A History of the Middle East

by Peter Mansfield

  Political futurology in the Middle East is perhaps best left to astrologers, but some attempts to analyse the present with an eye to the future are worthwhile. Two works by Lebanese writers are F. Ajami’s The Arab Predicament: Arab Political Thought and Practice Since 1967 (Cambridge, 1981) and G. Corm’s Fragmentation of the Middle East (London, 1988). There are also two excellent collections of essays: H. Sharabi’s The Next Arab Decade: Alternative Futures (Boulder and London, 1988) and the series in four volumes edited by Giacomo Lucini of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome, under the general title Nation, State and Integration in the Arab World (London and New York, 1988). Y. Sayigh’s The Arab Economy 1930–1980: Past Performance and Future Prospects (Oxford, 1982) is by one of the Arab world’s leading analysts. For a useful collection of essays on the currents of political debate in the region, the reader should consult Civil Society in the Middle East (Leiden, 1995). Naomi Sakr’s Satellite Realms: Transnational Television, Globalization and the Middle East (London, 2002) is an exceptionally sober and sceptical study, which casts doubt on the positive impact of the electronic media age in the Arab world.

  For general reference, Europa Publications’ The Middle East and North Africa (London, 1948–) is published annually. Two more reference works of high standard are The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the Middle East and North Africa (Cambridge, 1988), executive editor Trevor Mostyn and advisory editor Albert Hourani, and the second revised edition of The Middle East in the ‘Handbooks to the Modern World’ series (New York and Oxford, 1987), edited by Michael Adams. D. Hiro’s Dictionary of the Middle East (London, 1996) is particularly helpful.

  TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ISLAMISM

  A vast array of literature of varying quality has emerged in response to 11 September. F. Halliday’s essays in Two Hours That Shook the World (London, 2002) are among the best. Tariq Ali’s The Clash of Fundamentalisms (London 2002) is an engaging juxtaposition of the different views of world politics as seen by the White House and al-Qaeda. J. Cooley’s Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism (2002) is a respected journalist’s updated account of the collusion between Washington and the Afghan mujahideen. G. Kepel’s Jihad (London, 2002) charts the development of the Islamist movement from the Iranian Revolution to bin Laden. The 11 September 2001 attacks generated many studies of the neo-jihadi movement and its global impact. Among the best are Fawaz Gerges’s The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global (New York, 2005), Gilles Kepel’s Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (Cambridge, Mass., 2003) and François Burgat’s Islamism in the Shadows of al-Qaeda (Austin, 2008). Reza Aslan’s How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization and the End of the War on Terror (New York, 2009) is a religious academic’s highly readable account of the appeal of jihadi movements. Noah Feldman, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State (Princeton, 2008) provides a sympathetic appraisal of the applicability of sharia law both in the past and in the modern world. Omar Ashour’s The De-Radicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements (London, 2009) traces the experience of the Egyptian and Algerian Islamist movements to explain why some have disarmed.

  Index

  The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. To find the corresponding locations in the text of this digital version, please use the “search” function on your e-reader. Note that not all terms may be searchable.

  Abbas I, of Egypt 69, 97

  Abbas I (The Great), Shah of Persia 29, 44, 156

  Abbas, Mahmoud 471, 472, 474–5, 499, 507

  Abbasid empire 17, 19–20, 22, 25

  Abbas Hilmi, Khedive of Egypt 119, 120, 123–4

  Abd al-Wahhab. Muhammad Ibn 46

  Abduh, Shaikh Muhammad 104, 115, 118, 139

  Abdul Aziz, Sultan 82, 89, 90

  Abdul Hamid, Sultan 82–95, 102, 104–6, 111–12, 119, 121, 129, 138–46, 147, 149, 162, 183, 242

  Abdul Mejid I, Sultan 71

  Abdullah, Amir, King of Iraq 205, 206, 209, 210, 233, 235, 236–8, 267, 269–70

  Abdullah, Crown Prince, later King, of Saudi Arabia 393, 418, 440, 456, 500, 501, 508

  Abdullah, King, of Jordan 476, 478, 479, 505, 510

  Abu Dhabi 246, 316, 317–18, 318, 327, 480

  Abu Qatada 433

  Abukir Bay 50

  Aburish, Said 388

  Abyssinians 16

  Aden 58, 65, 129

  Adly Pasha 201

  Adnanis 7

  al-Afghani, Jamel al-Din 103, 139, 164

  Afghanistan 1, 156–62, 373, 427–8, 432–3, 433, 438

  African Circle 279, 288, 306

  Afro-Asian Conference, Bandung (1955) 280

  Agha Khan 161–2, 194

  Agha Mohammed 158

  AGIP 319

  Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud 451, 455, 484–6

  Ahmed, Imam, of Yemen 295, 301

  Ahmed III, Sultan 45

  Ahmed Mirza, Shah of Persia 165, 167

  Ain Jalout, Palestine 25

  Akhenaten, Pharaoh 2

  Alamein, battle of 251

  Alawites 22, 154–5, 226, 227, 330, 425

  Albright Madelaine 393

  Aleppo 22, 175–6, 180

  Alexander the Great 7–8, 8

  Alexandria 7, 11, 54, 61, 66, 67, 106, 107, 214, 273, 289

  Algeria 17, 95, 127, 129, 287, 291, 325, 327, 338, 363, 383, 413–15, 429, 439, 475, 502

