Churchill's Folly

A scholar and adviser to Tony Blair's government analyzes how Churchill created the artificial monarchy of Iraq after World War I, thereby forcing together unfriendly peoples under a single ruler. Using T.E. Lawrence to induce Arabs under the rule of the Ottoman Turks to rebel against their oppressors, the British and French during World War I convinced the Hashemite clan that they would rule over Syria. In fact, Britain had promised the territory to the French. To make amends, Churchill created the nation of Iraq and made the Hashemite leader, Feisal, king of a land to which he had no connections at all. Defying a global wave of nationalistic sentiment, and the desire of subject peoples to rule themselves, Churchill created a Middle Eastern powder keg.--Publisher description.

First sentence: In March 1921, Winston Churchill, the newly appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies, summoned a large team of his advisers to meet together in a luxury hotel in Cairo.

Year

2004

Language

English

Publisher

Carroll & Graf

Editions

1

Pages

288

ISBN

9780786715572

Data source: Wikidata