The Twilight of British Ascendancy in the Middle East

This work is an account of Anglo-Iraqi relations, from Britain's reconquest of Iraq in 1941 until the end of the immediate post-World War II period in 1950. In particular, it shows how Britain reasserted its dominant position in Iraq during the war and attempted to maintain this position.

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This work is an account of Anglo-Iraqi relations, from Britain's reconquest of Iraq in 1941 until the end of the immediate post-World War II period in 1950. In particular, it shows how Britain reasserted its dominant position in Iraq during the war and attempted to maintain this position after the confict, when, under pressure of nationalist sentiment in Iraq, and manpower and financial constraints at home, and in accordance with its treaty obligations, it had withdrawn all of its ground troops. The book not only describes an important episode in the fairly rapid disintegration of British hegemony in the Middle East after the war, it also examines the possibilities and limitations of indirect rule. This also the story of how the ruling class of a recently-independent Arab nation struggled to free itself from the lingering grip of a major European power while preserving sufficiently close ties with that power to ensure its external security and internal control.