Talk:Cairo Conference (1921)

Jerusalem
The lead says "A decision about the issue of the land East of the River Jordan was postponed until Churchill could proceed to Jerusalem for further discussions". In the books I read, the meeting in Jerusalem with Abdullah (over tea) is treated as part of the Cairo conference, as it took place on the same trip. Oncenawhile (talk) 23:15, 20 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I can imagine that it could be described either way, but I'm not sure if it makes much difference. A primary source (don't tell!) I found on my computer agrees with you, though.  It is "Report on Middle East Conference held in Cairo and Jerusalem, March 12th to 30th, 1921" (prepared for the Colonial Office, marked "Secret").  The meetings with Abdullah in Jerusalem on March 28th are included. It seems to me that the description above is not quite right. The purpose of the meeting with Abdullah was to get his agreement on what had been already decided, which is what happened.  But we need a secondary source for that. Zerotalk 08:52, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
 * From Mary Wilson (1990) "on 18 March, Churchhill was able to inform London that the conference was proceeding to make arrangements for Transjordan on the assumption that a satisfactory agreement with Abdullah would be reached.". Dlv999 (talk) 12:24, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Spelling consistency
It is difficult to be consistent - have tried to stick with the spelling in the original text: hence Feisal rather than Faisal/ Husain rather than Hussein and so on. I have come totally unstuck with names for territory: can you use Transjordan for East of Jordan when referring to a period before the creation of the Emirate? And the whole Mesopotaimia/Iraq/Irak mess ... is it best to leave it as a muddle since that's what is was? Padres Hana (talk) 13:49, 21 May 2012 (UTC)


 * One approach would be to use the spelling of the relevant Wikipedia article, at least that would be least confusing for readers. Regarding that place across the Jordan, the report that I mention above calls it "Trans-Jordania" very consistently, but I think we can just call it Transjordan. Zerotalk 17:44, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Previous draft
I came across this some time ago. Thought I'd post it here in case helpful: User:John_Z/drafts/Cairo_Conference_(1921). Oncenawhile (talk) 05:03, 22 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Me big lazy. So I never finished it off and created the article. Glad to see it done and hope I may have helped a bit. Might be able to provide any help necessary if I can find my appropriate books.John Z (talk) 23:49, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

"Palestine and Transjordan dominated the discussions"
Though I won't be changing this without a secondary source, I'll flag that it does not seem to be true. There were about as many meeting on Mesopotamia and also many on Aden and Somaliland (the latter not even mentioned here). The number of pages devoted to each topic in the official report gives some (crude) measure: Mesopotamia 64, Palestine 69, Aden and Somaliland 25, General 28. The last section is about international roads, railways, pipelines, etc. Zerotalk 03:50, 26 May 2012 (UTC)
 * I like John_Z's lead better than the one we currently have. Not sure about the sourcing though. No More Mr Nice Guy (talk) 04:23, 26 May 2012 (UTC)
 * By the way, John_Z's draft names a different hotel than what we have here for where the conference took place. No More Mr Nice Guy (talk) 02:47, 28 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Despite having the agendas and minutes of the meetings, I can't find any mention in them of where they were (except in Jerusalem)  However, this book review says Semiramis Hotel.  Zerotalk 03:26, 28 May 2012 (UTC)
 * From a bit of googling, it seems to me that the 1943 Cairo Conference took place at the Mena Hotel (actually Mena House), not this one. No More Mr Nice Guy (talk) 03:59, 28 May 2012 (UTC)

Page name?
I can't work out when this page was moved to "Cairo Conference (1921)". Can anyone pin that down? Pdfpdf (talk) 09:32, 28 May 2012 (UTC)

Conference name?
Why is the page named "Cairo Conference (1921)". There is no indication that was the name of the event.Pdfpdf (talk) 09:32, 28 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I don't think it had an official name. However in the literature about it "Cairo Conference" is very common. Zerotalk 13:22, 28 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Pdfpdf (talk) 13:47, 28 May 2012 (UTC)

Anachronistic references to "mandates"
The first paragraph under "Prelude" previously read as following:


 * During 1920 a popular uprising had broken out in British Mandatory Iraq, a new creation. The British army had suffered hundreds of casualties and sections of the British press were calling for the ending of the Mandate. T.E. Lawrence, whose wartime activities were beginning to capture the public imagination and who had strong attachments to the Husain dynasty based in the Hejaz, was lobbying the British Government on behalf of Emir Feisal. The Emir's attempt to establish a kingdom with Damascus as its capital had been thwarted by the French army. In November 1920 Feisal's older brother Abdullah appeared with several hundred followers in the town of Ma'an and announced his intention of attacking the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and restoring his brother to power there.

However, references to "Mandatyor Iraq" and "the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon" are anachronistic: these mandates were not legally established until after the Cairo Conference -- indeed, the conference helped set the stage for their establishment. As near as I can tell there isn't really a formal term for the occupation regimes in the former Ottoman territories before the mandates were established in the early '20s, so I'm tried to avoid using formal names and referring to the de facto occupying powers. But if someone knows more correct language, please add it! --Jfruh (talk) 21:04, 8 March 2020 (UTC)