Mandate for Mesopotamia - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from British Mandate for Mesopotamia (legal instrument)) Proposed League of Nations Mandate for Iraq This article is about the instrument proposed by the League of Nations to grant Britain a mandate over Mesopotamia (Iraq). For the actual British rule in the region, see Mandatory Iraq.

Draft Mandate for Mesopotamia
Draft mandates for Mesopotamia and Palestine as submitted for the approval of the League of Nations on 7 December 1920
Created	1920 (draft only)
Ratified	Not ratified
Author(s)	League of Nations
Purpose	Proposed creation of the territory of Mesopotamia. The Kingdom of Iraq was created instead

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History of Iraq

Prehistory Ubaid period Hassuna culture Halaf culture Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period Samarra culture (Eridu) Uruk period Jemdet Nasr Period
Bronze Age Early Dynastic Period Sumer Hamazi Assyria Akkadian Empire Gutian Dynasty Neo-Sumerian Empire Isin-Larsa period Simurrum Babylonia First Babylonian Empire Kassites Middle Assyrian Empire Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire
Iron Age Achaemenid Assyria Seleucid Babylonia Parthian Babylonia Roman Mesopotamia Sasanian Asorestan
Middle Ages Islamic conquest Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Hamdanids Buyid amirate of Iraq Marwanids Uqaylids Al-Mazeedi Ayyubids Seljuk Empire Atabegs of Azerbaijan Zengids Ilkhanate Jalairid Sultanate Timurid Empire Kara Koyunlu Aq Qoyunlu
Early modern period Safavids Ottoman Iraq Mamluk dynasty
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The Mandate for Mesopotamia (Arabic: الانتداب على بلاد ما بين النهرين, romanized: al-Intidāb ʿalā Bilād mā bayn an-Nahrayn) was a proposed League of Nations mandate to cover Ottoman Iraq (Mesopotamia). It would have been entrusted to the United Kingdom but was superseded by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, an agreement between Britain and Iraq with some similarities to the proposed mandate. On paper, the mandate lasted from 1920 to 1932.

The proposed mandate was awarded on 25 April 1920 at the San Remo Conference, in Italy, in accordance with the 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement but was not yet documented or defined. It was to be a class A mandate under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. A draft mandate document was prepared by the British Colonial Office in June 1920 and submitted in draft form to the League of Nations in December 1920.

Immediately after the end of the First World War, Sir Arnold Wilson, the future High Commissioner to Iraq, recommended the annexation of Mesopotamia to India "as a colony of India and the Indians, such as the government of India administer it and gradually cultivate its vast plains, and settle the warrior Punjab races in it". In a memorandum written on 22 April 1918, Cox listed the social groups that the British should support: the Jewish community in Baghdad, the notables in Baghdad and Basara, the rich landowning Arabs and Jews, and the Shaikhs of sedentary tribes. Mosul was added to the region of British influence following the 1918 Clemenceau–Lloyd George Agreement.

The proposed mandate faced certain difficulties to be established, as a nationwide Iraqi revolt broke out in 1920 after which it was decided the territory would become the Kingdom of Iraq, via the Anglo-Iraq Treaty of October 1922. The Kingdom of Iraq became independent in 1931–1932, in accordance with the League of Nations stance, which stated such states would be facilitated into "progressive development" as fully independent states.

The civil government of British-administered Iraq was headed originally by the High Commissioner, Sir Percy Cox, and his deputy, Colonel Arnold Wilson. British reprisals after the murder of a British officer in Najaf failed to restore order. British administration had yet to be established in the mountains of northern Iraq. The most striking problem facing the British was the growing anger of the nationalists, who felt betrayed at being accorded mandate status.

Maps

Map presented by T.E. Lawrence to the Eastern Committee of the War Cabinet in November 1918
British Map appended to 1921 CAB24/120 cabinet memorandum showing proposed mandates

References

^ The new Cambridge modern history. Volume xii. p.293.
Nadhmi, Wamidh Jamal Umar (1984). Al-Judhour al-Siyasiyya wal Fikriyya wal Ijtima'yya Lilharaka al-Qawmiyya al-'Arabiyya (al-Istiqlaliyya) fil 'Iraq [The Political, Intellectual and Social Roots of the Arab Nationalist (Independent) Movement in Iraq] (in Arabic). Markaz Dirasat al-Wihda al-'Arabiyya, Beirut. p. 399.
Nadhmi 1984, p. 275.
"Lawrence's Mid-East map on show". Archived from the original on 2021-05-06. Retrieved 2013-04-21.

This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Country Studies. Federal Research Division.

Dodge, Toby "Inventing Iraq" (2009)
Fieldhouse, David K. Western Imperialism in the Middle East, 1914–1958 (2006)
Fisk, Robert. The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East, (2nd ed. 2006),
Simons, Geoff. Iraq: From Sumer to Saddam (2nd ed. 1994)
Sluglett, Peter. Britain in Iraq: Contriving King and Country, 1914–1932 (2nd ed. 2007)

Iraq topics

History

Chronology

638–1958

Republic

Geography
Faw peninsula Upper Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia Borders Euphrates river Hamrin Mountains Iraqi Kurdistan Lakes Islands Mesopotamia Mesopotamian Marshes Persian Gulf Places Shatt al-Arab Syrian Desert Tigris river Umm Qasr Zagros Mountains Wildlife Sinjar Mountains

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Former British Empire and Current British Overseas Territories

Legend: Former territory; Current territory; *Current Commonwealth realm; Current member of the Commonwealth of Nations

