1922 Gertrude Bell wrote King Faisal telling him he was vain and weak
(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell And Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Gertrude Bell, Explorer of the Middle East)
(Musings On Iraq movie review Letters from Baghdad)
(Musings On Iraq review Desert Queen, The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia)
1919 War Min Churchill wrote that half the British forces in Mesopotamia should be sent home
(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)
Maxwell, Gavin, A Reed Shaken by the Wind, Travels among the Marsh Arabs of Iraq, Eland, 1957
Gavin Maxwell wrote one of the earliest Western accounts of life in Iraq’s southern marshes. In the 1950s he went along with a man named Wilfred Thesiger who acted as a traveling doctor to visit the Madan people of the region. Together they experienced the environment, the wildlife and the culture of the people there. Maxwell was taken with what he saw which translate into his book A Reed Shaken by the Wind, Travels among the Marsh Arabs of Iraq.
1922 Turkish troops testing border with Iraq attacked Rania in Sulaymaniya
1915 British started attack on Kut starting in Suqada Marsh Took Turkish trenches
forcing them to retreat to Kut
1920 British forced to withdraw from Shatra during 1920 Revolt British were able to retake
Baquba from tribes
(Musings On Iraq review Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)
(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)
1920 War Min Churchill wrote PM George that he thought reinforcements would lead to victory
in 1920 Revolt
(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Reclaiming Iraq, The 1920 Revolution and the Founding of the Modern State)
(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)
1914 British admiralty ordered 2 ships to be sent to Shatt al-Arab to block Ottoman
supplies and ground forces and to protect oil interests in Persia
(Musings On Iraq review Iraq In World War I, From Ottoman Rule to British Conquest)
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
1922 On anniversary of King Faisal’s coronation opposition gave him a petition calling for an
assembly to draft a constitution, elections for a parliament, and independence for Iraq
1922 Iraqi National Party and Iraqi Awakening declaration called for protests against British and a
Shiite premier Mohammed al-Sadr
Fairweather, Jack, A War Of Choice, The British In Iraq 2003-9, Jonathan Cape, 2011
Jack Fairweather did an outstanding job describing England’s role in the Iraq War. He presents a story of a prime minister who believed he was on a moral mission when confronting Iraq. That led him to ignore the warnings he received about the problems with the U.S. war plans believing everything would work out. When things quickly went awry neither Prime Minister Tony Blair nor the British military provided any real leadership and quickly settled upon getting out of Iraq as quickly as possible which ended up dragging into a four year process. It was a complete fiasco.
1920 TE Lawrence wrote OpEd in Sunday Times Said UK led into trap in Mesopotamia Blamed UK
High Commissioner Wilson for bad administration that disgraced the British empire Said it was worse than Ottomans Said UK was wasting money Asked when problems would end
1916 UK parliamentary inquiry began into defeat at Kut
1915 Gen Townshend given OK by Secretary of State in London to move on Kut
1921 UK cabinet decided Faisal would be coronated king and then Anglo-Iraq treaty drafted
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
(Musings On Iraq review Imagining The Nation, Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)
1930 UK High Commissioner Humphrys and PM Said signed agreement that RAF was to evacuate 2
bases and those be given to Iraq Iraqi Railways was to be turned over to a corporation Port of Basra was to be run by trust
1920 Ex-Ottoman Iraqi officers asked Shiite clergy for money Were rejected by Sayid Tabikh who
called the officers mercenaries
1915 Aziz Ali al-Misri leader of secret Arab society al-Ahd met with UK military intel
officer in Cairo Talked about his idea of Arab revolt in Iraq and Syria that he wanted UK to back Officer turned him down
Bashkin, Orit, The Other Iraq, Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq, Stanford University Press, 2009
The Other Iraq, Pluralism and Culture in Hashemite Iraq by Orit Bashkin is about the role of intellectuals during the monarchy which lasted from 1920-1958. The author emersed himself in Iraqi books, poems, journals and reports from this period. Many histories have claimed there was no national identity which led to many of the country’s problems up to the present day. The author disputes that claiming Iraqi nationalism was established amongst the urban middle class and intellectuals.
