party held a congress which, in line with founder Michel Aflaq’s views, approved of its liquidation into the Arab Socialist Union. This decision was not universally accepted in party ranks, however, and the following year a fourth party congress was convened which reversed it.

Meanwhile, a small group of Syrian Ba'athist officers stationed in Egypt were observing with alarm the party’s poor position and the increasing fragility of the union. They decided to form a secret military committee: its initial members were Lieutenant-Colonel Muhammad 'Umran, majors Salah Jadid and Ahmad al-Mir, and captains Hafiz al-Asad and 'Abd al-Karim al-Jundi.

The merger was not a happy experience for Syria, and in 1961, a military coup in Damascus brought it to an end. Sixteen prominent politicians signed a statement supporting the coup, among them al-Hurani and al-Bitar (although the latter soon retracted his signature). The party was in crisis: the secession was extremely controversial among Syrians in general and most unpopular among the radical nationalists who formed the Ba'ath membership. A large section of the membership left in protest, setting up the Socialist Unity Vanguard and gaining considerable support. The leadership around Aflaq was bitterly contested for its timidity in opposing the separation. Al-Hawrani, now a determined opponent of reunification, left the Ba'ath and re-established his Arab Socialist Party.

Aflaq sought to reactivate the splintered party by calling a Fifth National Congress held in Homs in May 1962, from which both al-Hawrani’s supporters and the Socialist Unity Vanguard were excluded. A compromise was reached between the pro-Nasser elements and the more cautious leadership. The leadership line was reflected in the position the congress adopted in favour of "considered unity" as opposed to the demands for "immediate unity" launched by the Socialist Unity Vanguard (later the Socialist Unity Movement), the Nasserists and the Arab Nationalist Movement. Meanwhile the Syrian party’s secret Military Committee was also planning how to take power, having been granted considerable freedom of action by the civilian leadership in recognition of its need for secrecy.

The coup

In February 1963, the Iraqi Ba'ath took power after violently overthrowing nationalist Iraqi military officer Abd al-Karim Qasim and quashing communist-led resistance.

In March, the Syrian party’s military committee succeeded in persuading Nasserist and independent officers to make common cause with it, and successfully carried out a military coup on 8 March. A National Revolutionary Command Council took control and assigned itself legislative power; it appointed Salah al-Din al-Bitar as head of a "national front" government. The Ba'ath participated in this government along with the Arab Nationalist Movement, the United Arab Front and the Socialist Unity Movement.

As historian Hanna Batatu notes, this took place without the fundamental disagreement over immediate or "considered" reunification having been resolved. The Ba'ath moved to consolidate its power within the new regime, purging Nasserist officers in April. Subsequent disturbances led to the fall of the al-Bitar government, and in the aftermath of Jasim Alwan’s failed Nasserist coup in July, the Ba'ath monopolized power.

About 800 people were reported killed during the takeover and another 20 were excuted shortly afterwards.^[2]

Aftermath

In 1966, another military coup was carried out by neo-Ba'athist party members. As a result of the overthrow, the party's historical founders fled the country and spent the rest of their lives in exile. The overthrow also created a permanent schism between the Syrian and Iraqi branches of the party.

See also

• March 1949 Syrian coup d'état
• February 1963 Iraqi coup d'état
• Ba'athism
• Pan-arabism
• List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

References