John Glubb was an English soldier and official in Iraq during the British Mandate. He was proud to serve the empire believing that it developed what he saw as primitive societies. At the same time he had some issues with the way that the Mandate was run. Most of his Arabian Adventure, Ten Years of Joyful Service is his impressions of Iraq’s tribal society which he believed was disappearing.
Edmund Candler was a journalist who traveled with the British forces during the Mesopotamia campaign of World War I. This second volume of his book The Long Road to Baghdad covers the end of the war from 1917-1918. The vast majority of the writing is a blow by blow account of the various battles fought as the British conquered what would become Iraq. It does bring up larger issues however such as the lack of a strategy and the contempt the English had for the Ottomans and Arabs.
The International Struggle Over Iraq is a study by David Malone of the relationship between the United Nations, its permanent members and Iraq from the Iran-Iraq War to the U.S. occupation. The book is up and down in parts but the conclusions are sound. The author argues that from the 1980s-90s the U.N. was increasingly effective in dealing with Iraq because the great powers agreed on using it as a tool in their foreign policy but afterwards the U.S. and U.K. acted increasingly on their own sidelining the organization until it was largely irrelevant although Malone wouldn’t agree with that last point.
Barr, James, A Line In The Sand, The Anglo-French Struggle For The Middle East, 1914-1948, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012
In A Line In The Sand, The Anglo-French Struggle For The Middle East, 1914-1948 James Barr delves into the imperialist rivalry between England and France for control of the Middle East starting during World War I. When the war started the two powers wanted to carve up the Ottoman Empire with Paris having eyes on Syria and Lebanon and London on Iraq, Jordan and Palestine. Initially they agreed upon this division but then came into conflict. Barr presents a very interesting history of power politics, intrigue and terrorism that left neither nation happy.
Wilson, Arnold, Loyalties Mesopotamia 1914-1917, A Personal and Historical Record, Oxford University Press, 1930
Arnold Wilson was a political officer for the British Expeditionary Force that invaded Mesopotamia in 1914 during World War I. His Loyalties Mesopotamia 1914-1917 details both the fighting in Iraq and how the English set up an administration to govern the conquered territories. Two main takeaways were how badly India managed the war and how much Wilson and the British resented the Arabs they came to rule over.
Klieman, Aaron, Foundations of British Policy In The Arab World: The Cairo Conference of 1921, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1970
At the end of World War I the English found themselves in possession of a large amount of Ottoman territory. London had made various promises to different groups which were often contradictory because it had no strategy for the region. In 1921 Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill organized a meeting in Egypt to attempt to find a solution to all these issues. The Cairo Conference came to shape much of the modern Middle East. That is the topic of Aaron Klieman’s Foundations of British Policy In The Arab World: The Cairo Conference of 1921. The author argues that Churchill was able to create a short term success for the British Empire which eventually collapsed.
Abbott, Dennis Alexander, Operation Telic, And The Liberation of Iraq, From the Desert Rats to the Media War, Pen & Sword, 2024
Operation Telic by Dennis Alexander Abbott is one of those books you keep on reading hoping something will happen but never does. Abbott was an English journalist who was called up for duty in 2003 for the occupation of Iraq. He served as a media officer for British forces in southern Iraq. It’s based upon his journal but unfortunately his experiences were mundane.
Dawisha, Adeed, Iraq, A Political History from Independence to Occupation, Princeton University Press, 2009
Adeed Dawisha’s Iraq, A Political History from Independence to Occupation attempts to trace the history of the formation of the Iraqi state and its political system. He begins with the British Mandate when Iraq was created up until the middle of the U.S. occupation. His main theme is that Iraqi democracy has always been flawed.
Townshend, Charles, Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011
Charles Townshend’s Desert Hell is one of the better books about the British campaign in Mesopotamia during World War I. It not only covers the military side but the politics as well up to the creation of the British Mandate in Iraq after the war. His main thesis is that the war and the formation of Iraq were dysfunctional from the start because there was no political or military strategy behind them.
Lukitz, Liora, A Quest in the Middle East, Gertrude Bell and the Making of Modern Iraq, I.B. Tauris, 2006
In A Quest in the Middle East, Gertrude Bell and the Making of Modern Iraq Liora Lukitz attempts to paint the personal and professional life of Gertrude Bell. The story constantly switches back and forth between those two aspects using her correspondence as a uniting factor. The author portrays Bell as a woman who fled the constraints of her upper class family in England for the adventure of the Middle East where she helped create the country of Iraq.
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.
El-Solh, Raghid, Britain’s 2 Wars With Iraq 1941 1991, Garnet Publishing Limited, 1996
Raghid El-Solh’s Britain’s 2 Wars With Iraq 1941 1991 is a tale of two halves. It covers the Anglo-Iraq War which was part of the larger World War 2 conflict as well as the Gulf War. The author argues that England has historically attempted to maintain the status quo in the Middle East which came into conflict with various Iraqi leaders. The coverage of first war is quite good while the section on the Gulf War reads like Saddam era propaganda.
