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‘A sketch of the political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia, with special reference to the present campaign.’ [39] (49/58)
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.
39
it led could not leave him indifferent; his relations .with the
Sharif had for some time been friendly.
In January 1915 they were acting in concert and Ibn Sa'ud
told Captain Shakespear that in his view the Khalifate would
revert to the family of the Prophet, of which the Sharif was
the representative, if it passed out of the hands of the Sultan
of Turkey. In November 1915, 'Abdullah re-appeared in
Najd, with what object is not very clear.
But Ibn Sa'ud, barely emerged from-a perilous contest in
the Hasa, not unreasonably regarded the Sharif's enterprise
as inopportune and even suspicious. (These sentiments were
reflected in his conversations with Sir Percy Cox in December.
He reminded the Chief Political Officer that the Wahhabis
recognised no Khalif after the first four, and was careful to add
that if the Sharif should assume the title, it would make no
difference to his status among other ruling chiefs.) In June-
of the following year the Sharif rose in open rebellion against
the Turks and declared the independence of the Arabs. Ibn
Sa'ud, writing in July to the Chief Political Officer, acknowledged
the receipt from him of official news with regard to the Hijaz,
expressed his satisfaction at the discomfiture of the Turks^.
but put forward his own apprehensions that the Sharif might
proceed to claim authority over parts of Najd, and in support
of this fear observed that in declaring the independence of
" the Arabs " the Sharif appeared to treat them as a com
pendious whole, an attitude which he regarded m ith anxiety.
Nor is this attitude, in view of the history of Najd and of its
relations to the Hijaz, unreasonable or unnatural : it has its
origins deep in history t as in the 6th century, so now, the
tribes of the Arabian peninsula fall into four or five divisions ?
each of which group themselves under their own notables
and can no more be treated as a whole, or welded into one,
than can the States of Europe at the present day. Syria,
'Iraq, Najd, Hijaz, Oman are not merely geographical expres
sions, but racial centres with a pedigree to which few European
countries can aspire.
Ibn Sa'ud is now in Qasim, preparing renewed hostilities
against our common enemy : he has recently received money
and arms from us and it is hoped that his position is now strong
enough to enable him to take the offensive again.
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.’ [39] (49/58), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/C150, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023662459.0x000032> [accessed 25 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