Winston Churchill and the Islamic World Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East

by Dockter, Warren

• ISBN13: 9781780768182
• ISBN10: 1780768184
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-02-20
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris

Summary

Winston Churchill began his career as a colonial policeman in the North-West borderlands of India, and this experience was the beginning of his long relationship with the Islamic world. Overturning the widely-accepted consensus that Churchill was indifferent to, and even contemptuous of, matters concerning the Middle East, this book unravels Churchill's nuanced understanding of the edges of the British Empire. Warren Dockter analyses the future Prime Minister's experiences of the East, including his work as Colonial Under-Secretary in the early 1900s, his relations with the Ottomans and conduct during the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915-16, his arguments with David Lloyd-George over Turkey, and his pragmatic support of Syria and Saudi Arabia during World War II. Challenging the popular depiction of Churchill as an ignorant imperialist when it came to the Middle East, Dockter suggests that his policy making was often progressive when compared to the orientalist prejudices of many of his contemporaries.

Author Biography

Warren Dockter is Research Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge. He received his PhD in History from the University of Nottingham.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments iii
Contents v
Introduction 1
Churchill and Islam 6
Literature concerning Winston Churchill 11
Literature surrounding the British relationship with the Orient 14
Literature surrounding Churchill and the Orient 17
Chapter 1 22
Early Encounters 22
The Malakand expedition 22
The river war 42
Churchill's early political life and travels 51
Chapter 2 66
Of Oil and Ottomans 66
Oil and the Ottoman enigma 66
Churchill, the Dardanelles, Gallipoli, and Mesopotamia 85
Chapter 3 100
Churchill: Minister of War and Air 100
Churchill: Minster of War 100
Churchill: Minister of Air 118
Chapter 4 141
Churchill at the Colonial Office 141
The Middle East Department 141
The Cairo Conference 165
Chapter 5 180
The Legacy of the Cairo Conference 180
Transjordan 181
Mesopotamia 189
Kurdistan 192
Palestine 196
Chapter 6 212
The Twenties and Thirties 212
The Chanak Crisis 212
Egypt, Eastern economies, and the meddling exchequer 224
Churchill: champion of the Indian Muslims 231
Chapter 7 248
Churchill, the Middle East,m and India during World War II 248
Palestine and Iraq 249
Turkey, Syria, and the House of Saud 261
Churchill and India during World War II 274
Chapter 8 283
The Postwar World 283
India 284
Palestine/Israel 296
Egypt and the Middle East 308
Conclusion 324
Bibliography 331
Primary Sources 331
A. Unpublished Sources 331
I. The National Archives, Kew Gardens 331
II. Personal papers 331
B. Published Sources 332
III. Major works by Winston Churchill 332
IV. The official biography (WSC): 333
V. Major collections 333
VI. Diaries, memoirs, and monographs 334
Secondary Sources 338
VII. Selected collections, memoirs, and monographs 338
VIII. Selected articles 346