Middle East 1919-39

Question 1

Summarise Britain’s ambitions in the Middle East

Answer 1

• Strategic: Protect the Suez Canal and the surrounding territory; to protect the land route to India.
• Economic: Preserve their access to the oil in the region.
• International rivalry: To maintain their great power statues -> show thought their policy that they are powerful and by dividing the region themselves after WW1.
• fulfil their League of Nations obligation to lead the mandates to independence.

Question 2

What was the aim of the British colonial admin in Palestine

Answer 2

• ensure that Palestine’s strategic importance as a buffer state against threats to the Suez Canal and that internal stability in the country is maintained.

Question 3

Why was it hard to fulfil the aim of ensuring Palestine’s strategic importance as a buffer state against threats to the Suez Canal

Answer 3

• The financial strain on the British and colonial government post WW1.
• Reconciling the growing Jewish population and the Arabs was difficulty.
• Ethnic tensions prevented co-operation in elected representative bodies with influence over government policy.
• Disagreement between the pro-Jewish British government and pro-Arab British authorities in Palestine.

Question 4

List the key developments that occurred in British governance of the mandate in the 1930s

Answer 4

• 1929: An enquiry called for the Jewish policy of land acquisition to be curbed and another, in 1931, recommended restrictions on Jewish land acquisition.
  -> pro-Jewish feeling in Britain and the USA forced the government to back down.
• 1937 - The Peel Report recommended partition into separate Arab and Jewish areas. This was opposed by the Arabs.
• 1937-9: The British adopted a policy of repression to deal with escalating violence: over 100 Arab terrorists were hanged.
• 1939: with war imminent and fears of an Italian attack on Egypt, Britain changes its policy.
  -> It called for a Palestinian state in which Jews currently living in the country would enjoy the right to a ‘national homeland’.

Question 5

What was the British position in Palestine at the outbreak of WW2?

Answer 5

• Britain entered the Second World War aware that its policy reversal had outraged the Jews without satisfying the Arabs.
• Jewish organisations were forced to accept the British position however because of the pressure from Nazi aggression in Europe.
• It saw this as the price of temporary stability in its military and strategic positions in Palestine and the Arab world.
• It was a short-term strategy of expediency.

Question 6

How did Britain withdraw from Palestine

Answer 6

• Bevin referred the problem to the UN in February 1947 and in November announced that they would quit Palestine because they disagreed with the UN’s plans for partition and levels of immigration.

Question 7

Explain the developments in Egypt during this period

Answer 7

• Egypt was made a Protectorate in 1914.
• Serious demonstrations in 1919 - convinced British officials that Britain’s annexation shouldn’t be permanent.
• Britain however still wanted to protect its strategic and economic interest in Egypt - the Suez Canal.
• 1922 Britain recognised Egypt’s independence. It was still effectively a client state but it no longer had to pay for its development.
  -> But Britain maintained control of Egypt’s foreign policy and defence
  -> Britain kept an army in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal
• Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (1936).

Question 8

What was the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty 1936

Answer 8

• British troops withdrew to defend only the ‘Suez Canal Zone’.
• 10,000 troops were allowed in the ‘Suez Canal Zone’ but an unlimited number of troops permitted in Egypt in an emergency.
• Egypt was assisted to join the League of Nations.

Question 9

What Problems did the British face in trying to govern Mesopotamia (Iraq)?

Answer 9

• Trying to curb the cost of administration by managing internal conflicts between ethnic groups.
• Widespread Muslim demonstrations in 1920 against British rule in Bagdad turned into a full-scale revolt which forced Britain to intervene militarily – largely through air power.
  -> But it was suppressed with difficulty.
• The Kurds in the north wanted independence from Iraq and also rebelled.

Question 10

What was the impact of the Cairo Conference 1921?

Answer 10

• British meeting with limited Arab representation.
• decided to allow for some local self-government while retaining full British control of military and foreign affairs.

Question 11

what was the impact of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1922)

Answer 11

• Confirmed Faisal I as king. He was a renowned Muslim and Arab leader who was on good terms with the British so proved an ideal compromise.
• Senior British advisors were appointed to most government departments to ensure continued British control over Iraqi affairs.
• Britain controlled major military bases and had much influence over the Iraqi army – which it also trained.

Question 12

What was the impact of the (Anglo-Iraqi Treaty) 1930?

Answer 12

• It promised full consultation between the powers on the matter of foreign policy.

Question 13

In what ways could the British granting of independence to Iraq 1932 be seen as a success

Answer 13

• The British retained their influence in the area.
• The independence was granted in good time on the British terms – the treaties led to the gradual transfer of power.
• kept close economic and military ties – retained their air bases, had rites of transit for troops and had a virtual monopoly on the oil there

Question 14

What factors shaped British policy in the Middle East

Answer 14

• Nationalism, ethnic tensions, economies, and strategic and military concerns.
• Strategic and Military concerns were the most important as they were driven to deal with nationalism in order to protect their strategic interests.
  -> Protecting the Suez Canal and land route to India.

Question 15

Explain how British policies in the Middle East were successful

Answer 15

• maintained their influence in Iraq despite
  independence.
• maintained its military and strategic advantage in the region.
• fulfilled their aim to lead mandates to independence.
• They maintained control of eh Suez Canal Zone.
• They found a cost-effective way to govern (not in Palestine.

Question 16

Explain how British policies in the Middle East were unsuccessful

Answer 16

• There was further financial strain of the British
  Government.
• Increasing arrest showed that policy was unsuccessful.
• They couldn’t control nationalism especially the
  situation in Palestine.
• Britain had to accept the growing importance of the USA in the region -> it didn’t maintain its great power status.

Question 17

Explain Britain’s position in the Middle East post ww2

Answer 17

• left the British under acute pressure in Palestine.
• Since the 1930s Nazi repression of European Jews, culminating in the Holocaust, led to increases in the number of Jewish people wanting to migrate to Palestine.
• Arab-Jewish relations were deteriorating so rapidly that the British were keen to limit the scale of Jewish immigration to Palestine, in an effort to dampen to dampen down to the conflict.

Question 18

What were the 2 major problems for Britain in the Middle-East post ww2

Answer 18

• President Truman and international opinion favoured Jewish settlement in Palestine, because of the way Jews were treated by Nazis.
  -> while Britain needed American and international support, also wanted to keep Arab allies because of need for oil.
• outbreaks of Jewish terrorism inside Palestine against British troops.
  -> Britain faced prospect of having to police a country in violent turmoil at a time where their resources were stretched.

Question 19

What were the 3 possible solutions to Britain’s position in the Middle East post ww2

Answer 19

• a unitary state -> favoured by Arab leaders who wanted to dominate as the majority -> unacceptable to Jews.
• Provincial autonomy -> Palestine would be divided into smaller provincial areas, which would lead to a nationally elected gov.
  -> Jews reject this as it would lead to Arab rule.
• partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, this was the only solution the Jewish leaders would support, but it was not acceptable to Arab leaders.

Question 20

What was Britain’s final decision for dealing with Palestine post ww2

Answer 20

• Faced with deadlock, in Feb 1947, British gov referred the question to the United Nations.
• The UN favoured partition, largely because of pressure from the USA.
  -> to not alienate the Arab world, the British decided, in Sep 1947, that they would withdraw from Palestine by May 1948, and hand over control to a UN commission.

Question 21

Explain British relations with the indigenous people of Egypt during this period

Answer 21

• In Egypt, there was a countrywide revolution by Egyptians and Sudanese against the British occupation in 1919, after the British exiled the nationalist leader Saad Zaghloul and other members of his party.
• There was widespread civil disobedience, rioting, demonstrations and strikes encompassing all classes of society.
• There were attacks on military bases, civilian facilities and personnel, in which Egyptian villages were burnt and railways destroyed.
• At least 800 Egyptians were killed and 1600 wounded.
• Following the ‘Milner report’, Egypt was granted independence in 1922, but relations remained strained.
• Britain refused to recognise full Egyptian sovereignty over Sudan or to withdraw all its forces.

Question 22

Explain British relations with the indigenous people of Egypt during this period

Answer 22

• In Egypt, there was a countrywide revolution by Egyptians and Sudanese against the British occupation in 1919, after the British exiled the nationalist leader Saad Zaghloul and other members of his party.
• There was widespread civil disobedience, rioting, demonstrations and strikes encompassing all classes of society.
• There were attacks on military bases, civilian facilities and personnel, in which Egyptian villages were burnt and railways destroyed.
• At least 800 Egyptians were killed and 1600 wounded.
• Following the ‘Milner report’, Egypt was granted independence in 1922, but relations remained strained.
• Britain refused to recognise full Egyptian sovereignty over Sudan or to withdraw all its forces.

Question 23

Explain British relations with the indigenous people of Palestine during this period

Answer 23

• tensions in Palestine and these escalated in the 1930s as more Jews, fleeing Nazism, entered
  the country.
• Arab protest mounted and the inter-racial violence increased as the Jews formed the Haganah (an underground Jewish militia in Palestine 1920-48 that became the national army of Israel after the partition of Palestine in
  1948), to protect themselves.
• More militant Jewish nationalists formed secret units e.g. the Stern Gang (a militant Zionist terrorist organisation founded in 1940 by Avram Stern) which wage open war on both the British and the Arabs.
• By 1945 there was open conflict between the two communities that the British were unable to control.
• Britain announced their departure in 1947, leaving the issue to the united nations.