Faught, C. Brad, Cairo 1921, Ten Days That Made the Middle East, Yale University Press, 2022
The 1921 Cairo conference held by British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill helped create the modern Middle East. Borders were drawn, kings were installed, and a new policy of neo-colonialism was created. That’s what C. Brad Faught’s Cairo 1921, Ten Days That Made the Middle East focuses upon.
Franzen, Johan, Pride And Power, A Modern History Of Iraq, Hurst & Company, 2020
Pride And Power, A Modern History Of Iraq by Johan Franzen is a very dense history of Iraq from the Ottoman period to the present. It is chock full of detail after detail. There are some new bits of information relayed but the last third of the book that starts with the Gulf War falters. Its version of the 2003 invasion is especially disappointing making it an uneven book.
Lyell, Thomas, The Ins & Outs Of Mesopotamia, Washington DC: Westphalia Press, 2016
Thomas Lyell was a magistrate during the British Mandate in Iraq. The Ins & Outs Of Mesopotamia gives his views on Shiite Islam and why he believed that England should maintain its occupation of Iraq after World War I. On the one hand he was impressed by the devotion shown by Iraqi Shiites and dismissed Western criticisms of Muslims. On the other hand he was full of negative stereotypes about Muslims and argued that they were incapable of self-rule which was why the Mandate should continue.
Eisenstadt, Michael and Mathewson, Eric, Editors, U.S. Policy In Post-Saddam Iraq, Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2003
Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq the Washington Institute for Near East Policy realized the United States could learn a lot from the British time in the country starting in World War I. The Institute collected together a group of Iraq experts and had them write about the United Kingdom’s experience and then make suggestions for the Bush administration. The authors provided a good history and there were plenty of lessons for the U.S. to learn. As we all know the White House thought it had all the answers and carried out a costly and highly flawed occupation as a result.
Fernea, Robert & Louis, Wm. Roger, The Iraqi Revolution Of 1958, The Old Social Classes Revisited, London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 1991
Hanna Batatu’s The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq is one of the most famous and thorough books on Iraqi History. It covers the emergence of the Iraqi state and society from British colonialism to the 1960s. This release The Iraqi Revolution Of 1958, The Old Social Classes Revisited came out of a conference in 1991 where papers were submitted to discuss what led to the 1958 coup in Iraq and its aftermath using Batatu’s work as the basis for their analysis. It is remarkable because every chapter is interesting something that is usually challenging to find in an anthology. The authors cover a variety of issues from British, American and Soviet policy towards the monarchy before its overthrow to the coup’s connections to other political movements in the Middle East to tribes and the development of Iraqi politics and culture. Some are straight forward histories while others are more theoretical. Each provides a very interesting look at how Iraq was transformed during this important period.
De Gaury, Gerald, Three Kings In Baghdad, The Tragedy Of Iraq’s Monarchy, London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2008
Gerald De Gaury had a long and friendly relationship with the Iraqi monarchy. He first entered Iraq in 1924 as an officer assigned to the Levies who acted as a local security force for the British. That’s when he met King Faisal. He later became an intelligence officer for the Royal Air Force in Iraq. After a coup in 1941 he returned to the country to become an aide to the Regent. He knew all of the kings of Iraq, most of the royal family and many of the leading politicians. Since he was an English colonial officer and only associated with the Iraqi elite he defended them throughout his book, Three Kings In Baghdad, The Tragedy Of Iraq’s Monarchy, and lamented their overthrow in a military takeover in 1958.
Silverfarb, Daniel, Britain’s Informal Empire In The Middle East, A Case Study of Iraq 1929-1941, New York Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986
Daniel Silverfarb’s Britain’s Informal Empire In The Middle East, A Case Study of Iraq 1929-1941 is about how England tried indirect rule in Iraq from the 1920s-30s and failed which led to the 1941 Anglo-Iraq War. Britain agreed to Iraqi independence in 1932 hoping that it could preserve its interests. Instead several issues such as air bases, minorities, Arab nationalism, Kuwait, and the economy caused increasing tensions. Silverfarb presents a very detailed argument mostly based upon British government documents about how the UK's measures actually divided the two countries and led to war.
Sluglett, Peter, Britain In Iraq, Contriving King and Country, London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007
This is the revised version of Peter Sluglett’s Britain in Iraq, Contriving King and Country. Sluglett’s goal was to explain how England occupied and administered Mesopotamia during World War One and then created the nation of Iraq under a League of Nation’s mandate. Britain wanted to protect its routes to India, defend the oil fields in Iraq and Persia, and establish an Iraqi government that was under London's influence. The British achieved all three of those goals while causing long term problems for Iraq.
Edmund Ghareeb’s The Kurdish Question In Iraq is a bit of an oddity. On the one hand it takes much of what the Baath gove...
