British Policy in Mesopotamia, 1903-1914

British imperial interests in Iraq during and after the First World War are well known and have often been studied. But what of British policy towards the Mesopotamian provinces before 1914? In this well-documented study, Stuart Cohen provides the first coherent account of growing British interest in these provinces, in which the defence of India, commercial considerations, the protection of Shia Muslim pilgrims and fear of a German-dominated Berlin to Baghdad railway all had a vital role t...