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The Mesopotamian campaign during World War I was a critical moment in Britain's position in the Middle East. With British and British Indian troops fighting in places which have become well-known in the wake of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, such as Basra, the campaign led to the establishment of the British Mandate in Iraq in 1921. Nadia Atia believes that in order to fully understand Britain's policies in creating the nascent state of Iraq, we must first look at how the war shaped Britons' conceptions of the region. Atia does this through a cultural and military history of the changing British perceptions of Mesopotamia since the period before World War I when it was under Ottoman rule. Drawing on a wide variety of historical and literary sources, including the writing of key figures such as Gertrude Bell, Mark Sykes and Arnold Wilson, but focusing mainly on the views and experiences of ordinary men and women whose stories and experiences of the war have less frequently been told, Atia examines the cultural and social legacy of World War I in the Middle East and how this affected British attempts to exert influence in the region.

Excerpt from The Navy in Mesopotamia: 1914 to 1917 In writing these historical sketches of naval work in Mesopotamia, I have been guided by the evidence of naval officers who took part in the events narrated, and in some instances I have myself been an eyewitness. In every case I have checked these unofficial accounts by referring to the official despatches, and I hope that in this way I have succeeded in guarding against inaccuracy. It must be understood that my object has been to give some slight indication of the work which has been done by the Navy in the course of the campaign; and though I have necessarily alluded to the military operations, I have made no attempt to give a complete account of any of the engagements so far as the Army was concerned in them. The sketch entitled "The Children of Kanee" was originally written as a yarn, but, inasmuch as it records an incident which actually befell one of H. M. sloops on the Tigris, I have included it among the historical sketches. As regards the short stories, their main object is to amuse the reader; but if they fail in this, they will at least give a little insight into naval life in Mesopotamia. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.