1920 UK PM George wrote that French objected to Faisal becoming king of Iraq George and
French both thought he was weak leader
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
1921 Referendum finished that picked Faisal as king British fixed results
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
 |
| Taha of the PUK was recently elected governor of Kirkuk but that may be overturned |
Iraq held provincial
elections in December 2023 but it wasn’t until August that the last two local
governments were named and one might still be up in the air.
1918 UK Foreign Min Balfour said one war aim was to secure agreement over Mesopotamia to secure
oil there
(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)
1919 Churchill wrote PM Lloyd George saying were too many troops in Mesopotamia that
could crush its finances
(Musings On Iraq Churchill In His Own Words On Mesopotamia/Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Churchill’s Folly, How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation Building and a History Denied)
(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)
1918 UK Foreign Sec Balfour War in Mespotamia should be justified by securing water that would
also give it control of oil Balfour’s statement prompted PM Lloyd George to call for UK to seize Ottoman Mosul province
(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)
(Musings On Iraq review U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq)
1920 Treaty of Sevres started break-up of Ottoman Empire after WW I Ceded Mesopotamia to UK
Included call for Kurdish state Full protection for Assyrians Turkey rejected treaty and claimed Mosul province citing Madrid armistice
(Musings On Iraq interview with Princeton’s Sara Pursley on Sykes-Picot and creation of Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review The Chatham House Version and other Middle-Eastern Studies)
(Musings On Iraq review The Creation of Iraq 1914-1921)
(Musings On Iraq review The Great Betrayal, How America Abandoned The Kurds And Lost The Middle East)
(Musings On Iraq review Kurds of Iraq, Tragedy and Hope)
(Musings On Iraq review Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)
(Musings On Iraq review Turkey, the US and Iraq)
1914 US consulate report Martial law declared in Baghdad Vilayet would provide 15,000
recruits for war Ottomans called on all Muslims to serve
Woods, Kevin, the mother of all battles, Saddam Hussein’s Strategic Plan For The Persian Gulf War, Naval Institute Press, 2008
the mother of all battles, Saddam Hussein’s Strategic Plan For The Persian Gulf War was the first book in the Iraqi Perspectives Project. Using captured Baath documents Kevin Woods attempted to give the Iraqi side of the Gulf War. He showed how Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi leadership had a completely different mindset than their Western opponents. This explains how Saddam believed that he won the Gulf War.
1920 TE Lawrence wrote piece for Observer newspaper criticizing UK for trying to block self govt
in Iraq Said UK wasting money and solution was to get rid of chief political officer Wilson and set up a more efficient administration
(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)
Chapter 8 of the second volume of the U.S. Army’s history of the Iraq War focuses upon the 2008 Charge of Knights campaign launched by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against his political rival Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia. Maliki ordered the offensive impulsively without providing the support necessary for it to be successful. The Iraqi Forces almost collapsed as a result until the Coalition stepped in with aid.
1920 UK Cabinet decided to send Sir Percy Cox to Baghdad to help deal with 1920 Revolt
1933 Iraqi army swept through Jebel Behkair executed any Assyrians found
(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)
1914 US consulate report Ottomans ordered mobilization and draft in Baghdad
1922 New cabinet formed under PM Abd al-Rahman al-Gaylani
1914 Ottomans signed alliance with Germany that would bring Mesopotamia into WW1
Wilcox, Ron, Battles On The Tigris, The Mesopotamian Campaign Of The First World War, Pen & Sword, 2006
Battle On The Tigris by Ron Wilcox is a military history of England’s Mesopotamian campaign during World War I. It only provides the British perspective and cheers on that side. Most of it is a blow by blow account of each battle but it also provides some perspective on the leadership or lack thereof during the war and scandals over the lack of support the troops received. It provides a good starting point for someone interested in this little known part of the First World War.
883 Mohammed leader of Zanj slave rebellion killed by Abbasid army led by Caliph
Muwafaq
(Musings On Iraq review The Revolt Of African Slaves In Iraq in the 3rd/9th Century)
1638 Ottoman Sultan Murad IV began siege of Baghdad Captured it by end of year Massacred Shiites
