V o L u m e I : a d

brokered a cease-fire, but not before the war had devastated both nations.

The war left Iraq heavily in debt, and Hussein requested relief from his

major creditors, including the United States, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. He

also sought to maintain high oil prices. His efforts were in vain. Creditors

refused to write off their debts, and Kuwait maintained a high oil output,

forcing OPEC to follow suit.

Hussein responded by declaring Kuwait a rogue province of Iraq. He

was also enraged by Kuwaiti slant-drilling into Iraqi oil fields. His demands

became more strident, and after securing what he believed to be U.S. acqui-

escence, he attacked Kuwait on 2 August 1990. However, he miscalculated

the U.S. reaction. President George H. W. Bush assembled an international

military coalition, built up forces in Saudi Arabia (Operation 

DESERT

SHIELD

), and then commenced a relentless bombing campaign against Iraq

in January 1991. The ground war of 24–28 February resulted in a crushing

defeat of Iraqi forces. Although Hussein withdrew from Kuwait, coalition

forces did not seek his overthrow. He remained in power, ruling a nation dev-

astated by two recent wars.

Hussein retained control of Iraq for another decade, during which he

brutally suppressed Kurdish and Shia revolts, relinquished limited autonomy

to the Kurds, acquiesced to the destruction of stockpiles of chemical weapons,

and pursued a dilatory response to UN efforts to monitor his weapons pro-

grams. Convinced—wrongly as it turned out—that Hussein had been build-

ing and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, President George W. Bush

asked for and received authorization from Congress to wage war against Iraq.

U.S. and allied forces invaded Iraq in March 2003. Coalition forces took

Baghdad on 9 April 2003 and captured Hussein on 14 December 2003 to be

brought to trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On 5 November 2006, the Iraqi Special Tribunal found Hussein guilty in

the deaths of 148 Shiite Muslims in 1982 whose murders he had ordered.

That same day, he was sentenced to hang. On 21 August 2006, a second trial

had begun on charges that Hussein had committed genocide and other atroc-

ities by ordering the systematic extermination of northern Iraqi Kurds during

1987–1988, resulting in as many as 180,000 deaths. Before the second trial

moved into high gear, however, Hussein filed an appeal, which was rejected

by the Iraqi Court on 26 December 2006. Four days later, on 30 December

2006, Hussein was executed by hanging in Baghdad.

Daniel E. Spector

See also

Iran; IIran-Iraq War; raq; Khomeini, Ruhollah; Kuwait; Mohammad Reza Pahlavi;

Persian Gulf War

References

Coughlin, Con. Saddam: King of Terror. New York: Gale, 2003.

Karsh, Efraim. Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography. New York: Grove/Atlantic, 2002.

Miller, Judith, and Laurie Mylroie. Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf. New York:

Times Books, 1990.

Wingate, Brian. Saddam Hussein: The Rise and Fall of a Dictator. New York: Rosen, 2004.

Hussein, Saddam

955

---

King of Jordan (1952–1999). Born Hussein bin Talal on 14 November 1935

in Amman, Transjordan (now Jordan), Hussein was the son of Prince Talal ibn

Abdullah. Hussein received his elementary education in Jordan before attend-

ing Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt. From there he transferred to the

Harrow School in Great Britain. He finished his education at the elite Royal

Military Academy at Sandhurst (also in Britain). In July 1951 Hussein’s grand-

father, King Abdullah, was assassinated. In September, Hussein’s father,

Talal, became king. However, Talal suffered from a serious mental illness—

probably schizophrenia—and was soon deemed incapable of carrying out his

duties. Thus, on 11 August 1952 Hussein was proclaimed king at age sixteen.

He formally ascended the throne in May 1953.

When Hussein began his long reign, Jordan was in desperate need of

modernization and economic revitalization. In the early 1950s, only 10 per-

cent of Jordan’s population had access to running water, modern sanitation,

or electricity. By the late 1990s, 99 percent of the population enjoyed these

amenities. From the start of his reign, Hussein worked diligently to build a

modern economy and industrial infrastructure. In the 1960s a modern high-

way system was constructed as were many of Jordan’s major industries,

including phosphate, cement, and potash. Not content with economic ad-

vancements alone, Hussein sought to improve the everyday lives of his

subjects. The literacy rate increased dramatically beginning in the 1960s,

while the infant mortality rate plummeted. Hussein managed to achieve sta-

bility and a modicum of prosperity at home without resorting to repression

or heavy-handed rule. Indeed, Jordan under Hussein was one of the freest

nations in the region and is still considered a model for human rights through-

out the Middle East.

