Enemy on the Euphrates Read online

  ENEMY ON THE EUPHRATES

  ENEMY

  ON THE

  EUPHRATES

  The British Occupation of Iraq

  and the Great Arab Revolt 1914–1921

  Ian Rutledge

  SAQI

  Published 2014 by Saqi Books

  Copyright © Ian Rutledge 2014

  ISBN 978 0 86356 762 9

  eISBN 978 0 86356 767 4

  Ian Rutledge has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Every effort has been made to obtain necessary permission with reference to copyright material. The publishers apologise if inadvertently any sources remain unacknowledged and will be happy to correct this in any future editions.

  First published 2014 in Great Britain by

  Saqi Books

  26 Westbourne Grove

  London W2 5RH

  www.saqibooks.co.uk

  A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Printed and bound by Bookwell in Finland

  For Diana, as always.

  And for my beloved children,

  Joanna, Daniel, Zoe and Emilie

  What we want is some kind of modicum of Arab institutions which we can safely leave while pulling the strings ourselves, something which won’t cost very much … but in which our influence and political and economic interests will be secure.

  Sir Arthur Hirtzel, February 1920

  Whereas most westerners have no knowledge of the 1920 uprising, generations of Iraqi schoolchildren have grown up learning how nationalist heroes stood up against foreign armies and imperialism in towns like Falluja, Baquba and Najaf – the Iraqi equivalents of Lexington and Concord.

  Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History

  Contents

  List of Illustrations

  List of Maps

  Note on Arabic Transliteration

  Glossary

  Abbreviations

  Preface

  The Principal Actors

  PART ONE: INVASION, JIHAD AND OCCUPATION

  1 Indications of Oil

  2 Lieutenant Wilson’s First Mission

  3 ‘Protect the oil refineries’

  4 Arab Mobilisation on the Euphrates

  5 The Jihad Defeated

  6 Pacifying Arabistan

  7 Imperial Objectives in the East

  8 The Menace of Jihad and How to Deal with It

  9 The Lieutenant from Mosul

  10 The Peculiar Origins of an Infamous Agreement

  11 Two British Defeats but a New Ally

  12 Colonel Leachman and Captain Lawrence

  13 Mosul and Oil

  14 ‘Complete liberation’

  15 Najaf 1918:First Uprising on the Euphrates

  16 Britain’s New Colony

  17 The Oil Agreements

  18 The Independence Movement in Baghdad

  19 General Haldane’s Difficult Posting

  20 Trouble on the Frontiers

  PART TWO: REVOLUTION AND SUPPRESSION

  21 The Drift to Violence

  22 The Revolution Begins

  23 Discord and Disputation

  24 General Haldane’s Indian Army

  25 ‘The situation has come to a head’

  26 The Destruction of the Manchester Column

  27 ‘Further unfavourable developments’

  28 The Structures of Insurgent Power

  29 Trouble on the Home Front

  30 The Siege of Samawa

  31 Defeat

  32 A Death on the Baghdad Road

  33 The Punishment

  34 A ‘friendly native state’

  Afterword

  Appendix: Some Biographical Notes

  Acknowledgements

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Image Credits

  Index

  List of Illustrations

  Sir Mark Sykes, 1913

  Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty, 1912

  Lord Kitchener, War Minister 1914–1916

  Captain Arnold Wilson, 1916

  Colonel Gerard Leachman, c.1912

  T. E. Lawrence, 1918

  Gertrude Bell, 1921

  Ja‘far Abu al-Timman, c.1920

  Sheikh ‘Abd al-Wahid al-Sikar, 1918

  General Aylmer Haldane, 1921

  Indian cavalry on patrol, c.1918

  A Rolls Royce armoured car, used in Iraq in the 1920s

  A DH9A aircraft

  The gunboat HMS Firefly

  Sayyid Muhsin Abu Tabikh, c.1924

  List of Maps

  The Ottoman Empire c.1900

  Iraq, within Its Postwar Mandate Borders, and Neighbouring Regions of Syria, Turkey and Persia

