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‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’ [‎25] (35/58)

The record is made up of 29 folios. It was created in 1917. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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25
The record of European travellers who have passed through
the district is scanty—two at least were murdered in 1810 by
a great-grand-uncle of the present Wali. The district lies off
all main routes and is not sufficiently attractive to draw
travellers.
Position and Powers of the Wali
(from Lorimer's Report on Pusht-i-Kuh).
The Wali governs in a dual capacity, first, as hereditary
owner and ruler, and second, as the recognized representative
of the Persian Government. The latter capacity weights
lightly on him, though he has never allowed himself, from a
diplomatic point of view, to forget it, and has always been care
ful, when it suited him, to invoke his Government's neutrality
as an excuse for or a justification of his own attitude.
As hereditary ruler, he is the supreme power amongst his
tribesmen, but his apparently autocratic rule is tempered by
the fact that without the more or less cordial support of his
followers he could not hold his own against hostile outsiders,
whilst his followers are mutually dependent on him for the
organization necessary to prevent aggressions of outsiders, and
to check the internecine jealousies of rival petty chiefs. Both
of these evils are ever-threatening dangers and each alike, if it
made an entrance, would entail a constant liability to external
war, or internal hostilities and disunion, which would directly
affect every individual tribesman by effectively banishing that
minimum of security without which livelihood in a poor
country is almost impossible.
This state of affairs is to some extent illustrated in Luristan,
where, however, the country being perhaps naturally richer,
the struggle for existence is less acute. .
The relations of the Wali with his subjects are if anything
more patriarchal than those generally obtaining between the
Lurs and their chiefs.
The whole population is nomadic, and quite a considerable
section, the 'Amala, are in permanent attendance on the Wali,
and receive pay from him—an arrangement which has no
where in Persia been developed to the same extent.
The Bakhtiari Khans, it is true, part with much of their
income to the heads of the nomadic sections, but they do so
under a form of veiled compulsion, and not in accordance

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Content

The volume is an overview of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, authored by the Office of the Chief Political Officer, Indian Expeditionary Force “D”, and printed by the Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta [Kolkata], India in 1917. The volume is divided into a number of chapters:

1. An introduction to the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, chiefly concerning Britain’s history of naval intervention and military occupation in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and its efforts in eradicating the slave trade, arms traffic and piracy;

2. A chapter entitled ‘The Arab attitude in Iraq before the War’, including: political conditions in Turkish Iraq prior to the War; the arrival of the Indian Expeditionary Force “D” at the start of the War; Ottoman ‘jihad’ against the British; Arab attitudes to the British in Iraq, central Arabia and Persian Arabistan;

3. British relations with Arabistan, including an overview of the Anglo-Persian War (1856-57), and a brief outline of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company’s activities in the region;

4. The Bakhtiari tribes, their leaders and their standing with the Persian Government, and the importance of maintaining British relations with them, with reference to trade routes, the maintenance of order in the oil fields, and the maintenance of friendly relations with the Shaikh of Muhammareh [Khorramshahr] and the Russians at Ispahan [Isfahān, or Eṣfahān];

5. Pusht-i-Kuh – ‘the right flank of Indian Expeditionary Force “D”’: a description of the area, and its strategic and economic importance, including: topography; climate; the position and powers of its Wali [governor] (taken from Lorimer’s Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ), the Wali’s relatives; and Kaka Siyah, who reside in the region and who are of African origin;

6. Arabia – the left flank of Indian Expeditionary Force “D”. The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part is a general description of the Arabian peninsula, including: topography and geographic features; political powers in Arabia: the Wahhabi, with a history of their development and territorial gains; Egypt; Ibn Rashid [Ibn Rashīd]; the British Government; and Turkish interests in Arabia. The second part is a detailed historical outline of British relations with Ibn Sa‘ūd;

7. Entitled The Trend of Turkish policy before the War and since (official) , and subdivided into parts on internal and external politics. The first part includes an assessment of the characteristics of ‘Ottoman people’ and their Government, the second concentrates on German influence and activity in Ottoman territories.

There are pencil annotations on the front flyleaf of the volume (folio 2), which make note of sections within the volume, with the corresponding page numbers.

Extent and format
29 folios
Arrangement

The volume is arranged into seven chapters (I-VII), with subject subheadings used to organise each. A contents page (f 4), referencing the volume’s pagination sequence, lists the chapter headings. A preface (f 5) precedes the chapters.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is circled in pencil, in the top-right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio. It begins on the front cover, on number 1, and ends on the inside of the back cover, on number 29.

Pagination: A printed pagination system runs through the volume (ff 7-27), the numbers of which are located top and centre of each recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. and verso The back of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'v'. .

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’ [‎25] (35/58), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C150, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023662459.0x000024> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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