In the international area, Hussein was a moderating force in Middle East-

ern politics. He had the uncanny ability to maintain generally cordial rela-

tions with fellow Arab leaders while at the same time keeping strong ties to

most Western nations. Jordanian-American relations were quite cordial for

much of the Cold War. Hussein’s politics were not without controversy, how-

ever. In 1970 he ordered the Jordanian Army to forcefully expel the Palestine

Liberation Organization (PLO) from Jordan, where it had set up its head-

quarters some years earlier. This resulted in considerable violence and the

killing of scores of Palestinians. Hussein’s aggressive actions against the PLO

were deemed necessary because it had begun to cause significant disruptions

in the country. Nevertheless, some Arab leaders took a dim view of the forced

expulsion.

Hussein hesitated to get involved in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, and the

Israelis sent word that they themselves had no wish to open another front.

But emotions swept pragmatism aside. The opening of Jordanian artillery and

mortar fire into the Jewish areas of Jerusalem with heavy loss of life and the

use of long-range artillery fire that reached the suburbs of Tel Aviv brought

Israeli air strikes and the seizure from Jordan of the entire West Bank of the

Jordan River and all of Jerusalem.

956

Hussein I, King of Jordan

Hussein I,

King of Jordan

(1935–1999)

---

Hussein was, however, a proponent of a permanent Arab-Israeli peace

settlement. After the 1967 War, he played a significant role in the drafting of

United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 242. It essentially called

upon the Israelis to withdraw from the occupied territories in exchange for

peace. The resolution and Hussein’s vision became the basis for all future

Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.

During the 1990–1991 Gulf Crisis, Hussein worked tirelessly to avoid

war and persuade Iraq’s Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait. The

king’s efforts ultimately failed, however, and he defied both the West and

many Arab states by staying out of the Persian Gulf War and essentially

backing Saddam Hussein. This obviously put Jordanian-Americans rela-

tions on ice. But the freeze was short-lived. In 1994, King Hussein had

signed the landmark Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. This made Jordan only the

second Arab nation (Egypt was the first) to normalize relations with Israel.

Throughout the 1990s, Hussein worked to broker the ever-elusive peace

between the Palestinians and Israelis. He was stricken with lymphatic can-

cer and died in Amman on 7 February 1999. He was succeeded by his eldest

son Abdullah.

Paul G. Pierpaoli Jr.

Hussein I, King of Jordan

957

King Hussein of Jordan shown speaking to journalists during a visit to France. Hussein was king of Jordan during

1952–1999. (Richard Melloul/Sygma/Corbis)

---

See also

Arab-Israeli Wars; Jordan; Middle East; Palestine Liberation Organization; Persian

Gulf War

References

Dallas, Roland. King Hussein: A Life on the Edge. New York: Fromm International, 1999.

Matusky, Gregory, and John P. Hayes. King Hussein. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.

Chairman and secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Born in Liuyang, Hunan Province, on 20 August 1915, Hu Yaobang attended

school only to age fourteen and then joined the Chinese communists’ Youth

Works. In 1933 he became a member of the CCP. During the Sino-Japanese

War and the Chinese Civil War he was assigned to party work in central and

southwestern China under the tutelage of future PRC leader Deng Xiaoping,

which greatly facilitated Hu’s later rise to power.

After the PRC’s birth in October 1949, Hu followed Deng to southwestern

China, heading the North Sichuan People’s Administrative Office. In 1952,

he transferred to Beijing as director of the New Democratic Youth League.

He held this post until 1966, during which time he led several youth dele-

gations abroad to promote the PRC’s ties with the socialist bloc. Hu’s admin-

istrative and diplomatic talents earned him membership in the Congress

Presidium, making him the youngest leader in the CCP hierarchy.

As Deng’s longtime associate, Hu was purged during the Cultural Revo-

lution. When Deng returned to power in 1977, Hu emerged from political

exile as director of both the CCP’s Organization Department and the Propa-

ganda Department. He also became a member of the Politburo. In 1980, Hu

succeeded Deng as secretary-general of the CCP and was elected CCP chair-

man the following year. Real power, however, remained in Deng’s hands as

the chairman of the Central Military Commission. His sole responsibility

was to implement Deng’s directives, including launching the Four Modern-

izations policy, restructuring the party apparatus with collective leadership,

and promoting the PRC’s international reputation. In 1987, Hu was forced to

resign over his failure to control prodemocracy student demonstrations in

April 1986. Hu’s death in Beijing on 15 April 1989 sparked a massive student

protest in Tiananmen Square, which ultimately led to the Tiananmen Square

incident on 4 June 1989.

Law Yuk-fun

See also

China, People’s Republic of; Cultural Revolution; Deng Xiaoping

References

Blecher, Marc J. China against the Tides: Restructuring through Revolution, Radicalism and

Reform. London: Continuum, 2003.

958

Hu Yaobang

Hu Yaobang

(1915–1989)

---

Evans, Richard. Deng Xiaoping and the Making of Modern China. Rev. ed. London:

Penguin, 1997.

