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The 1921 Cairo Conference of British Middle East experts was called by then Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill primarily to settle the terms of the Mesopotamia British Mandate of Iraq, but also made major decisions concerning the British Mandate of Palestine. It formally convened on March 12, 1921, with 40 experts, which Churchill nicknamed his "forty thieves." (Catherwood, p.) They included the High Commissioners and commanding generals of Palestine and Mesopotamia, officials for the Persian Gulf, Somaliland, Aden and their staffs. Gertrude Bell, Sir Percy Cox, T. E. Lawrence, Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, Sir Arnold Wilson, Iraqi minister of war Jafar al-Askari, Iraqi minister of finance Sir Sassoon Eskell, Churchill presided over a Political Committee and Sir Walter Congreve presided over a Military and Financial Committee which deliberated at the Semiramis Hotel for twelve days in the utmost secrecy. Christopher Catherwood writes that "it is no exaggeration to say" that it "created the map of the Middle East that we know today." There was only one public official report of the conference, a speech by Churchill to the House of Commons on June 14, 1921 and it is scarcely mentioned in other sources like memoirs or newspapers, there was relatively little written about it for a long time.

British Mandate of Iraq
At the Cairo Conference of 1921, the British set the parameters for Iraqi political life that were to continue until the 1958 revolution; they chose a Hashemite, Faisal ibn Husayn, son of Sherif Hussein ibn Ali former Sharif of Mecca as Iraq's first King; they established an indigenous Iraqi army; and they proposed a new treaty. To confirm Faisal as Iraq's first monarch, a one-question plebiscite was carefully arranged that had a return of 96 percent in his favor. The British saw in Faisal a leader who possessed sufficient nationalist and Islamic credentials to have broad appeal, but who also was vulnerable enough to remain dependent on their support. Faisal traced his descent from the family of the Prophet Muhammad. His ancestors held political authority in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina since the tenth century. The British believed these credentials would satisfy traditional Arab standards of political legitimacy; moreover, the British thought Faisal would be accepted by the growing Iraqi nationalist movement because of his role in the 1916 Arab Revolt against the Turks, his achievements as a leader of the Arab emancipation movement, and his general leadership qualities. ans Furthermore, the British garrison in Iraq would be substantially reduced and replaced by air force squadrons, with a major base at Habbaniyya. ans

The final major decision taken at the Cairo Conference related to the new Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922. Faisal was under pressure from the nationalists and the anti-British mujtahids of An Najaf and Karbala to limit both British influence in Iraq and the duration of the treaty. Recognizing that the monarchy depended on British support&mdash;and wishing to avoid a repetition of his experience in Syria&mdash;Faisal maintained a moderate approach in dealing with Britain. The twenty-year Anglo-Iraqi Treaty treaty, which was ratified in October 1922, stated that the king would heed British advice on all matters affecting British interests and on fiscal policy as long as Iraq had a balance of payments deficit with Britain, and that British officials would be appointed to specified posts in eighteen departments to act as advisers and inspectors. A subsequent financial agreement, which significantly increased the financial burden on Iraq, required Iraq to pay half the cost of supporting British resident officials, among other expenses. British obligations under the new treaty included providing various kinds of aid, notably military assistance, and proposing Iraq for membership in the League of Nations at the earliest moment. In effect, the treaty ensured that Iraq would remain politically and economically dependent on Britain. While unable to prevent the treaty, Faisal clearly felt that the British had gone back on their promises to him.

The British decision at the Cairo Conference to establish an indigenous Iraqi army was significant. In Iraq, as in most of the developing world, the military establishment has been the best organized institution in an otherwise weak political system. Thus, while Iraq's body politic crumbled under immense political and economic pressure throughout the monarchic period, the military gained increasing power and influence; moreover, because the officers in the new army were by necessity Sunnis who had served under the Ottomans, while the lower ranks were predominantly filled by Shia tribal elements, Sunni dominance in the military was preserved.

unorg stuff googled

 * 2008 Novel Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell  set at the CC


 * important INTERIM REPORT ON THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION OF PALESTINE during the period 1st JULY, 1920--30th JUNE, 1921. by HS

2 reviews of Klieman Jstor  pic of WC TEL Feisal

article in naval journal

superzion, but schol acct of period

good site,

http://www.think-israel.org/balfour2.html

http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/jordan.html

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Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia information about Churchill White Paper (1922) Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. More from Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia Home > Library > Reference > Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia

Cairo Conference (1921) Related Topics

Abdullah I Ibn Hussein Askari, Jaʿfar Al- Bell, Gertrude Churchill, Winston S. Cox, Percy Faisal I Ibn Hussein Heskayl, Sasson Lawrence, T. E. San Remo Conference (1920) Wilson, Arnold T. Meeting of Middle East experts to decide on administration of British mandates of Iraq and Transjordan.

The Cairo Conference was convened by Winston Churchill, then Britain's colonial secretary. With the mandates of Palestine and Iraq awarded to Britain at the San Remo Conference (1920), Churchill wished to consult with Middle East experts, and at his request, Gertrude Bell, Sir Percy Cox, T. E. Lawrence, Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, Sir Arnold T. Wilson, Iraqi minister of war Jaʿfar alAskari, Iraqi minister of finance Sasun Effendi (Sasson Heskayl), and others gathered in Cairo, Egypt, in March 1921. The two most significant decisions of the conference were to offer the throne of Iraq to Amir Faisal ibn Hussein (who became Faisal I) and the emirate of Transjordan (now Jordan) to his brother Abdullah I ibn Hussein. Furthermore, the British garrison in Iraq would be substantially reduced and replaced by air force squadrons, with a major base at Habbaniyya. The conference provided the political blueprint for British administration in both Iraq and Transjordan, and in offering these two regions to the Hashimite sons of Sharif Husayn ibn Ali of the Hijaz, Churchill believed that the spirit, if not the letter, of Britain's wartime promises to the Arabs would be fulfilled.

Bibliography

Fromkin, David. A Peace to End All Peace. New York: H. Holt, 1989.

Klieman, Aaron S. Foundations of British Policy in the ArabWorld: The Cairo Conference of 1921. London: Johns Hopkins, 1970.