Bai Juyi, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, has a very famous verse in the "Harem Words" called "The Most Ruthless Imperial Family", which was originally used to describe the grievances of the women in the palace, but now it is widely used to describe the struggle for power by the children of the royal family, in order to compete for the supreme imperial power, it is not uncommon for flesh and blood to fight each other, and it is not uncommon for fathers and sons to oppose each other.
For example, the "Xuanwumen Revolution" that occurred in the early years of the Tang Dynasty was a famous struggle for power in history, because Li Yuan's partiality to the crown prince Li Jiancheng led to the demotion of the meritorious group led by Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng and his brother Li Yuanji further excluded and framed Li Shiming, and in order to protect himself, Li Shimin launched the Xuanwumen Rebellion.
Li Shimin shot the crown prince Li Jiancheng and the Qi prince Li Yuanji, and killed all their heirs and descendants, forcing Li Yuan to make himself crown prince, and Li Shimin's power grew stronger and larger. Two months later, Li Yuan had to cede the throne to Li Shimin, otherwise the final result could be imagined.
Wherever there is imperial power, there will be strife, and the supreme imperial power can always make people abandon all stereotypes, or family and love to compete, and there have been countless examples of this in history for thousands of years. Not only in Chinese history, but also in foreign countries. Today I want to talk about an example that is very close to us, which happened in 1995.
The country where the coup took place was Qatar, and the one who was ousted from the throne was the former king of Qatar, Khalifa, or "emir" to be precise, because in the state of Qatar, "amir" is the supreme honorific title, which probably means equivalent to a king or chief.
Khalifa is a very prestigious head of state of Qatar, he came to power in 1972, in the 23 years of his reign he witnessed the rapid development of Qatar into a modern country, because of the development of natural gas and oil, Qatar has become one of the richest countries in the world per capita, which naturally has Khalifa's credit.
If nothing else, Khalifa would have sat longer in the position of "Fuehrer", blaming himself, and even the closest son did not understand what it was like, so he easily handed over the power to the other party.
His son, Hamad, was born in 1950 as The eldest son of Khalifa, so he is also the most respected son, and he was sent to the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst in the United Kingdom to study, after graduating from the academy in 1971, he directly joined the Qatari Armed Forces with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and in just one year he was promoted to major general and served as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
In 1977, Hamad was appointed Crown Prince and Minister of Defence, and Hamad, who had reached the pinnacle of power, almost became king. He soon had the opportunity to travel abroad at the age of 63. As a result, when he was spending at the hotel, he found that his card had been frozen, and just as Khalifa was about to get angry, the voice of his precious son came from the other end of the phone.
Hamad calmly told his father: I am on the throne! When Khalifa heard these three words, he seemed to understand everything, he couldn't say a word, he didn't even dare to return to the country, and finally he could only live a drifting life abroad. It was not until 9 years after Hamad took over the throne that Khalifa was completely free of threats and was able to return home. Khalifa returned to China for 12 years and finally died at the age of 84. I wonder what happened when Khalifa returned home and saw his son Hamad again?