1920 Iraqi Revolt

Iraqi revolt against the British
Date May – October 1920 Location OETA/Mandatory Iraq Result British Empire victory Greater autonomy given to Iraq Faysal ibn Husayn installed as King
Belligerents
British Empire  India	Iraqi rebels Shia tribesmen Sunni tribesmen
Commanders and leaders
Sir Arnold Wilson	Mehdi Al-Khalissi Muhammad Hasan Abi al-Mahasin
Strength
120,000 men (later reinforced with an additional 15,414 men) 63 aircraft	131,000
Casualties and losses
400 killed 600 missing 1,100-1,800 wounded 11 aircraft destroyed	6,000-10,000 killed
2,050-4,000 killed; 4,800-6,150 wounded

British Empire victory

Iraqi rebels

The Iraqi revolt against the British, also known as the 1920 Iraqi Revolt or Great Iraqi Revolution, started in Baghdad in the summer of 1920 with mass demonstrations by Iraqis, including protests by embittered officers from the old Ottoman army, against the British occupation of Iraq. The revolt gained momentum when it spread to the largely tribal Shia regions of the middle and lower Euphrates. Sheikh Mehdi Al-Khalissi was a prominent Shia leader of the revolt.

Sunni and Shia religious communities cooperated during the revolution as well as tribal communities, the urban masses, and many Iraqi officers in Syria. The objectives of the revolution were independence from British rule and creation of an Arab government. Though the revolt achieved some initial success, by the end of October 1920, the British had crushed the revolt. Although the revolt was largely over by the end of 1920, elements of it dragged on until 1922.

During the 1920 revolt, another anti-British rebellion took place in the north Iraq by the Kurds, who were trying to gain independence. One of the major Kurdish leaders of the Kurdish revolt was Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji.

After World War I the idea of the League of Nations creating Mandates for the territories of the defeated Central Powers began to take shape after the Peace Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The idea was based on the principle that the territories would eventually become independent but under the tutelage of one of the victorious Entente countries. People in Ottoman provinces began to fear the Mandate concept since "it seemed to suggest European imperial rule by another name."

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