Ahmed Barzani revolt

Mountain gun of the Iraqi Army column, 'Dicol', shelling Shirwan-A-Mazin from a hillside at Kani-Ling during the Ahmed Barzani revolt, June 1932

Date

1931–1932

Location

Southern Kurdistan

Result

Revolt suppressed:

Barzanis retreat to underground
Low-level insurgency continues through 1933
Another revolt by Barzanis erupts in 1943

Belligerents

Kingdom of Iraq

United Kingdom

Barzan tribe

Commanders and leaders

Faisal I

Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt

Ahmed Barzani
Mustafa Barzani

Units involved

RAF Iraq Command

Revolt suppressed:

Ahmed Barzani revolt refers to the first of the major Barzani revolts and the third Kurdish nationalistic insurrection in modern Iraq. The revolt began in 1931, after Ahmed Barzani, one of the most prominent Kurdish leaders in southern Kurdistan, succeeded in unifying a number of other Kurdish tribes. The ambitious Kurdish leader enlisted a number of Kurdish leaders into the revolt, including his young brother Mustafa Barzani, who became one of the most notorious commanders during this revolt. The Barzani forces were eventually overpowered by the Iraqi Army with British support, forcing the leaders of Barzan to go underground.

Ahmed Barzani was later forced to flee to Turkey, where he was held in detention and then sent to exile in the south of Iraq. Although initially a tribal dispute, the involvement of the Iraqi government inadvertently led to the growth of Shaykh Ahmed and Mulla Mustafa Barzani as prominent Kurdish leaders. Throughout these early conflicts the Barzanis consistently displayed their leadership and military prowess, providing steady opposition to the fledgling Iraqi military. It is speculated that exile in the major cities exposed the Barzanis to the ideas of urban Kurdish nationalism.

Shortly after the final accords of World War I, Sheykh Mahmud Barzanji of the Qadiriyyah order of Sufis, the most influential personality in southern Kurdistan, was appointed Governor of the former sanjak of Duhok. Sheikh Mahmud led the first Kurdish revolt in British-controlled southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan) in May 1919. Using his authority as a religious leader, Sheykh Mahmud called for a jihad against the British in 1919 and thus acquired the support of many Kurds indifferent to the nationalist struggle. Although the intensity of their struggle was motivated by religion, Kurdish peasantry seized the idea of “national and political liberty for all” and strove for “an improvement in their social standing”.

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Wikipedia