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‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’ [36] (46/58)
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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
36
hension the aggressive policy of the new regime in Turkey
and would welcome, if he recovered the Hasa, a British Agent
in one of his ports, and he added that our trade would benefit
from the increased security which he would maintain on the
caravan routes. Captain Shakespear could make no other
rejoinder than that the British Government confined its in
terests to the coast and had never challenged Turkish claims
to the ordering of affairs in Central Arabia, with which we
had no concern ; that we were moreover on amicable terms
with Turkey and should be averse from anything in the nature
of intrigue against the Ottoman Government; but in his com
ments on the report of this interview Sir Percy Cox pointed
out that as the Porte seemed disposed to be intractable in the
adjustment of matters relating to British interests in the Gulf,
we could not afford to ignore Ibn Sa'ud's attitude. His personal
authority had greatly increased and it would be well to enter
tain cordial if distant relations with him. The Foreign Office,
however, decided that it was impossible at that time to swerve
from our policy of strict non-interference.
Two years later Ibn Sa'ud, without the assistance which he
had tried to obtain from us, though he was credited throughout
Arabia with having secured it, overran the Hasa, ejected without
difficulty the small Turkish garrisons and established himself
on the coast at Qatif and Ojair. Captain Shakespear on his
return to England in June 1914, from a long projected journey
across Arabia in the course of which he had visited Riyadh,
bore witness to the strong personal domination which Ibn
Sa'ud's vigorous and commanding personality had established,
and from other reports it was clear that he was regarded beyond
his own frontiers as the coming man. He proved more than
a match for the ineffective efforts of the Turks to re-take the
Hasa ; they resorted to diplomacy and opened negotiations
with him through Saiyid Talib of Basrah. Early in May Tala'at
Bey had formulated in private conversation at the British
Embassy the expectations of the Ottoman Government in terms
which seemed to his hearers little consonant with actual con
ditions. He proposed to establish a strictly delimited frontier
between Ibn Sa'ud and Ibn Rashid, place representatives
of the Sultan at Riyadh and at Hail, and rely upon the guile
of these officials to control without the aid of force the actions
of the two Amirs. As for the Hasa, Ibn Sa'ud would be
appointed Mutasarif of the Province, but the collection of the
About this item
- 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 View the complete information for this record
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‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’ [36] (46/58), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C150, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023662459.0x00002f> [accessed 23 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/C150
- Title
- ‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 1:8, 1:46, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence