This book sets out to explore the formation of the Baghdad Pact and Anglo-American defence policies in the Middle East, 1950-1959.

This book explores the formation of the Baghdad Pact and Anglo-American defence policies in the Middle East, 1950-1959. It determines the aims with which the pact was established; the failings of the pact, and the struggle that was undertaken against it by hostile countries. It examines the events surrounding the formation, development and collapse of the pact, and Anglo-American attempts to contain the Soviet Union in the Middle East. It also deals with British and American policies towards the pact and Middle Eastern defence. It seeks to examine British and American post-war defence policies in the Middle East and their collective defence projects in the region, such as the Middle East Command and Northern Tier, leading to the Baghdad Pact. It does not attempt to offer a comprehensive history of British and American policies in the Middle East, and particularly aims to explore those policies with regard to the problems of Middle East defence. In addition, it explores the policies of the local members of the pact, and examines the pact's internal structure. It poses the questions of how the members of the pact and the United States perceived the question of Middle East defence; what their basic aims were; and what problems they faced while trying to achieve these aims and implementing their chosen solutions.

This study offers us a fascinating survey of the struggle for Arab hegemony between Iraq and Egypt as portrayed by the events surrounding the question of Middle Eastern defence (1945-58), and accentuated by the struggle over the Baghdad Pact.

The United States took the initiative to the Northern Tier policy, to create a defense barrier along the southern border of the Soviet Union, and this policy later resulted in the Baghdad Pact. This study addresses Anglo-American relations in relation to the Northern Tier policy and the formulation phase of the Baghdad Pact from 1953 to 1955.