The twilight of British ascendancy in the Middle East
Subtitle: a case study of Iraq, 1941-1950
By: Daniel Silverfarb.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 306
Subjects: Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- Iraq.; Iraq -- History -- Hashemite Kingdom, 1921-1958.; Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- 1936-1945.; Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- 1945-; Iraq -- Foreign relations -- Great Britain.
Description: This work is an account of Anglo-Iraqi relations from Britain's reconquest of Iraq in 1941 until the end of the immediate post-Second World War period in 1950. In particular, it shows how Britain reasserted its dominant position in Iraq during the war and attempted to maintain this position after the conflict when, under the pressure of nationalist sentiment in Iraq and manpower and financial constraints at home, and in accordance with its treaty obligations, it had withdrawn all of its ground troops.

Thus, not only does this book describe an important episode in the fairly rapid disintegration of British hegemony in the Middle East after the war, it also examines the possibilities and limitations of indirect rule. Silverfarb tells the story of the struggles of the ruling class to free their recently independent Arab nation from the lingering grip of a major Enropean power while still preserving sufficiently close ties with that power to ensure their own external security and internal control.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-300) and index.