2024-07-30

The period from 1914 to 1935 was pivotal in British history, characterised by prominent changes in geopolitics, colonial aspirations, and foreign policy strategies in the Middle East. The present thesis investigates the complex variables that influenced British colonial and foreign policy in the region throughout the specified period. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, industrialisation emerged as a driving force behind the European powers' pursuit of new markets, resources, and territories. The primary objective of the British Empire was to extend its authority and defend its current territories, motivated by a need to preserve its dominance in the seas and secure its commercial passes. The Middle East emerged as a crucial area for British interests due to its advantageous geographical position and abundant natural resources.

2015-08-12

The research seeks to identify those movements carried out by the people of Behdinan against British occupation forces; this uprising is one of the most important steps taken by the Kurdish rebel in 1919 for the liberty of Kurdistan from the British restrictions. It was also the preface of the outbreak of the Iraqi Revolution named (The Revolt of Twentieth). But, despite the importance of this subject, it has not received the attention of the majority of historians who talked about the situation of Kurdistan after the First World War. However, the writer Abdel Moneim Al Ghulam was the only one who wrote on such a topic in detail in his book (Our Revolution in Northern Iraq). There were several motives behind the outbreak of the revolution, including poor British administration, which offended the British to act against the people of the region, as well as, the religious factor that pushed the Kurds to resist the British occupation in Badinan area, and also the promises given by the British government to Assyrian in order to create an Assyrian state in the area and resettle them in the Kurdish villages was another factor to the revolution. Another motivation was that propaganda which carried out by the Turkish government in the Badinan area in order to link the state of Mosul with the Turkish border. These factors led to the outbreak of a lot of movements in Behdinan area in order to expel the British presence in the region, which are: the movement of the people of Zakho (Goyan) on 4 April 1919, the movement of Amadiyah people on July 15, the Battle of the Gelly Mizirka on 8 August, the battle of Swaretoka on 22 August and finally, the uprising of Akre and Zebar on 4 November of the same year. As a result, all of these movements led to the killing of many of the rebels with some of the British troops in those battles that took place between them. These movements did not last for a long time because of the lack

2013-09-01

Abstract The fall of the Ottoman Empire gave a valuable opportunity for the Kurdish people to claim their rights to national self-determination. The question of Kurdish independence went through some important negotiations between the great powers especially Britain, because Southern Kurdistan was under its sphere of influence. The Cairo conference of 1921 was a good example of those negotiations when the Kurdish issue became a controversial subject of debate among the British attendees at the meeting. Following their discussion, Southern Kurdistan became an integral part of Iraq, due to some internal and external reasons. The points of view of historians are various about the Cairo decisions, for instance, Martin Gilbert, Christopher Catherwood, Aaron S. Klieman, and Saad Eskander, agree that Churchill was initially going to grant an independent Kurdistan acting as a buffer state between Turkey and the recently independent Iraq. Some, but not all, argue that later he changed his mind. Thus, Othman Ali points out that, in August 1921 Sir Percy Cox provided Churchill with some significant reasons to change his mind, the most important of them was that Iraq could not be defended without being under the control of the Kurdish mountains in the north and northeast. Most modern historians are of the opinion that Churchill particularly was not as much to blame for this change of policy as is usually thought, but certainly, Cairo did not help to make an independent Kurdistan and the power of Percy Cox seems to be the key of influence at the end.