Iraq–United Kingdom relations

British–Iraqi relations

United Kingdom	Iraq

British–Iraqi relations are foreign relations between Iraq and the United Kingdom.

The history of British–Iraqi relations date back to the creation of Iraq in 1920, when it was founded by Great Britain; by establishing separate provinces from Mosul to Basra. In the 19th century Europeans (mostly the British) began to take an interest in exploring, surveying, spying and trading in Mesopotamia, as well as in navigating its rivers. By 1914 there was growing anxiety about the security of the Persian oilfields on the other side of the Persian Gulf, these were the fields that supplied the Royal Navy.

The Ottoman Empire, which included the provinces of Baghdad, Basra and Mosul, entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary), and immediately became a target for British imperial ambitions. Soon after substantial Anglo-Indian army was raised, which landed in Basra in November 1914. The local defending forces soon fled, and the British decided to push on towards Baghdad. However the Turkish Ottoman forces proved more resilient than expected and the Anglo-Indian force surrendered in April 1916. New British forces eventually arrived in Basra in greater numbers, and by March 1917 were able to capture Baghdad.

By the end of World War I, British forces were in control of the three provinces (Baghdad, Basra and Mosul), and the British administration in Baghdad had to decide on their future. The Ottoman Empire had collapsed, leaving the former Arab provinces in limbo, and the colonial powers of Britain and France aimed to absorb them into their empires; however, the Arab and other inhabitants felt strongly that they had been promised independence. Iraq then became a British mandate, carved out of the three former Ottoman provinces. There was immediate resentment amongst Iraq's inhabitants at what they saw as a charade, and in 1920 a strong revolt spread through the country, the situation was so bad that the British commander, General Sir Aylmer Haldane, at one time called for supplies of poisonous gas. The mandate united the three disparate provinces under the imported Hashimite King Faisal. Apart from its natural geographical differences, Iraq was a complex mix of ethnic and religious groups. In particular the rebellious Kurds in the north had little wish to be ruled from Baghdad, while in the south the tribesmen and Shia's had a similar abhorrence of central control. In implementing their mandate, the British had certainly sown the seeds of future unrest. There were other contentious issues. The Iraqis deeply resented the borders imposed on them that cut them off from Kuwait, a mini-state that they believed to be a part of their country. These borders also meant that Iraq had only limited access to the waters of the Persian Gulf. The British imposed a monarchy and a form of democracy but, even after the grant of formal independence in 1930, most Iraqis believed that the British really ruled the country.

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