This book explores the tumultuous war years through the lens of the British Embassies in Cairo and Baghdad, demonstrating the role that the Second World War played in shaping the political and social map of the contemporary Middle East. The war served as a catalyst for seismic changes in Arab society and the emergence of new movements that provided powerful critiques of British intervention and of the governments that facilitated it, making the war a critical turning point in Britain's empire in the Middle East.

This comparative study examines the various forms of British intervention in Egypt and Iraq during World War II, and the nature of Britain's informal empire in the Middle East. The focus is on the British Embassies which served as the local point of contact between Britain and these two countries. Britain hoped to have, in the words of one Foreign Office official, a "quiet time" in the Middle East during World War II, and pursued an official policy of nonintervention in Egyptian and Iraqi internal affairs. Yet this status quo policy often conflicted with the parallel goal of maintaining Britain's prestige and influence in the region. In fact, the war saw an increased level of British involvement in the local affairs of both countries in the interest of the Allied war effort, culminating in the British military occupation of Iraq after the 1941 Rashid Ali coup, and the 1942 Abdin Palace incident in Egypt. This study also examines the development of the Political Advisory system in Iraq and its role in the Mulla Mustafa Kurdish uprising from 1943-1945, the movement for Arab unity in Egypt and Iraq culminating in the 1945 founding of the Arab League, and the role that local intermediaries played in Britain's informal empire in these two countries. The local focus of this study highlights the complex motives of those who worked both for and against the British, moving beyond simplistic definitions of nationalists versus collaborators. While portrayed as a hegemonic power in the region, British influence and freedom of action was often limited due to constraints of wartime. Local actors were able to use opportunities provided by the war to advance their own interests. World War II also served as incubator for the development and growth of movements that gained increasing significance in the post-war period.

Britain emerged from World War II dependent economically and militarily upon the US. Egypt was the hub of Britain's imperial interests in the Middle East, but her inability to maintain a large garrison there was clear to the indigenous peoples. These essays track the decline of the empire.

A chronological account of Anglo-Egyptian political relations from 1947 to 1956 - a crucial point in more than 70 years of British involvement in Egypt for they marked a turning-point in political relations.

For troops in the desert, Cairo meant fleshpots or brass hats. For well-connected officers, it meant polo at the Gezira Club and drinks at Shepheard's. For the irregular warriors, Cairo was a city to throw legendary parties before the next mission behind enemy lines. For countless refugees, it was a stopping place in the long struggle home. The political scene was dominated by the British Ambassador Sir Miles Lampson. In February 1942 he surrounded the Abdin Palace with tanks and attempted to depose King Farouk. Five months later it looked as if the British would be thrown out of Egypt for good. Rommel's forces were only sixty miles from Alexandria - but the Germans were pushed back and Cairo life went on. Meanwhile, in the Egyptian Army, a handful of young officers were thinking dangerous thoughts.

This is a penetrating account of Anglo-Iraqi relations from 1929, when Britain decided to grant independence to Iraq, to 1941, when hostilities between the two nations came to an end. Showing how Britain tried--and failed--to maintain its political influence, economic ascendancy, and strategic position in Iraq after independence, Silverfarb presents a suggestive analysis of the possibilities and limitations of indirect rule by imperial powers in the Third World. The book also tells of the rapid disintegration of Britain's dominance in the Middle East after World War I and portrays the struggle of a recently independent Arab nation to free itself from the lingering grip of a major European power.

It is commonly held that Montgomery's 1942 victory at El Alamein was the turning point in Britain's fortunes during the Second World War - that it was 'the end of the beginning' (Churchill). However, Robert Lyman reveals here how in the summer of 1941, beleaguered British forces put together a series of largely forgotten victories in Iraq, Syria and Iran that secured crucial supplies of oil and curbed dangerous German expansion in the region. It's an exciting story of victories achieved against the odds - fraught negotiations between London, Cairo and New Delhi, hastily assembled troops and campaigns fought and won in harsh desert conditions. The siege of the RAF base at Lake Habbaniya in Iraq is a brilliant example of this, and forms one of the most exciting passages in the book. 1941 could have been the year in which Britain lost the war - Lyman reveals here how close we came.

Three Kings reveals a story of America's scramble for political influence, oil concessions, and a new military presence based on airpower and generous American aid to shaky regimes in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, and Iraq. Marshaling new and revelatory evidence from the archives, Lloyd Gardner deftly weaves together three decades of U.S. moves in the region to offer the first history of America's efforts to supplant the British empire in the Middle East. From the early efforts to support and influence the Saudi regime (including the creation of Dhahranairbase, the target of Osama bin Laden's first terrorist attack in 1996) and the CIA-engineered coup in Iran to Nasser's Egypt and, finally, the rise of Iraq as a major petroleum power, Three Kings is ''a valuable contribution to our understanding of our still-deepening involvement in this region'' (Booklist).As American policy makers and military planners grapple with the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, Gardner uncovers the largely hidden story of how the United States got into the Middle East in the first place.

Britain has been engaged in the Middle East for over two centuries. During the Napoleonic Wars it expelled the French from Egypt. During World War I it helped to dismantle the Ottoman empire. During World War II, it defeated the Italians and Germans. In the post-war years, it attempted to reassert its domination of the Middle East but with little success. Today British forces in the region are fighting ISIS. Variously seen as intruders by most of the local populations and nationalists and as protectors by local pliant rulers, the British have been key arbiters in Middle Eastern politics. They created new states, determined who could hold power, resolved disputes and offered security to their clients. In this major new study, Peter Mangold shows how Britain sought to protect its changing interests in the region and assesses the British response to Arab nationalism. He examines the successes and failures of British policy and the reasons it has often proved controversial and accident prone.And he evaluates Britain's complex legacy in the Middle East - its contribution to the stability of Jordan (at least to date) and the Gulf states, set against the instability which has plagued Iraq and the unresolved Palestine conflict. In tracing the history of Britain's relationship with the Middle East, Mangold reveals how Britain's involvement in the Middle East sowed the seeds for today's crises.