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Jordan Historical Role
From the Arab Legion's inception, its primary mission was the
establishment of the central government's authority through the
maintenance of public order and the preservation of internal
security. It was originally composed of Arabs from the defeated
Ottoman armies and others from outside the amirate. Under the early
agreements between Transjordan and Britain, defense of the borders
against external attack remained a British responsibility. To this
end, a British Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron and British army
armored car unit were stationed in the country. In 1924 they joined
with the Arab Legion to beat back a Wahhabi invasion from the area
to the south that within a few years became Saudi Arabia. The
ability of the legion to protect the amirate from outside raids
helped to cement the legitimacy of Hashimite rule.
By 1926 the Arab Legion had established an image as the
protective arm of the central government, functioning as an agency
for tax collection as well as for security. The bedouins remained
wary and hostile, however, convinced that the legion strengthened
the hand of the regime, whose purposes they mistrusted. Initially
the bedouins refused to join the legion, thus forcing reliance on
villagers and townspeople to replenish its personnel.
In early 1926 the British high commissioner for Palestine
created the Transjordan Frontier Force (TJFF) to defend
Transjordan's northern and southern borders. The legion immediately
incurred a loss of more than half of its forces when they were
transferred as cadre for the new border security force. In addition
to the drop in personnel, the legion also was stripped of its
machine guns, artillery, and communications troops. The much
reduced force reverted to a role of policing the towns and
villages. The TJFF (roughly 1,000 officers and men) never was part
of the legion and was responsible to the British high commissioner
in Jerusalem rather than to Amir Abdullah of Transjordan. All
officers above the rank of major were British. Officers of lesser
rank were Arabs, Circassians, and Jews, but the promotion system
precluded the advancement of any Middle Easterners to a position of
command over British troops.
With its effectiveness reduced by creation of the TJFF, the
Arab Legion was unable to cope with raids by tribal groups in the
vast desert regions of Transjordan during the late 1920s and early
1930s. To counter these disturbances, a British captain was
transferred to the legion as second in command to Peake. This
officer--later to become known as Lieutenant General Sir John Bagot
Glubb, or Glubb Pasha, the strongman of Jordan--had previously
faced similar pacification problems while serving in the Iraqi
government. Glubb understood the bedouins and had acquired a
knowledge of strategy and tactics required for long-range desert
operations. Under his command a camel-mounted Desert Mobile Force
was organized in 1930, reflecting its leader's concepts of a
military unit functioning in a desert environment. The Desert
Mobile Force, which eventually merged with the Arab Legion,
attracted principally bedouins to its ranks, establishing the
identification of the bedouins with the monarchy that has persisted
through Hussein's reign.
Data as of December 1989
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