The mandate system which was imposed by the victorious Allies of World War I on the people of the countries which are now Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine was ostensibly to aid and assist them in making the transition from being almost ready for independence to being independent countries, and do so while taking into account the rights and wishes of the people in the mandated territories.
Of the three Middle East mandates - for Mesopotamia, for Syria and the Lebanon, and for Palestine - the mandate for Mesopotamia could be said to have been the only one successfully completed, in that the British assisted the people of Iraq in their transition to being an independent country.
Although how successfully this was done is debatable, as is whether or not this was done for the benefit of the people of Iraq or for the benefit of the British.
After three years of military occupation during and after World War I, the second and third being a civil administration under military occupation, the territories which are now Iraq were placed under the Mandatory administration of the British Government and remained under this administration for 12 years.
The first four years of this administration were under the general terms decided on by the Allies upon assigning the mandate to the British Government and the following eight years were according to the terms improvised by the Council of the League of Nations to suit the situation which the British Government had created in Iraq.
When the mandate ended, the Kingdom of Iraq became an independent country but heavily under the influence of the British Government and without a well-developed system of democracy, which resulted in more than half a century of multiple coups and varying degrees of autocratic rule which have left Iraq in its current situation.
This is a timeline of how the Iraq came to be an independent but troubled country under the mandate system.
By better understanding this period I believe that it is easier to better understand what has happened since the mandate era ended and is happening now in Iraq and in the region.
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The previous installment was background information on the mandate for Mesopotamia.
The Mandate for Mesopotamia Timeline 1916 - 1932 Part I
• The British Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I
The British Empire declared war on the Ottoman Empire on November 5, 1914 and the Ottoman Empire declared war on the British Empire on November 14, 1914.
Initially the Mesopotamian Campaign was not a high priority for either the British or the Ottomans. The main objective for the British was protecting the oil fields in southern Persia.
On November 6, 1914 British forces began landing at the port of Fao in the Province of Basra where the Shatt al-Arab meets the Persian Gulf. These forces then moved northwards and on November 21, 1914, after a short battle just south of the city of Basra between British and Ottoman forces the Ottoman forces retreated, abandoning Basra which the British forces occupied the following day.
Following this unexpected British success in Basra both the British and the Ottomans sent more troops to the region.
1915 and 1916 were essentially a stalemate with a few British victories and a few Ottoman victories. The British maintained their positions in Basra while the Ottomans maintained their positions in Baghdad.
In December, 1916, after months of preparation, the British began fighting their way north, first capturing the southern part of the Province of Baghdad and then, in March, 1917, the city of Baghdad. Ottoman forces retreated northward to Mosul after this defeat.
In March and April, 1918 British forces captured much of the northwestern and northern areas of the Province of Baghdad, and in October, 1918 British forces made an effort to capture Mosul before an armistice with the Ottoman Empire could be signed but were not able to do so.
• Mesopotamia, Mosul and the Mandate - December, 1916 to August, 1921
December 22, 1916 - The British forces in Mesopotamia in Proclamation No. 1 forbade the use of Ottoman currency and ordered that the Rupee of British India be used.
March 19, 1917 - After British forces captured Baghdad, Lieut. General Sir Stanley Maude, in his proclamation to the people of Baghdad, stated:
“Our military operations have as their object the defeat of the enemy, and the driving of him from these territories. In order to complete this task, I am charged with absolute and supreme control of all regions in which British troops operate; but our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. ...
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But you people of Baghdad, whose commercial prosperity and whose safety from oppression and invasion must ever be a matter of the closest concern to the British Government, are not to understand that it is the wish of the British Government to impose upon you alien institutions. It is the hope of the British Government that the aspirations of your philosophers and writers shall be realised and that once again the people of Baghdad shall flourish, enjoying their wealth and substance under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws and their racial ideals. ...
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O people of Baghdad remember that for 26 generations you have suffered under strange tyrants who have ever endeavoured to set on Arab house against another in order that they might profit by your dissensions. This policy is abhorrent to Great Britain and her Allies, for there can be neither peace nor prosperity where there is enmity and misgovernment. Therefore I am commanded to invite you, through your nobles and elders and representatives, to participate in the management of your civil affairs in collaboration with the political representatives of Great Britain who accompany the British Army, so that you may be united with your kinsmen in North, East, South, and West in realising the aspirations of your race.”
