Needstrat: Winston Churchill in Cairo

Winston Churchill, then colonial minister of Britain, convened a conference in Cairo on 12 March 1921 to make a new co-ordinated British Middle East policy. The British officials concluded on 30 March that Feisal would become King of a new Kingdom Iraq. This was to be confirmed by a carefully arranged plebiscite. The area east of the Jordan River could possibly be ruled by an Arab. Churchill moved on to Jerusalem where he met Feisal’s brother Abdullah I. Abdullah I had been pushing northwards against Syria threatening the French positions in Syria. Churchill pressured him to accept his terms, if he didn’t his brother would not become King of Iraq, and his father lose British support to be King of Hejaz. Abdullah settled with becoming King of a new Kingdom Transjordan, later Jordan.

These decisions, made by the superpower of the day in self-interest, had huge repercussions. Several of the conflicts today can be traced back to the way the region was set up. To understand, and possibly solve today’s conflicts, I see a need for having more knowledge and clarity of these conclusions made during and after World War I.

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Participants at the Cairo conference 1921, Churchill sitting with a white hat in the front row.

Background
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I had brought a complete shift in the political landscape in the region. After four hundred years the rule from Istanbul was definitely over. The Arab Revolt in 1916 had been led by the Sharif of Mecca and his sons Faisal and Abdullah. In return for supporting the British against the Ottomans, they were promised the rule over the Arabs in the so-called McMahon–Hussein Correspondence. But the area was not clearly delimited. During the war Britain made the secret Sykes-Picot agreement with the French to rule Syria and Lebanon. Britain would have Mesopotamia (later Iraq) and Palestine. They also promised the Jewish people a homeland in Palestine, the Balfour declaration. These three promises had been made as reactions to shifting strategic considerations, and not as a coherent policy.

Emir Faisal, later King of Iraq, and delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

A new post-war era

Now after the war, Britain was the strongest power followed by France. It was time to sort out the contradicting agreements and please as many of the parties as good as they could. The League of Nations (precursor to the UN) had given Britain and France temporary mandates over Iraq, Palestine and Syria, but there was room for manoeuvring. Britain and France had their own agendas, and were not caring so much for the Arabs’ needs and opinions. The British Government agreed that their French allies would get Syria and Lebanon, but the French would give up the area around Mosul. Feisal was thrown out of Damascus, but the British saw him as a friendly and useful partner. Palestine west of the Jordan River came under direct British rule under Herbert Samuel, and the Balfour declaration would be fulfilled.

Churchill became Secretary of State for the Colonies in February 1921. He moved quickly and convened the Cairo conference with experts, including Lawrence of Arabia, Gertrude Bell, the British High-Commissioner in Mesopotamia Sir Percy Cox and others. They discussed the situation in an internal British setting for a little more than two weeks, and decided of the regions fate. This was at the height of imperial rule, hardly seen again in history.