Ali Jawdat al-Aiyubi

Who was Ali Jawdat al-Aiyubi?

Ali Jawdat al-Ayubi was Prime Minister of Iraq 1934–1935, 1949–1950, 1957.

Ali Jawdat Al-Ayubi was born in Mosul in 1886 while Iraq was under Ottoman rule. His father served as a police sergeant, and upon retirement owned a grocery store. At a young age, Ali was dispatched by his parents from Mosul on a ten-day boat trip to Baghdad, where he stayed in the care of an aunt and attended the Rashidiyeh military school. Upon graduation, he went by camel and ship to Istanbul where he attended the Military College with other Iraqis, including Jaafar al-Askari, Nuri al-Said, Jamil al-Madfai and Yaseen al-Hashimi. With these latter, he fought during the First World War throughout the Arab lands for independence from Ottoman rule. Upon establishment in 1921 of the Kingdom of Iraq, with King Feisal the First as its ruler, each served in turn in positions of leadership.