Europe
Akrotiri and Dhekelia since 1960 (before as part of Cyprus) Corsica 1794–1796 Cyprus 1878–1960 Gibraltar since 1713 Heligoland 1807–1890 Ionian Islands 1809–1864 Ireland 1542–1800 (integrated into the UK) Free State 1921–1931 Malta Protectorate 1800–1813 Colony 1813–1964 Minorca 1708–1757, 1763–1782 and 1798–1802

Africa

Ascension Island since 1815
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Cameroons 1919–1961
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Tanganyika 1922–1961
Transvaal 1900–1910
Tristan da Cunha since 1816
Uganda 1890–1962
Zanzibar 1890–1963
Zululand 1887–1897

Now Namibia
League of Nations mandate. British Cameroons is now part of Cameroon, while Tanganyika is part of Tanzania.
Self-governing Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.
Now Zambia

Asia

Aden Colony 1839–1967
Afghanistan 1839–1842
- Protectorate 1879–1919
Bencoolen 1685–1824
Banka and Billiton 1812–1824
Bengal 1757–1947
Bhutan (protectorate) 1907–1949
Borneo 1874–1963
British Indian Ocean Territory since 1965 (before as part of Mauritius and Seychelles)
Burma 1824–1948
Brunei 1888–1984
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Cyprus 1878–1960
Hong Kong 1841–1997
India 1858–1947
Java 1811–1816
Kuwait 1918–1961
Labuan 1848–1946
Malaya 1819–1826
- Federated States 1895–1946
- Unfederated States 1885–1946
- Union 1946–1948
- Federation 1948–1957
Maldives 1796–1965
Manila and Cavite 1762–1764
Mesopotamia 1920–1932
Muscat and Oman 1891–1971
North Borneo 1882–1963
- Crown Colony 1946–1963
Padang 1781–1784 and 1795–1819
Palestine 1923–1948
Penang 1786–1946
Pulo Condore 1702–1705
Sarawak 1841–1946
- Crown Colony 1946–1963
Singapore 1946–1963
South Vietnam 1945–1946
Straits Settlements 1826–1946
Transjordan 1921–1946
Trucial States 1892–1971
Weihai 1898–1930

Now India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty
Legitimacy of territorial establishment disputed

North America

Anguilla since 1650
*Antigua 1632–1860
*Antigua and Barbuda 1860–1981
*Bahamas 1670–1973
Barbados 1624–1966
Bay Islands 1643–1860
*Belize 1871–1981
Bermuda since 1619
British Arctic Territories 16th c.–1880
British Columbia 1858–1866
- 1866–1871
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Dominica 1763–1978
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*Grenada 1762–1974
*Canada
- Lower 1791–1841
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East Jersey 1674–1702
Georgia 1733–1776
*Jamaica 1655–1962
Leeward Islands 1671–1816, 1833–1960
MassachusettsBay 1629–1691
- Province, 1691–1776
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Montserrat since 1632
Mosquito Coast 1655–1860
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New Haven 1637–1662
New Jersey 1665–1674 and 1702–1776
New York 1664–1776
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Paulet affair 1843
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Pennsylvania 1681–1776
Plymouth 1620–1691
Quebec 1763–1791* Queen Charlotte Islands 1853–1863
Rhode Island 1636–1776
Rupert's Land 1670–1870
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*Saint Kitts and Nevis 1882–1983
*Saint Lucia 1605–1979
*Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1627–1979
Saybrook 1635–1644
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Trinidad and Tobago 1889–1962
Turks and Caicos Islands since 1799
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Virgin Islands since 1666
Virginia 1607–1776
West Florida 1763–1783
West Indies Federation 1958–1962
- Associated States 1967–1983
West Jersey 1674–1702
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Oceania

18th and 19th centuries

20th century

New South Wales 1788–1901
Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1803–1901
Auckland Islands 1807–1863
New Hebrides 1824–1980
Queensland 1824–1901
Swan River/Western Australia 1829–1901
South Australia 1836–1901
Pitcairn Islands since 1838
New Zealand 1841–1907
North Australia 1846–1847
Victoria 1851–1901
Fiji 1874–1970
Western Pacific Territories 1877–1976
Papua 1884–1902
Rarotonga/Cook Islands 1888–1901
Union Islands 1889–1948
Gilbert and Ellice Islands 1892–1979
*Solomon Islands 1893–1978

Tonga 1900–1970
Niue 1900–1974
*Australia 1901–1942
*New Zealand 1907–1947
Samoa 1914–1962
Nauru 1919–1942 and 1945–1968

Now part of the Realm of New Zealand
Now Vanuatu
Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu

South America
Providence Island 1631–1641 Willoughbyland 1651–1667 Saint Andrew and Providence Islands 1670–1688 Guiana 1831–1966 Falkland Islands since 1833 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands since 1908
Now a department of Colombia Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.

Antarctica and the South Atlantic
Saint Helena since 1658 Ascension Island since 1815 Tristan da Cunha since 1816 Falkland Islands since 1833 Australian Antarctic Territory (transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia) 1841–1933 Ross Dependency (transferred to the Realm of New Zealand) 1841–1947 British Antarctic Territory since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands since 1908
Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena. Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1962; overlaps portions of Argentine and Chilean claims, borders not enforced but claim not renounced under the Antarctic Treaty. Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1985

v t e Mandates of the League of Nations (1919–1946)
Class A	Palestine Transjordan Syria and Lebanon Mesopotamia not enacted
Class B	Ruanda-Urundi Tanganyika British Cameroons French Cameroons British Togoland French Togoland
Class C	New Guinea Nauru South Seas Mandate South West Africa Western Samoa
See also: United Nations Trust Territories (post-1946)

Categories:

Maps

References

Further reading