Born on November 14, 1935 (Amman, Transjordan)
Died on February 7, 1999 (Amman, Jordan)

King of Jordan

King Hussein, who was crowned King of Jordan and handed the responsibility of leading his country when he was just a teenager, was the longest serving monarch in the modern Middle East. He spent most of his forty-year reign trying to maintain stability within his own country's borders. His other principal challenge was keeping the peace with his Israeli neighbors and the rest of the Arab world. During his lifetime he witnessed much change in the region, including the rise of nationalism and the evolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as many bloody uprisings. He survived twelve assassination attempts and seven plots to overthrow him; in the end it was cancer that claimed his life. At the time of his death he was one of the most loved Arab monarchs of the twentieth century and one of the...