Enemy on the Euphrates Read Free Page B

government controlled by Britain. Brother-in-law of Nuri al-Sa’id.
‘ALI AL-BAZIRGAN
    Former Ottoman official and leading member of the nationalist Haras al-Istiqlal. One of the founders of the Ahliyya public school in Baghdad whose teachers and alumni agitated against the British occupation.
LIEUTENANT MUHAMMAD SHARIF AL-FARUQI
    Junior officer from Mosul in the Ottoman army and member of al-‘Ahd, the secret society of (mainly Iraqi) Arab officers opposed to the Turkish dictatorship. Defected to the British during the war. Returned to Iraq towards the end of the 1920 uprising.
EMIR FAYSAL
    Third son of Husayn, Sharif of Mecca. Protégé of Lawrence during and after the Arab Revolt against the Turks. Emir of semi-independent Arab state of Syria (1918–20). In 1921, placed on the throne of Iraq in a move engineered by Churchill, Bell and Lawrence.
EMIR HUSAYN AL-HASHIMI
    Sharif of Mecca and, later, King of the Hejaz. In late 1920 his short-lived kingdom provided sanctuary for some of the leaders of the Iraqi insurrection, including Ja‘far Abu al-Timman, Yusuf Suwaydi and Sayyid Muhsin Abu Tabikh, but avoided providing any material aid to the uprising for fear of losing British political support.
SHEIKH AL-SHARI‘A AL-ISBAHANI
    Senior mujtahid of Persian origin based at Najaf who took over leadership of the uprising after the death of Mirza Muhammad Taqi al-Shirazi.
MIRZA MUHAMMAD RIDHA
    Son of the Grand Mujtahid Mirza Muhammad Taqi al-Shirazi. President of al-Jam‘iyya al-‘Iraqiyya al-‘Arabiyya which stood for Iraqi collaboration with the Turkish nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal and the Bolsheviks. Exiled to Persia by the British in 1920 before the outbreak of the insurrection.
NURI AL-SA’ID
    Iraqi-born junior Ottoman army officer and member of the secret anti-Turkish organisation al-‘Ahd who deserted to the British during the war. Returned to Iraq towards the end of the 1920 insurrection after offering his services to the British in crushing the uprising. Brother-in-law of Ja‘far al-‘Askari.
SAYYID MUHAMMAD AL-SADR
    Son of the Kadhimayn mujtahid Sayyid Hasan al-Sadr. Along with ‘Ali al-Bazirgan, one of the founders of the Ahliyya public school in Baghdad, a hotbed of nationalist agitation. Leading member of the nationalist Haras al-Istiqlal and insurgent commander during the insurrection.
MIRZA MUHAMMAD TAQI AL-SHIRAZI
    Shi‘i Grand Mujtahid of Persian origin and spiritual leader of the 1920 uprising. Died in August 1920 in Karbela’ at the height of the rebellion.
YUSUF AL-SUWAYDI
    Elderly Baghdad Sunni notable and leading member of the nationalist Haras al-Istiqlal.
SAYYID MUHSIN ABU TABIKH
    Wealthy landowning sayyid and veteran of the jihad against the British invasion in 1914–15. One of the principal leaders of the uprising in the mid-Euphrates region, he was appointed mutasarrif, to govern insurgent-controlled territory.
JA‘FAR ABU AL-TIMMAN
    Baghdad Shi‘i merchant and one of the most important leaders of the nationalist organisation Haras al-Istiqlal. Campaigned for the Shi‘i and Sunni Muslims to unite against the British occupation.

PART ONE

    Invasion, Jihad and Occupation

    THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE C.1900, SHOWING THE PREDOMINANTLY ARABIC-SPEAKING VILAYETS AND OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS

    Sir Mark Sykes, May 1913

1
Indications of Oil
    One morning sometime in October 1905 – we don’t know precisely when or where – the twenty-six-year-old Sir Mark Sykes, ‘honorary attaché’ at the British embassy in Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire, made contact with an employee of a German engineering company surveying the territory of northern Iraq for the planned Berlin to Baghdad Railway. Perhaps they met in one of those ubiquitous Istanbul coffee houses, sipping that dark viscous liquid flavoured with cardamom, chatting and smoking just like any pair of European merchants doing a little business. We do know, however, that at some stage in the proceedings, the German gentleman passed a