  Sykes’s 1915 Proposed Scheme for the ‘Decentralisation’ of the Ottoman Empire’s Eastern Possessions

  The Division of the Ottoman Empire’s Eastern Possessions According to the Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916

  The Division of the Ottoman Empire’s Eastern Possessions into the British and French Mandates 1920

  The Middle Euphrates Region, Epicentre of the 1920 Revolution

  The Scene of the Manchester Column Disaster, July 1920: the Camp on the Rustumiyya Canal

  Note on Arabic Transliteration

  This has been kept as simple as possible. The symbol ‘has been used for the letter ‘ayn and ’ for the glottal stop hamza. The feminine ending taa marbuta has simply been rendered as a final a (not ‘ah’ or ‘at’). No subscript or superscript marks have been used. When an Arabic word or name which has entered the English lexicon appears, its customary English spelling has been retained (e.g. sheikh, not shaykh).

  Glossary

  agha Turkish title equivalent to Arabic ‘sheikh’.

  al-‘Ahd The Pledge. Secret organisation of Ottoman army officers opposed to Turkish domination, formed shortly before outbreak of the First World War.

  al-‘Ahd al-‘Iraqi Branch of al-‘Ahd formed after the end of the First World War and dedicated to some form of Independence in Iraq; generally more moderate than Haras al-Istiqlal and willing to seek accommodation with British interests.

  ayalet Name for a region of the Ottoman Empire. The system of ayalets was abolished in 1864 and replaced by a greater number of smaller vilayets. The term was resurrected in Mark Sykes’s proposals for the De Bunsen Committee in 1915.

  bellum Small, double-bowed, flat-bottomed Iraqi river vessel with a draught of less than eighteen inches, paddled, or powered by punt-pole; similar to but usually larger than the mashuf.

  bey Ottoman (Turkish) honorific title, in its military usage meaning a high-ranking officer, but subordinate to a pasha.

  budoo British Army slang for Bedouin. Generally, a term of abuse for all Iraqi tribal Arabs.

  caliph Successor to the leadership of the Islamic community. (See also Shi‘i and Sunni.)

  Dar al-Hujja Conference hall of the Grand Mujtahid in Karbela’. Literally, ‘House of Religious Debate’.

  division (1) Administrative region in British-occupied Iraq of which there were sixteen in 1920.

  division (2) Unit of the British Army usually comprising three brigades and commanded by a major general.

  fatwa In shari‘a law, a decision made by a qualified person e.g. a mujtahid; it may constitute a legal precedent.

  faylaq A corps in the Ottoman army.

  Haras al-Istiqlal The Independence Guards – a nationalist organisation based in Baghdad.

  havildar Rank assigned to Indian soldiers in the British Imperial Indian Army, equivalent to sergeant.

  Hejaz The western part of the present-day state of Saudi Arabia, bordering the Red Sea.

  heliograph A means of military communication using a wireless solar telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight (generally using Morse code) reflected by a mirror.

  Istanbul Capital of the Ottoman Empire on the European side of the Bosphorus. In 1920 the British still referred to it by its Christian name – Constantinople.

  Jam‘iyya al-Arabiyya al-Fatat The Young Arab Society – a secret organisation for the promotion of Arab interests within the Ottoman Empire, established before the First World War. Some of its members desired an independent Arab state.

  Jam‘iyya al-‘Iraqiyya al-‘Arabiyya A nationalist organisation based in the mid-Euphrates region which favoured an alliance with Mustafa Kemal and the Bolsheviks.

  Jam‘iyya al-Nahda al-Islamiyya The Islamic Renaissance Movement – a small, secret organisation formed in Najaf in 1918, dedicated to the expulsion of the British from Iraq.

