The protests were sparked by the monarchy's plans to renew the 1930 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty that effectively made Iraq a British protectorate.

Nuri al-Said, the Prime Minister of Iraq, was planning on renewing, albeit in a revised form, this 1930 treaty that tied Iraq to British interests, allowed for the unrestricted movement of British troops on Iraqi soil, and provided significant protection to the British-installed Iraqi monarchy.

The al-Wathbah “sprang from the same conditions of existence that had since the first years of the forties been making for the advance of communism.”[2] The rigid boundaries of class in Iraqi society, widespread poverty in the urban centers, a growing student population, all these factors contributed to the events of January 1948.

On January 4, students from al-Karkh and Al Adhamiya secondary schools joined up to protest the statements of al-Jamālī.

On January 16, it was announced that the Iraqi government had signed a treaty in Portsmouth, effectively renewing its alliance with Britain.

For the first time since the beginning of the unrest, other social groups joined the students: The Schalchiyyah workers and the poor shantytown dwelling migrants from South-Eastern Iraq known as the Shargāwiyyīn.

The king's disavowal of the treaty split the opposition in two camps: those, like the Independence Party and the National Democrats called on a cease of protests.

In a radio address that very night, Jabr asked that the people remain calm and stated that details of the treaty would soon be provided.

[6] On January 27, the Central Committee of the Communist Party released and distributed a manifesto that called for continued protests.

A large group attempted to cross the bridge into West Baghdad where they would meet with students and the Schalchiyyah rail workers.

They moved onto the Ma’mūn Bridge and the police fired directly onto the crowd with machine-guns, killing scores.

Although many different factions came together for the protests, and the Liberal and National Democrats cooperated with the Communist party, there was no further collaboration on their respective opposition to the monarchy.

However, another effect of the al-Wathbah was that "the opposition parties responsible for organizing the demonstrations were discovering new, immediate forms of power, denied to them both by their small numbers and by the rigging of the parliamentary system.

[9] The al-Wathbah uprising helped pave the way for the 1952 Intifada, the overthrow of the monarchy in the 14 July Revolution, and the creation of a republic.