Empires of Intelligence: Security Services and Colonial Disorder after 1914

Description

How did Great Britain and France, the largest imperial powers of the early twentieth century, cope with mounting anticolonial nationalism in the Arab world? What linked domestic opponents and foreign challengers in the Middle East and North Africa—Syria, Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt—as inhabitants attempted to overthrow the European colonial order? What strategies did the British and French adopt in the face of these threats? Empires of Intelligence, the first study of colonial intelligence services to use recently declassified reports, argues that colonial control in the British and French empires depended on an elaborate security apparatus. Martin Thomas shows for the first time the crucial role of intelligence gathering in maintaining imperial control in the years before decolonization. Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: Exploring Intelligence and Empire 1. The Development of Intelligence Services and Security Policing in North Africa and the Middle East 2. Past Precedents and Colonial Rule 3. Constructing the Enemy: Intelligence, Islam, and Communism 4. Intelligence and Revolt I: British Security Services and Communal Unrest in Egypt, Iraq, and Sudan 5. Intelligence and Revolt II: French Security Services and Communal Unrest in Morocco and Syria 6. Policing the Desert Frontier: Intelligence, Environment, and Bedouin Communities 7. Intelligence and Urban Opposition in French Territories 8. Disorder in the Palestine Mandate: Intelligence and the Descent to War in the British Middle East 9. Domestic Politics, International Threats, and Colonial Security in French Territories, 1936-1939 Conclusion: Intelligence, Security, and the Colonial State Glossary Notes CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSION Selected Bibliography Index