  Jam‘iyya al-Takhlis al-Sharq al-Islami Organisation for the Liberation of the Muslim East. Bolshevik Organisation set up under the aegis of the Eastern Department of Narkomindel (People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs) whose function was to encourage the resistance of the Muslim peoples against European domination.

  jemadar Rank assigned to Indian soldiers in the British Imperial Indian Army, equivalent to second lieutenant.

  jihad A war or campaign in defence of Islam.

  khan Guest house for Muslim pilgrims or other travellers.

  Khedivate
An autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. The British retained the name after they had effectively taken control of Egypt in 1882.

  kufiyya Typical headdress of tribal Arabs.

  levies British-officered Arab or Kurdish auxiliary troops.

  madhbata In this context, a set of demands or petition.

  madrasa An Islamic school, either religious or secular.

  mahalla A city quarter or district. Each of Najaf’s mahallas had its own headman and legal code.

  mahayla Iraqi river boat with lateen sail, between fifty and eighty feet in length and with a draught of between three and four feet; also known as a safina.

  mandate The right of control over a defeated enemy territory but with the assumption that the mandatory power will prepare it for eventual independence. In practice, a mandated territory was little more than a protectorate.

  mashuf Very small canoe-like Iraqi river vessel typical of the marsh lands, similar to but usually smaller than the bellum.

  maulud Celebration of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

  memsahib ‘Respectable lady’; term used by Indians to denote European wives.

  mirza Honorific title of Persian origin, literally ‘prince’ but, more generally, ‘sir’.

  monitor A shallow-draught warship with heavy guns for coastal bombardment.

  mujahid(in) Person(s) fighting on behalf of Islam.

  mujtahid(in) Senior Shi‘i cleric(s), qualified to make independent decisions based on Islamic jurisprudence and theology.

  mukarrama Meaning ‘venerated’, ‘revered’, an epithet customarily used for the holy city of Mecca.

  mulazim Second lieutenant in the Ottoman army.

  mulazim awwal First lieutenant in the Ottoman army.

  mutasarrif Senior Ottoman official, usually translated as ‘governor’.

  mutasarriflik Administrative region of Ottoman Empire which (unlike the vilayet) was directly under control of Ottoman Ministry of the Interior. (Also known as a sanjak.)

  Noperforce North Persia Force – the contingent of British troops stationed in North Persia to defend the Persian Government against Bolshevik and nationalist forces.

  pasha Ottoman (Turkish) honorific military title meaning ‘general’.

  qadi Muslim judge administering shari‘a law.

  qahwaji A tribal sheikh's coffee maker, but also, often, his advisor and assistant

  qishla Turkish word for fort.

  Qur’an Islam’s holy book.

  risaldar Indian cavalry officer in British Imperial Indian Army equivalent to captain

  safina See mahayla.

  sanjak See mutasarriflik.

  sayyid (pl. sada) Lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through his grandson Husayn ibn ‘Ali (Shi‘i usage). The authenticity of such claims may be questionable. See also sharif.

  Sayyid al-Shuhada’ ‘The Prince of Martyrs’, one of the Shi‘i titles for the Imam Husayn (see sayyid).

  Senussi A Muslim political and religious order in Libya and the Sudan. Fought against the Italian occupation in 1911 and against the British between 1915 and 1917.

  sepoy Indian infantryman in British Imperial Indian Army.

  serai Turkish word for palace. In this context meaning local administrative headquarters of the government.

  shabana Arab police in British service.

  shamal The prevalent north wind in Iraq which brings hot dry air in the summer and cool moist air during the winter.

  shari‘a (law) Islamic jurisprudence, of which there are four Sunni schools and three Shi‘i schools.

  Sharif (of Mecca) Senior Ottoman official responsible for the holy cities of Mecca and Medina; appointed directly by the Ottoman sultan from among high noble (sharif) families.

  sharif (pl. ashraf) Lineal descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through his grandson Hasan ibn ‘Ali (Sunni usage). The authenticity of such claims may be questionable. See also sayyid.