MacFarquhar, Roderick, ed. The Politics of China: The Eras of Mao and Deng. New

York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

A thermonuclear weapon that unleashes far more devastating power than an

atomic bomb. Hydrogen bombs (also known as H-bombs) rely on the fusion

of hydrogen isotopes, unlike an atom bomb that relies on the fission (or split-

ting) of radioactive isotopes. Fusion occurs when neutrons collide with an

unstable hydrogen isotope, causing two lighter isotopes to join together to

make a heavier element. During the fusion process, some of the mass of the

original isotopes is released as energy, resulting in a powerful explosion. Be-

cause of the loss of mass, the end product, or element, weighs less than the

total of the original isotopes. H-bombs are referred to as thermonuclear devices

because temperatures of 400 million degrees Celsius are required for the

fusion process to begin. In order to produce these temperatures, an H-bomb

has an atomic bomb at its core. The explosion of the atomic device and the

fission process in turn leads to the fusion process in hydrogen isotopes that

surround the atomic core.

An H-bomb, depending on its size, can produce an explosion powerful

enough to devastate an area of approximately 150 square miles, while the

searing heat and toxic radioactive fallout from such devices can impact an

area of more than 800 square miles. The explosion of an atomic bomb by the

Soviet Union in September 1949 ended the U.S. atomic monopoly and led to

a nuclear arms race. The development of more powerful weapons such as the

H-bomb and of new methods of delivering nuclear bombs, such as ballistic

missiles, were primarily a result of the Cold War conflict and concomitant

arms race.

In 1946 the U.S. Atomic Energy Act created the Atomic Energy Com-

mission (USAEC). The USAEC was responsible for the development and

control of the U.S. atomic energy program after World War II. The commis-

sion consisted of five members appointed by the president. A civilian advi-

sory committee was also created, and Robert Oppenheimer, scientific head

of the atomic bomb project, served as its chairman. The USAEC also worked

with a military liaison with whom it consulted on all atomic energy issues

that had military applications. By 1949, the year the Soviets exploded their

first atomic bomb, Cold War tensions were running high. Nuclear physicist

Edward Teller, USAEC Commissioner Lewis Strauss, and other scientists

formed a coalition together with military officials to urge President Harry

Truman to initiate a program to construct a superweapon, or H-bomb. This

new weapon would be measured in megatons instead of kilotons and could

yield an explosion equivalent to millions of tons of TNT. Despite opposition

from Oppenheimer and several other nuclear scientists, Truman, under siege

Hydrogen Bomb

959

Hydrogen Bomb

---

for being soft on communism, authorized an H-bomb program in January

1950.

It took the combined efforts of a number of scientists as well as Stanis-

law Ulam, a mathematician, to solve the theoretical and technical problems

related to building a hydrogen weapon. They carried out their work at Los

Alamos, New Mexico, the same facility that had helped produce the atomic

bomb. The prototype H-bomb was first detonated on 1 November 1952 on

Enewetak Atoll in the South Pacific. The explosion virtually obliterated the

island, creating a crater a mile wide and 175 feet deep. After the detonation

of the prototype, scientists constructed an H-bomb that could be dropped

by aircraft. That weapon was tested successfully in 1954. The Soviet Union

tested its own H-bomb on 12 August 1953. The British also developed a

hydrogen weapon, which they tested on 15 May 1957.

Unable to maintain a monopoly on nuclear weapons or to force the

Soviet Union to alter its policies through either deterrence or the threat rep-

resented by nuclear arms, the United States instead found itself engaged in

a nuclear arms race. Despite collective security agreements and pacts such as

960

Hydrogen Bomb

Hydrogen bomb test 

IVY MIKE

, 31 October 1952 (1 November 1952 local time). This photo was taken 50 miles from the

detonation site and at a height of approximately 12,000 feet. Two minutes after Zero Hour, the cloud rose to 40,000 feet.

Ten minutes later, as it neared its maximum, the cloud stem had pushed upward about 25 miles, deep into the strato-

sphere. The mushroom portion went up to 10 miles and spread for 100 miles. (U.S. Air Force)

---

the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United States main-

tained that only nuclear superiority would guarantee the security of the

United States and its allies. The launching of the first satellite to orbit Earth,

the Soviet-built Sputnik 1 in 1957, represented a dual threat to the West. It

seemed to suggest that Soviet scientists had pulled ahead of their American

counterparts. More critically, it also posed the high probability of delivering

nuclear weapons with missiles rather than by planes. As a result, the United

States increased funding for its space program and redoubled its efforts to

fully develop and deploy intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and, later,

submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

The rapid proliferation of nuclear weapons, of course, increased the

threat of nuclear war, whether by accident or by choice. With the advent of

H-bombs and ballistic missile systems that could hurl bombs at an adversary

in a matter of minutes, most civil defense preparations became exercises in

futility. The Soviet Union’s installation of nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba

led to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. President John F. Kennedy

imposed a naval quarantine around Cuba and refused to allow Soviet ships

through the blockade. Faced with the real possibility of a catastrophic ther-

monuclear war, both sid