"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. مجلد I" [ظ‎‎١‎٧] (٤٥٤/٣٩)

14 HISTORY OF THE WAR : MESOPOTAMIA
Before concluding this chapter it is advisable to refer briefly
to some relevant factors concerning the adjoining states and
principalities.
Persia, for reasons which are well known, was practically
impotent during the campaign to resist any but minor aggres
sion from without.
The Anglo-Persian oilfield is at Maidan-i-Naftun, about
twenty-six miles south-east of Shushtar in Bakhtiari territory.
In this oilfield the British Government before the war had
obtained a predominant interest in order to secure a con
trolled supply for the needs of the navy. The Bakhtiaris
had a financial interest in the oilfields and were under a
definite agreement to protect them and the pipe-line within
their territory. This pipe carries the oil for over one hundred
and forty miles to the refinery in Abadan island on the Shatt
al Arab : for the greater part of its length it passes through
the country of the Shaikh of Mohammerah, who, although
paramount in Southern Arabistan, had not much power over
the tribes west of the Karun river and had practically no
power at all over the Arabs of Northern Arabistan. The
principal means of communication in Arabistan is by the Karun
river and the tracks that exist are usually only practicable for
pack transport. I he physical and climatic conditions in the
greater part of this area are generally similar to those prevailing
in Lower Mesopotamia.
Kuwait is an Arab State, south of Basra, extending about
one hundred and ninety miles from north-north-west to south-
south-east, but with indefinite and fluctuating boundaries to
westward. It possesses a fine bay and was at one time con
sidered as a possible terminus for the Baghdad railway, due
mainly to exaggerated ideas of the difficulty of navigating
the Shatt al Arab. The Shaikh of Kuwait has independently
contracted obligations from time to time with the British
Government and when war broke out he was definitely under
our protection.
Stretching south-east from Kuwait towards the territorv of
the Trucial chiefs and inland to the frontiers of Nejd is
province of Al Hasa. The Turkish garrisons, whose
effective control had never extended beyond the immediate
vicinity of their posts, were ejected from this province by
Ibn Saud, Emir of Nejd, in 1913. This ruler had since then
entered into more or less intimate relations with the Indian
Government which led, shortly after war broke out, to his
espousing definitely the cause of Great Britain against the