Hist 4339

The Creation of Iraq

Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

• Role in military campaigns

• 1901: Member of Parliament

• 1921-22: Secretary of State for Colonies

• 1940: Prime Minister

Feisal I of Iraq (1883-1933)

• Son of Sherif Hussein of Mecca

• Early Arab nationalist                        

• 1919: Feisal-Weizmann Agreement               

            —accepting Balfour Declaration

• 1921-33: King of Iraq

Cairo Conference (1921)

• Growing Arab unrest

• British desire to reduce financial burden of empire, legitimize Middle East involvement

• Question of Kurdistan

• Feisal’s role as King of Iraq

• Britain’s favorable treaties with Iraq

Iraq under the Mandate (or not?) and during Independence (or not?)

• 1922: Treaty: Anglo-Iraqi alliance

• 1932: League of Nations recognition of end of Mandate

• 1933: death of Feisal, succeeded by Ghazi

• 1936: military revolt

• Nuri al-Said to power as “regent” for young Feisal II

• 1941: brief pro-Nazi coup ended by return of British troops

• 1958 coup: assassination of royal family, Nuri

• 1963: Baathist coup

• 1979: Saddam Hussein succeeds to Baathist leadership, Iraqi presidency

Conclusions

• Role of individual important, but individuals are limited by historical forces

• E.g. Churchill’s racism could not halt imperial decline, anti-colonial nationalism

• British policy driven by combination of domestic, international, and nationalist pressures