  Ali, Amir 194

  Ali, Iman, cousin of the Prophet 16, 155

  Ali, son of King Hussein 209

  Ali Bey 48

  Ali Pasha 80

  Allenby, General (‘The Bull’) 179, 187, 199–203, 213, 217

  Amal militia 347, 360

  Amer, Field Marshal Abdul Hakim 291, 308, 310

  Amini, Ali 367

  Amorites 3

  Amritsar massacre (1919) 122

  Anatolia 78, 85, 89, 91, 93, 170

  Anglo-American Middle East Supply Central 251

  Anglo-French Joint Note 105

  Anglo-Iranian Oil Company 281, 282

  Anglo-Kuwaiti Treaty 137

  Anglo-Persian Oil Company 167, 238, 239–46

  Anglo-Turkish Convention 112

  Anglo-Turkish treaty (1838) 64, 74

  Annan, Kofi 392

  Antioch 7, 11

  Antiochus Epiphanes, King 9

  Antonius, George 69

  Aoun, General Michel 360–1, 362

  Arab Bureau 174, 179

  Arab Circle 279, 306

  Arab League 1, 259, 261, 266, 267, 279, 297, 301, 317, 340, 378, 411

  Arab Liberation Army 266

  Arab Monetary Fund 384

  Arab Revolt 177, 177–8, 179–80, 188

  Arab Socialist Union (ASU) 300, 328

  Arab Women’s Solidarity Association 431

  Arabi, Colonel Ahmed 103–9

  Arabia 1; racial types 6–7

  Arabian Gulf 7

  Arabian-American Oil Company (Aramco) 6, 244

  Arabism: and Islam 258

  Arab-Israeli Wars: 1948–9 207, 266–8; 1967 Six-Day War 308–9, 312, 313, 315, 342; 1973 Yom Kippur War 320, 331–4, 346; 1969–70 war of attrition 342; 1982 350–1; 1990s 395

  ‘arabization’ 17, 18

  Arafat, Yassir 313, 344–7, 351, 353–9, 371, 378, 397–9, 402, 408, 410

  Aref, Colonel 298, 302, 303

  Armaeans 3

  Armed Islamic Group (GIA) 429

  Armenia/Armenians 18–19, 84–5, 92, 92–3, 93, 134, 144, 148, 156, 170, 191

  Armenian Revolutionary Federation 92

  Arslan, Arp 22–3

  Asia Minor 13

  Al-Assad, Bashar 416–17, 438–9, 476–7, 477, 500–1

  al-Assad, Hafez 22, 315, 330, 334–7, 353, 354, 373, 399, 412, 416

  Assyria 5

  Aswan 114

  Aswan dam 288

  Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal 142, 165, 171, 180, 189–91, 194–6, 209, 225, 240, 259, 260, 284, 363, 364, 425

  Atiya, Abdel Salam Faraj 424–5

  Attl
ee Clement 263

  Austria 41

  Austro-Hungary 94, 126–7

  Ayyubid dynasty 25

  Azerbaijan 281, 285

  Aziz, Sultan Abdul 80

  Azm family 47, 62

  Azzam, Abdul Rahman 260, 279

  Baath Party 259, 293, 295, 297, 298, 303, 304, 323, 324, 330, 373

  Babi movement 162

  Babylon/Babylonians 3, 5, 7

  Badr, Imam 301

  Baghdad 17, 20, 21–2, 22, 40, 135–6, 155, 170, 178, 180, 255, 443, 444, 445, 446–7, 450, 465

