Britain’s Man on the Spot in Iraq and Afghanistan

Government and Diplomacy by Sir Henry Dobbs at the Apex of Empire

Ann Wilks

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780755651320
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780755651306
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

The newly discovered papers and colourfully-written letters of Anglo-Irish Sir Henry Dobbs, which form the backbone of this book, reveal his importance in the development of the modern Middle East.
An influential civil servant and Britain's longest serving High Commissioner in Iraq at a time when the British empire was facing increasing challenges to its once dominant position, he describes the difficulties of governing first in India then in the formerly Ottoman Mesopotamia during WW1. Here, Dobbs had to devise administrative systems while often at odds with his superior, Sir Percy Cox. In the discussions that followed the Third Afghan War, Dobbs manoeuvred between the different views in London and Delhi with great dexterity to negotiate alone with the Amir of Afghanistan the enduring 1921 Anglo-Afghan treaty.

Having accepted from the League of Nations the responsibility for taking the newly-created Iraq to sustainable independence in the aftermath of WW1, the cash-strapped British government came under great domestic pressure to abandon it. Key to British support continuing was Iraqi acceptance of the controversial 1922 treaty with Britain. This Dobbs achieved by disregarding the unhelpful approach recommended by London and, risking his career, he pressed on with his own wholly unauthorised tactics. In other initiatives, Dobbs ensured that Mosul province remained within Iraq. Dobbs consistently pressed for Iraq's early independence – granted in 1932, the first territory in the former Ottoman Empire to gain it.

An early advocate of self-determination Dobbs was frequently at odds with the more traditional imperial approach of his superiors. He always endeavoured to balance the aspirations and needs of overseas communities for whom he was responsible with the interests of Britain which he represented.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Dedication Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Maps
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Henry Dobbs in the run of his times: The changing international scene and British policies; the context for Henry Dobbs’s achievements
• 2 Home and away 1871 to 1900: Family connections; education; early experiences in British India
• 3 Neighbours, frontiers and tribes 1901 to 1914: Exploring Arabia and Persia; the Russian threat and Afghanistan; working with tribal leaders in British India’s northwest frontier provinces
• 4 Mesopotamia 1915 to 1916: Administration in a newly occupied territory; Battle of Ctesiphon; working unescorted among the marsh Arabs; opposing the imposition of the Indian model
• 5 On the edge of India and in Afghanistan 1917 to 1921: From governing Balochistan to concluding the 1921 Anglo-Afghan Treaty
• 6 Iraq at last 1922 to 1924: Appointment as high commissioner; expelling Turkish elements from northern Iraq; winning Iraqi support for the unpopular 1922 Anglo-Iraq Treaty
• 7 Moving towards independence for Iraq 1924 to 1929: Securing Mosul for Iraq; concerns over minorities; death of Gertrude Bell; Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) confides in Dobbs; tensions over finance and military questions; progress towards independence
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright Page