The Mandate for Mesopotamia ( ar, الانتداب البريطاني على العراق) was a proposed League of Nations mandate to cover

Ottoman Iraq Ottoman Iraq ( ar, العراق العثماني}) refers to the period of the history of Iraq when the region was ruled by the Ottoman Empire (1534–1920; with an interlude from 1704 to 1831 of autonomy under the Mamluk dynasty of Iraq).Before ...

(Mesopotamia). It would have been entrusted to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

but was superseded by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, an agreement between Britain and Iraq with some similarities to the proposed mandate.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 Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, in accordance with the 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement but was not yet documented or defined.The new Cambridge modern history. Volume xii. p.293. It was to be a class A mandate under Article 22 of the

Covenant of the League of Nations The Covenant of the League of Nations was the charter of the League of Nations. It was signed on 28 June 1919 as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles, and became effective together with the rest of the Treaty on 10 January 1920. Creation Early d ...

. A draft mandate document was prepared by the British

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

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 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Sir

Arnold Wilson Sir Arnold Talbot Wilson (18 July 1884 – 31 May 1940) was a British soldier, colonial administrator, Conservative politician, writer and editor. Wilson served under Percy Cox, the colonial administrator of Mesopotamia (Mandatory Iraq) ...

, the future High Commissioner to Iraq, recommended the annexation of Mesopotamia to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

"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 Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

races in it". In a

memorandum A memorandum ( : memoranda; abbr: memo; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered") is a written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviated "memo," these messages are usually brief and ...

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 Major-General Sir Percy Zachariah Cox (20 November 1864 – 20 February 1937) was a British Indian Army officer and Colonial Office administrator in the Middle East. He was one of the major figures in the creation of the current Middle East. ...

, and his deputy, Colonel

. British

reprisals A reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Since the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (AP 1), reprisals in the laws of war are extremel ...

after the murder of a British officer in

Najaf Najaf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف) or An-Najaf al-Ashraf ( ar, ٱلنَّجَف ٱلْأَشْرَف), also known as Baniqia ( ar, بَانِيقِيَا), is a city in central Iraq about 160 km (100 mi) south of Baghdad. Its estimated popula ...

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

File:Lawrence of Arabia's map, presented to the Eastern Committee of the War Cabinet in November 1918.jpg, Map presented by

T.E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–191 ...

to the

Eastern Committee The Eastern Committee (EC) was an interdepartmental committee of the War Cabinet of the British Government, created towards the end of World War I. Its function was to formulate a coherent Middle East policy, resolving conflicting visions of invo ...

of the War Cabinet in November 1918Lawrence's Mid-East map on show
/ref> File:Middle East in 1921, UK Government map, Cab24-120-cp21-2607.jpg, British Map appended to 1921 CAB24/120 cabinet memorandum showing proposed mandates

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:British Mandate for Mesopotamia (legal instrument) British Mandate for Mesopotamia Iraq–United Kingdom relations British colonisation of Asia League of Nations mandates Mandatory Iraq 1920 documents

Maps

Further reading

References