The Treaty of London was signed between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the Emirate of Trans-Jordan on 22 March 1946 and came into force on 17 June 1946.Treaty of Alliance between His Majesty in respect of the United Kingdom and His Highness the Amir of Transjordan. United Nations Treaty Series, vol 6, pp 143–17
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/ref> The treaty concerned the sovereignty and independence of the Arab state of Transjordan (officially written as Trans-Jordan), which would now be known as the

Hashemite The Hashemites (), also House of Hashim, are the Dynasty, royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Hejaz, Hejaz (1916–1925), Arab Kingdom of Syria, Syria (1920), and Kingd ...

Kingdom of Transjordan, with

Emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

Abdullah I as its king. However, Britain would still maintain military bases within the country and continue to subsidise and support the

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army, of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of the Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Ar ...

, as the treaty was designed to give Britain as much freedom of action as possible.''Glubb Pasha and the Arab Legion: Britain, Jordan and the End of Empire in the Middle East'', p42. The Treaty of London superseded the former Anglo-Transjordan mandate, the Organic Law of 1928. This former mandate liberalised several restrictions on Transjordan. However, the United Kingdom controlled financial matters and most foreign policy issues. It was then considered a step towards future independence. Transjordan's impending independence was recognised on 18 April 1946 by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

during the last meeting of that organisation. On 25 May 1946, Transjordan became the "Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan" when the ruling 'Amir' was re-designated as 'King' by the parliament of Transjordan on the day it ratified the Treaty of London. 25 May is still celebrated as independence day in Jordan. However, officially the mandate for Transjordan ended on 17 June 1946 when, in accordance with the Treaty of London, the ratifications were exchanged in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

and Transjordan gained full independence. When King Abdullah applied for membership in the newly formed

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, his request was vetoed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, citing that the nation was not "fully independent" of British control. This resulted in another treaty in March 1948 with Britain in which all restrictions on sovereignty were removed. Despite this, Jordan only became a full member of the United Nations on 14 December 1955 as part of a wider compromise in which 16 countries joined on the same day.

References

{{reflist London (1946) London (1946) Treaties concluded in 1946 1946 in Jordan Emirate of Transjordan Jordan–United Kingdom relations March 1946 in the United Kingdom 1946 in London

See also

References