  Shi‘i The minority and second largest sect of Islam. Also the name for an adherent of the Shi‘i sect of Islam. Shi‘i Muslims believe that God (through his Prophet Muhammad) chose Muhammad’s closest living male relative, his cousin and son-in-law, ‘Ali ibn ‘Abu Talib, to be his rightful successor and subsequently through the family line of ‘Ali’s son, Husayn.

  sirdab An undergound living room whose cooler atmosphere provides relief from excessive summer heat.

  sowar Indian cavalryman in the British Imperial Indian Army.

  Sunni The majority and largest sect of Islam. Also the name for an adherent of the Sunni sect of Islam. Sunni Muslims believe that Muhammad decreed that his rightful successor was to be chosen from among the Prophet’s companions (regardless of family relationship). Although Sunnis recognise ‘Ali as one of the four ‘rightfully guided’ caliphs, he is the fourth one, rather than the first (as in Shi‘i Islam).

  ‘ulema’ Generic term for Islamic clergy whether Sunni or Shi‘i.

  vali Ottoman governor of a vilayet.

  vilayet Administrative region of Ottoman Empire, ruled by a vali; originally derived from Arabic wilaya. In the case of Iraq, there were three vilayets: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul.

  Wahhabi Puritanical sect of Sunni Islam founded by Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab in the eighteenth century and revived under the aegis of the Emir ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Sa‘ud in the early twentieth century; fiercely anti-Shi‘i.

  Abbreviations

  ADC Aide-de-camp; military officer acting as personal assistant to one of higher rank.

  APO Assistant political officer: junior administrative official of the British Empire, usually a military officer with the rank of lieutenant or captain.

  AT (wagons) Animal transport wagons pulled by mules, used extensively in the Indian Army.

  AT (Wilson) Affectionate nickname for Arnold Talbot Wilson used by his staff.

  CIE Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire: military decoration of the Imperial Indian Empire.

  CMG Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George: an order of chivalry awarded by the monarch for some distinguished service (military or civilian) to Britain or the British Empire.

  CUP Committee of Union and Progress. Political organisation which overthrew the despotic Ottoman government of Sultan Abdul Hamid in 1908. Initially democratic in orientation, by 1913 the CUP had become a virtual dictatorship of its three leading members: Enver Pasha, Djemal Pasha and Talat Pasha.

  DSO Distinguished Service Order: military decoration in the British Army.

  GHQ General headquarters (of the British Army on campaign).

  GOC(-in-chief) General officer commanding (of a particular city, region, etc.). The GOC-in-chief, typically a general or lieutenant general, is the highest ranking British officer in a particular theatre of war.

  LAMB Light armoured motor battery: a squadron of four armoured cars.

  MC Military Cross: military decoration in the British Army.

  NCO Non-commissioned officer, e.g. sergeant or corporal.

  PIPCO Petroleum Imperial Policy Committee.

  PO Political officer: administrative official of the British Empire, usually a military officer with the rank of major or lieutenant colonel.

  Rs Rupees: Indian currency.

  RUMCOL Rumaytha relief column.

  SAMCOL Samawa relief column.

  TPC Turkish Petroleum Company.

  Preface

  Between July 1920 and February 1921, in the territory then known to the British as Mesopotamia – the modern state of Iraq – an Arab uprising occurred which came perilously close to inflicting a shattering defeat upon the British Empire. The story of this uprising is one which once engaged the closest of attention among the British public but over many decades slipped back into the mists of exclusively academic history, almost completely erased from the collective memory.1 And so it would have remained had it not been for the ill-fated US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Once the ‘insurgency’ against the subsequent occupation had begun, it wasn’t long before a much older, forgotten insurgency in Iraq came to light with journalists, historians and even functionaries of the US occupation drawing lessons and making comparisons – some appropriate, some less so – with that much earlier event.2 At the same time some of those fighting the Americans and their allies in Iraq began to portray their own violent resistance to foreign intervention by referencing that armed struggle in which some of their grandparents might have participated.3