The Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921

by Reeva Spector Simon (Editor), Eleanor Tejirian (Editor), Gary Sick (Foreword by)

Overview

Leading scholars consider Iraq's history and strategic importance from the vantage point of its residents, neighbors (Iran, Turkey, and Kurdistan), and the Great Powers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231509206
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	12/08/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Reeva Spector Simon is a research scholar at the Middle East Institute at Columbia University and coeditor of The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. She is also author of Iraq Between the Two World Wars: The Militarist Origins of Tyranny (Columbia). Eleanor H. Tejirian is an associate research scholar at the Middle East Institute. She is coeditor (with Simon) of Altruism and Imperialism: Western Religious and Cultural Missions in the Middle East.

Table of Contents

Preface, by Gary G. Sick
Introduction, by Reeva S. Simon and Eleanor H. Tejirian
1: The View from Basra: Southern Iraq's Reaction to War and Occupation, 1915-1925, by Judith S. Yaphe
2: The View from Baghdad, by Reeva S. Simon
3: Mosul Questions: Economy, Identity, and Annexation, by Sarah Shields
4: The Evolution of the Iran-Iraq Border, by Lawrence G. Potter
5:A Kemalist Gambit: A View of the Political Negotiations in the Determination of the Turkish-Iraqi Border, by David Cuthell
6: Kurds and the Formation of the State of Iraq, 1917-1932, by M. R. Izady
7: The Oil Resources of Iraq: Their Role in the Policies of the Great Powers, by George E. Gruen
8: Russia from Empire to Revolution, by Peter J. Sinnott
9: Britain, France, and the Diplomatic Agreements, by David Fromkin
10: The United States, the Ottoman Empire, and the Postwar Settlement, by Eleanor H. Tejirian
Postscript
Additional Readings

Editorial Reviews

Observers of late have dusted off the history of the United Kingdom's occupation of Iraq and would-be nation building there (begun during the latter years of World War I) to set alongside the U.S. effort some nine decades later and, in the process, offer a cautionary tale. Here is a well-executed collective effort to present the first part of that comparative history — the Iraqi-British story. Indeed, coverage includes more than just bilateral confrontation. Piecing together the always multidimensional nature of Middle East diplomacy are separate chapters treating the negotiations that created the Iraqi-Turkish border as well as the Iraqi-Iranian border, the role of oil, the declining role of Russia and the peripheral role of the United States, plus a chapter placing Iraq in the ongoing "Eastern Question" diplomacy. Other chapters treat the Kurds, Basra, and Baghdad. All these contributions blend into a succinct yet comprehensive account of this period. And, yes, The Creation of Iraq does illustrate both the continuing characteristics of great-power interventions in the Middle East and the constants that any occupier must face in Iraq.

Foreign Affairs

"A concise and multifaceted overview of the circumstances that led to the creation of modern Iraq out of the ruins of the Ottoman empire." -Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions

Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions

Here is a well-executed collective effort to present...the Iraqi-British story...A succinct yet comprehensive account of this period.

Foreign Affairs - L. Carl Brown