Demise of the British Empire in the Middle East: Britain's Responses to Nationalist Movements, 1943-55

by Kolinsky; Eva

• ISBN13: 9780714648040
• ISBN10: 0714648043
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-09-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This volume deals with the gradual eclipse of British power in the Middle East, a process that began during World War Two and reached its denouement with the British agreement to evacuate the Suez Base in 1954. The chapters have been written by an array of scholars, from England, Israel and the United States, each a leader in their own field. Together, they present a survey of the last years of British hegemony in the Middle East. Britain emerged from World War Two an exhausted and bankrupt nation. The Labour administration that took power after the war had other priorities than maintaining British interests overseas. Parliamentary decisions turned British attentions away from the Suez Canal region, in spite of the fact that the military base built up over the years was to be a platform for the strategic air offensive against the Soviets, in the event of a third world conflict. However, Britain's evident weakness and inability to maintain a large garrison in the region were evident to thepeoples of the region. This contributed to the deterioration of the international relations in the region. The first Arab-Israeli War in 1948 was also a traumatic event, the unexpected military humiliation of the Arabs at the hands of the Israelis causing great damage to the political situation. Looking at the political situations in the surrounding Middle Eastern countries, including the economic and social issues, the contributors outline the decline of relations between the region and Great Britain, which in turn led to a further distancing of Britain's presence, until the British forces and political influences withdrew completely from the area.

Table of Contents

Notes on the contributors	vii	(2)
Preface	ix	(2)
List of abbreviations	xi	(1)
Map of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of war	xii	(1)
Introduction	xiii
PART 1: THE EFFECT OF WAR ON THE MIDDLE EAST	3	(38)
1 Britain and decolonization: The Labour governments and the Middle East, 1945-51	3	(20)
NICHOLAS OWEN
2 The strategic role of the Middle East after the war	23	(18)
MICHAEL J. COHEN
PART 2: ASPECTS OF ARAB NATIONALISM	41	(54)
3 Britain and the politics of the Arab League, 1943-50	41	(23)
MICHAEL THORNHILL
4 Economic aspects of Arab nationalism	64	(15)
RODNEY WILSON
5 A new Middle East? The crystallization of the Arab state system after the Second World War	79	(16)
BRUCE MADDY-WEITZMAN
PART 3: EGYPT IN CONFLICT WITH BRITAIN	95	(90)
6 Lampson and the wartime control of Egypt	95	(17)
MARTIN KOLINSKY
7 Egypt 1945-52: The uses of disorder	112	(30)
CHARLES TRIPP
8 Britain and the Egyptian problem, 1945-48	142	(20)
JOHN KENT
9 Discord or partnership? British and American policy toward Egypt, 1942-56	162	(23)
PETER L. HAHN
PART 4: DEGREES OF ACCOMMODATION WITH BRITAIN	185	(62)
10 The decline of British influence and the ruling elite in Iraq	185	(13)
MICHAEL EPPEL
11 British rule in Jordan, 1943-55	198	(22)
ILAN PAPPE
12 Britain and the Palestine question, 1945-48: The dialectic of regional and international constraints	220	(27)
AVRAHAM SELA
Index	247