Enemy on the Euphrates : the British occupation of Iraq and the Great Arab Revolt, 1914-1921

Description

Between July 1920 and February 1921, in the territory known as Mesopotamia--now the modern state of Iraq--an Arab uprising came perilously close to inflicting a shattering defeat upon the British Empire. A huge peasant army led by Shi'i clerics, Baghdad notables, disaffected sheikhs and former Ottoman army officers surrounded and besieged British garrisons with sandbagged entrenchments; British columns and armoured trains were ambushed and destroyed; and well-armed British gunboats were sunk or captured. The quest for oil was central to Britain's Middle East policy during the First World War and was one of the principal reasons for its continuing occupation of Iraq. However, with around 131,000 Arabs in arms at one stage of the conflict, the British were very nearly driven out. Only a massive infusion of Indian troops and the widespread use of aircraft prevented a total rout. This book is the history of the first British occupation of Iraq and the revolt against it in 1920--the most serious armed uprising against British rule int eh twentieth century. Using a wealth of primary sources, author Ian Rutledge brings central players such as Winston Churchill, Arnold Wilson, T.E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell and Sit Mark Sykes vividly to life in this gripping account.  Read more... Indications of oil -- Lieutenant Wilson's first mission -- 'Protect the oil refineries' -- Arab mobilisation on the Euphrates -- The Jihad defeated -- Pacifying Arabistan -- Imperial objectives in the east -- The menace of Jihad and how to deal with it -- The lieutenant from Mosul -- The peculiar origins of an infamous agreement -- Two British defeats but a new ally -- Colonel Leachman and Captain Lawrence -- Mosul and oil -- 'Complete liberation' -- Najaf 1918 : first uprising on the Euphrates -- Britain's new colony -- The oil agreements -- The independence movement in Baghdad -- General Haldane's difficult posting -- Trouble on the frontiers -- The drift to violence -- The Revolution begins -- Discord and disputation -- General Haldane's Indian Army -- 'The situation has come to a head' -- The destruction of the Manchester column -- 'Further unfavourable developments' -- The structures of insurgent power -- Trouble on the home front -- The siege of Samawa -- Defeat -- A death on the Baghdad Road -- The punishment -- A 'friendly native state'.