  Baghdad Pact 279, 282, 285, 290, 293

  Bahais 162

  Bahrain 44, 244, 317, 318, 417, 422, 441, 456, 481, 488–9, 504, 505–6, 509

  Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) 244

  Baker, James 395–6

  Baldwin, Stanley 215

  Balfour, Arthur 124, 126, 185, 198, 199

  Balfour Declaration 181, 183, 185, 186, 204, 205, 230, 231, 235

  Balkans 1, 82, 83–4, 85, 129, 135, 143, 146

  Bandar Abbas 44

  al-Banna, Hassan 219, 271, 425

  Barak, Ehud 399, 404–7

  Barbary states 29

  Bashir II, Amir 130–1

  Basra 178, 248, 375, 447, 464

  Bayezid I 27, 35

  Bechtel Corporation 244–5

  Begin, Menachem 333, 336–40, 349, 352

  Beirut 131, 187, 254, 347, 351, 360, 362

  Belgium 83

  Ben Gurion, David 261, 261–2, 287

  Berlin, Congress of (1878) 84, 85, 89, 92

  Berlin, Treaty of 85, 86

  Bernedotte, Count Folke 267–8

  Berytus (later Beirut) 8

  Bevin, Ernest 256–7, 263–4

  Bilad as-Sudan 58–9

  Bin Abdelaziz, Abdullah 480–2

  Bin Ali, Abdullah 140

  Bin Ali, Ali 140

  Bin Ali, Feisal 140

  Bin Ali, Hussein 140, 147

  Bin Laden, Usama 400, 424–5, 427, 428, 432–3, 434–5, 436–7, 440, 499

  Bin Sultan, Bandar 440

  birth rate 421

  Bismarck, Otto von 84, 85, 92, 94, 95, 105

  Black Saturday 273

  Black September 345

  Bremer, Paul 443–4, 445, 446–7, 449

  Brest-Litovsk, Treaty of 190

  Brezhnev, Leonid 329

  Britain: maritime and commercial dominance 10, 41, 65; alliance against Napoleon 50, 51; war with Russia (1854–6) 75; and Persian Gulf 129, 136; as protector of the Druze 131; and Suez Canal 140, 215; declares war on Germany 152; captures Mohammereh 160; seizes Kharg Island 160; agreement with Russia (1907) 165–6; occupies part of Persia 167–8; occupies Egypt (1882) 170; land in Gallipoli 171; Arab policy 173; takes over Dardanelle Straits 190; and Palestine mandate 205, 207, 211, 230–8, 263, 265, 266; and Iraq mandate 207, 208, 211, 222–4; and Egyptian independence 213, 214, 216–18, 219, 256; Egypt’s importance as military base 221, 247; White Paper on Palestine (1939) 234, 261, 262–3; crisis with Farouk 250; and Iran 252–3, 281; Zionists turn against 261–2; decline in role in Middle East 263, 280, 315; fails in attempt at combined Middle Eastern command 272; Baghdad Pact 279; and Lavon affair 287; response to invasion of Kuwait 378; sanctuary for jihadi exiles 433–4

  British Petroleum 167, 465

  Bunche, Ralph 268

  Burmah Oil Company 166

  Bush, George 378, 382, 385, 396, 412, 419

  Bush, George W. 395, 410–11, 439, 457, 461, 488, 491

  Butler, Richard 391, 392

  Byzantine Empire 13, 16, 22–3, 25, 26

  Caesar, Julius 8

  Cairo 1, 21–2, 26, 40, 108, 199, 206–7, 216, 251, 256, 260, 273, 340, 340–1

  Caisse of Public Debt 101, 109–10, 113

  Camp David agreements (1978) 338–9, 340, 405–8

  Canan/Canaanites 3, 4

  Capitulations 41, 75, 78–9, 88, 91, 97, 109, 113, 120, 127, 151, 196, 217

  Carter, Jimmy 336, 338–9, 349, 370

  Carthage 9

  Catherine the Great Empress 38–9, 47, 75

  Caucasus 170, 258

  Chalabi, Ahmed 388

  Chaldean Empire 5

  Chamoun, Camille 292, 294, 295, 296

  Chancellor, Sir John 232

  Charles V, Emperor 30

  Chehab, General Fuad 296

  China National Petroleum Company 465–6

  Christianity 2, 4, 10, 12

  Christopher, Warren 399

  Churchill, Winston 167, 184, 201–2, 205, 206–7, 213, 250, 253, 256, 260, 262, 272, 278

  CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) 282, 294, 348

  Clemenceau, Georges 205

  Clinton, Hillary 509

  Clinton, President Bill 389–90, 392, 393, 397–400, 403, 405

  Cold War 256, 263, 272, 280, 282, 288, 293, 294, 317

  Committee for the Defence of Legitimate Rights (CDLR) 453

  Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) 141, 144, 145–53, 190

  communications revolution 453–4

  Compagnie Française des Petroles (CFP) 243

  Concert of Europe 77

  Congo (Zaire) 306

  Constantine the Great 13

  Constantinople 13, 16, 25, 27, 41, 178

  Constantinople Conference (1876) 86

  Corn Laws 90

  Corrective Movement 329

  Council of the Public Debt 90

  Crane, Charles 204

  Crassus 8

  Crete 59, 61, 67, 81, 85, 248

  Crimea 38–9, 75

  Crimean War 160

  Cromer, Lord 110–24, 126, 128, 183, 197, 216, 220

  Crusades 23–5, 40–1

  Ctesiphon 16

  Curzon, Lord 163, 201, 222, 238, 242

  Cyprus 59, 85, 183

  Cyrus II ‘the Great’, King 5

  Czechoslovakia 287

  Damascus 3, 10, 17, 20, 26, 40, 47–8, 180, 205, 210, 226, 254, 271

  D’Arcy, William Knox 166, 166–7

  Dardanelles 61, 76, 152, 153, 171, 173, 178, 190, 191

  Dayan, General Moshe 309, 333, 342–3, 343

  Declaration of the Seven 188

  Deutsche Bank 90, 242

  al-Din, Prince Sabah 149–50

  Disraeli, Benjamin 82, 84, 85, 100, 112

  Doha agreement 459

  Druze 22, 33, 40, 41, 62, 131, 154–5, 360, 457

  Dubai 316, 480

  Duelfer, Charles 392

  Dufferin and Ava, Frederick, 1st Marquis of 109, 116

  Dulles, John Foster 283, 289

  East India Company 44, 51, 156

  economy 419–23

  Eden, Anthony 260, 272, 278, 288, 289

  Edward VII, King 142

  Egypt (main references) 475; empire in decline 5–6; as a Roman Colony 10; Persians occupy 13; invaded by Fatimids 21; Mamluke rule 26; Ottoman rule 33–4; and Suez Canal 48, 69, 98–101; strategic importance 48–9, 221, 247; and Napoleon 48–51; Britain invades 85; under British rule 95, 109; British occupation 170, 203, 213, 277; and Sudan 202–3, 217, 277; independence 213, 216–18; 1952 revolution 220; declares war on Germany 255; and League of Arab States 257; Sidky-Bevin agreement 257; and Protocol of Alexandria 261; Black Saturday 273; republic proclaimed (1953) 275; British leave (1956) 278; Israeli raid on Gaza 287; and Aswan dam 289; new Republican Constitution 291; economic blockade of 293, 294; dependence on US 306, 340, 341, 342; Israel attacks Egyptian airfields 309; Soviet arms to 310–11, 311; accepts Rogers Plan 311; peace with Israel 315; infitah policy 335; and Camp David agreements (1978) 338–9; isolation of 340; Treaty of Washington (1979) 340; and Iran-Iraq war 373; response to invasion of Kuwait 378; and Islamic fundamentalist threat 427–8, 429–30; and the communications revolution 454; and Gazan émigrés 472; elections, 2005 475–6; succession 501

  Egyptian Federation of Industries 218

  Eighth Army 251

  Eisenhower, Dwight D. 282–3, 289, 290, 294, 306

  Eisenhower Doctrine 294

&nbs
p; Ekeus, Rolf 391–2, 392

  English Zionist Federation 183

  Enlightenment 80

  Entente Cordiale (1904) 113, 123

  Enver Bey, Pasha Major 142, 143, 148, 150, 151, 152, 170

  Eritrea 247

  Ethiopia 216

  Euphrates River 2

  European Economic Community 320, 350, 373

  European Investment Bank 422

  Fahd, King of Saudi Arabia 323, 351, 378, 412, 436

  Failaka, Kuwait 7

  Fallujah 447, 454

  Fanon, Frantz 363

  Farouk, King 210, 216–21, 249, 257, 260, 267, 271, 273–4

  Fatah 147, 313, 471–2, 490–1

  Fath Ali, Shah of Persia 159, 160

  Fatimid empire 21–2, 22–3

  Feisal, Emir (King Feisal I of Iraq) 179–80, 187, 204–7, 223, 224, 258, 260

  Feisal, Emir (King Feisal I of Saudi Arabia) 208, 210, 212, 295, 305, 312, 313, 321, 323, 346

  Feisal, Crown Prince 292, 295

  Feisal bin Turki 136

  Fertile Crescent 2, 18, 135

  Fez summit (1982) 352

  Finkenstein, France-Prussian Treaty of (1807) 159

  First World War 113, 126–7, 152–3. see also individual countries

  FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) 429

  Foreign Office 214, 220, 260

  France/French: Arabs withdraw from 21; in Ottoman Empire 41; dispute with Russia over control of Palestine 75–6; war with Russia (1854–6) 75–6; and Algeria 95, 363; plans attack on British in India 159; and Maronites 177; and Sykes-Picot agreement 178; casualties in Europe 180; Lebanese mandate 205, 225, 253–4; Syrian mandate 205, 206, 225–6, 253–4, 293; and oil 242; fall of 248; alliance with Israel 287–8, 289; contingent attacked in Beirut 353; response to invasion of Kuwait 378