1915 UK committee wrote paper advocating for break up of Ottoman Empire and creation of
Iraq to control its oil and agriculture Cabinet didn’t agree
(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)
1915 US consulate report on anti-Turk riot in Karbala
1914 Ottomans agreed to oil concessions for British and Germans in Mosul and Baghdad
provinces Never happened because WWI
O’Donnell, Patrick, We Were One, Shoulder To Shoulder With The Marines Who Took Fallujah, Da Capo Press, 2006
Patrick O’Donnell went to Iraq in 2004 to witness the 2nd Battle of Fallujah and tell the story of some of the Americans involved in the fight. He eventually came across the 1st platoon of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. He told their story in We Were One, Shoulder To Shoulder With The Marines Who Took Fallujah. It is a traditional combat story emphasizing the comradery and bravery of the Marines.
1916 UK report on defeat at Kut published Led to Secretary of State for India Chamberlain to resign
Said campaign bad from the start because under split control of London and Delhi Blamed Political officer Cox for pushing taking Baghdad which led to expansion of original mission to protect Persian Gulf and oil fields in Persia Was lack of transportation troops and supplies India didn’t adequately fund war Blamed India for mismanagement
(Musings On Iraq review Desert Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia)
1922 Commerce Min Timman resigned over proposed Anglo-Iraq Treaty King Faisal ordered PM
Gaylani not to accept resignation
1923 Protests against voting on Anglo-Iraq treaty in Karbala
1921 Faisal arrived in Basra and then went to Najaf and Karbala as gesture towards Shiite
clergy as preparation to be crowned king Clerics opposed him
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
Brought province under direct control of Empire again removing Mamluks
Kennedy, Kelly, They Fought for Each Other: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Hardest Hit Unit in Iraq, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011
On June 21, 2007, reporter Kelly Kennedy witnessed the worst attack upon Charlie Company of the 26th Infantry Regiment when an IED killed several soldiers during its deployment to the Adhamiya district of Baghdad. Kennedy bonded with the unit afterwards and felt their pain. This experience led her to write They Fought for Each Other: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Hardest Hit Unit in Iraq which discusses not only their time in Iraq but the trauma they faced afterwards.
870 Abbasid Caliph Muhtadi killed in capital Samarra in revolt by Turkish soldiers over not being
paid
(Musings On Iraq review when baghdad ruled the muslim world, the rise and fall of islam’s greatest dynasty)
1914 Germany and Britain asked Ottomans for oil concessions in Mosul and Baghdad provinces
1932 Assyrian religious leader Mar Shimun presented petition to League of Nations Mandate
Commission demanding autonomy for his people
(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)
On 9/11 I saw former CIA Director James Woolsey on CBS say that the United States needed to strike Iraq even if it wasn’t involved in the terrorist attack. This stuck with me. In 2002 the Bush administration began its public campaign to build support for the invasion of Iraq. Together this motivated me to start researching the topic to try to understand why the U.S. was about to go to war. In 2008 this culminated in me starting the Musings On Iraq blog. 17 years later I’m still plugging away publishing something every day. I would like to thank all the people that helped me along the way and all the people that read my work.
(Musings On Iraq Explaining Kurdish Nationalism Interview With Teen Tech Univ Prof Michael Gunter)
1920 UK govt decided to cancel proposed UK run provisional govt in Iraq for an Arab govt under
British influence
costs
(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)
(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 Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)
1920 UK military governor in Basra reported political agitation from Baghdad trying to raise
support for Iraqi independence in Basra
Bell, Gertrude, The Letters of Gertrude Bell Volumes I and II, Benediction Books, 2009
The Letters of Gertrude Bell Volumes I and II collects together writings Ms Bell made to her family from 1874 until her death in 1926. It was put together and edited by her younger sister. Much of what Bell had to say was mundane such as commenting upon the hot weather in Iraq or asking for clothes to be sent from England. There are some insights into her strong character which set her apart from many of her contemporaries and her ideas about Iraq when it was formed by the British.
1920 War Min Churchill wrote PM George that British army overextended in Mesopotamia
and asked whether UK should give up Mosul province because of costs
(Musings On Iraq How The Ottoman Province Of Mosul Became Part Of Iraq)
(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 Supremacy And Oil, Iraq, Turkey, and the Anglo-American World Order, 1918-1930)
(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)
1925 Head of League of Nations Mosul Commission called King Faisal a “poor creature”
money behind it
1920 British forces retook Tal Afar after bombing broke Iraqi rebels British carried out collective
punishment destroying and looting homes Large number of people forced out into desert
1920 Ex-Ottoman officer and nationalist al-Ahd member Jamil al-Midfai’s forces attacked Mosul
but turned back Tried to start revolt vs UK Mandate in Iraq
1920 Ex-Ottoman officer and nationalist al-Ahd member Jamil al-Midfai’s forces reached Mosul
hoping to start revolt against British
Mansfield, Stephen, The Miracle of the Kurds, A Remarkable Story of Hope Reborn in Northern Iraq, Worthy Publishing, 2014
The Miracle of the Kurds, A Remarkable Story of Hope Reborn in Northern Iraq by Stephen Mansfield is meant to be an introduction to Kurdistan for an American audience. The author first met Kurds working for Christian charities helping the community after the Gulf War and fell in love with the people and culture. Unfortunately his book often reads like an ad for Kurdistan rather than a serious book.
included in Iraq
1916 Ali and Faisal sons of Sharif Hussein announced Arab Revolt against Ottomans Many
Iraqi Ottoman officers would join revolt UK promised Sharif empire after war
(Musings On Iraq review Enemy On The Euphrates, The Battle For Iraq 1914-1921)
(Musings On Iraq review Empires of the Sand, The Struggle For Mastery In The Middle East 1789-1923)
(Musings On Iraq review When God Made Hell, The British Invasion of Mesopotamia and the Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921)
1915 British troops from Persia crossed Tigris and attacked Amara after convincing Ottoman
garrison commander to surrender
1932 Most Assyrian Levies resigned over treatment of their community Worried about what new
Iraqi govt would do with them
(Musings On Iraq review The Tragedy of the Assyrian Minority in Iraq)
(Musings On Iraq review State and Society in Iraq)
1921 American consul in Baghdad wrote that Faisal would become King of Iraq even though he was ...