November 23, 1917 - The Bolshevik Government, which had just come into power in Russia following the collapse and overthrow of the Russian Empire, published the full texts of the, until then, secret Sykes-Picot Agreement in Izvestia and Pravda. The Manchester Guardian then printed the texts on November 26, 1917.
May, 1918 - Arnold Wilson arrived in Baghdad and took office as the British Acting Civil Commissioner of the occupied Ottoman Provinces of Basra and Baghdad.
Arnold Wilson’s administration was harsh, and instead of utilizing local officials in his administration, civil servants from British India were brought in to administer the provinces, causing further discontent among the local populations.
June 16, 1918 - The Declaration to the Seven was made by the Arab Bureau in Cairo on behalf of the British Government to seven Arab leaders who had submitted an inquiry regarding the future of the Ottoman Arab territories. The declaration stated that ‘the future government of these regions should be based upon the principle of the consent of the governed’.
October 30, 1918 - The Armistice of Moudros was signed, ending hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies at noon on October 31, 1918.
Included in the armistice were articles which stipulated that the tunnels in the Taurus Mountains would be placed under Allied occupation, that all Ottoman railroads would be put under the control of the Allies, that Ottoman forces would be demobilized - except those necessary to preserve order, and that Ottoman forces in Hejaz, Asir, Yemen and Iraq would surrender to the nearest Allied commander. Article Seven of the armistice also gave the Allies ‘the right to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies’.
November 3, 1918 - British forces entered and began occupying the provincial capital of the Ottoman Province of Mosul. Ottoman forces did not resist but withdrew north under protest on November 15, 1918.
November 7, 1918 - The Anglo-French Declaration was released by the British and French Governments. The declaration was similar to the Declaration to the Seven and stated in part:
“... France and Great Britain are at one in encouraging and assisting the establishment of indigenous Governments and administrations in Syria and, Mesopotamia, now liberated by the Allies, and in the territories the liberation of which they are engaged in securing and recognising these as soon as they are actually established.”
December 1, 1918 - The Acting Civil Commissioner met with Kurdish leaders in the Ottoman Province of Mosul. During the meeting the Kurdish leaders requested that British administration be extended to include the province.
An agreement was reached between the Acting Civil Commissioner and the Kurdish leaders in which the British Government agreed to ‘extend its assistance and protection to them’ on the condition that they ‘undertook to accept H.B.M.’s [the British Government’s] orders and advice’.
Over the next year multiple clashes between rival Kurdish groups, and uprisings and revolts against the British were put down by British forces in the province.
December 1, 1918 - British Prime Minister Lloyd George and French Prime Minister Clemenceau reached an informal agreement that the French Government would give up its claims to Mosul, which was in the French sphere of influence according to the Sykes-Picot Agreement, in exchange for 25% of the oil in Mosul and British assistance for the French in Syria. The French also agreed to move the border of British occupied and administered Palestine farther to the north.
January 18, 1919 - The Paris Peace Conference officially opened.
January 30, 1919 - A preliminary decision was made by the delegates at the Paris Peace Conference to implement a system of mandates in the territories of the defeated Central Powers which were outside of Europe.
Progress on the mandates issue went slowly during the conference due to conflicts between the Allies and objections by Arab delegates to the mandates being proposed for the Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire.
The mandates being discussed were based on the Sykes-Picot Agreement (May 16, 1916) and the Balfour Declaration (November 2, 1917), while Arab objections to them were based on the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence (July 14, 1915 - January 30, 1916), the Declaration to the Seven (June 16, 1918) and the Anglo-French Declaration (November 7, 1918).
October 2, 1919 - Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States, suffered a serious stroke and United States became essentially only an observer during the remainder of the post-war peace process.
January 10, 1920 - The League of Nations officially came into existence.
January 16, 1920 - The Council of the League of Nations met for its first session in Paris.
January 21, 1920 - The Paris Peace Conference officially ended.
February 12, 1920 - April 10, 1920 - At the Conference of London, which was an extension of the Paris Peace Conference, the Allied Supreme Council met to discuss mandates, the Ottoman Empire, and the completion of the Peace Treaty between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire.
April 25, 1920 - Great Britain was selected to be the Mandatory for Mesopotamia by the Principal Allied Powers during the San Remo Conference.
The San Remo Conference (April 18-26, 1920) was a meeting of the Allied Supreme Council. Britain, France, Italy and Japan participated. The United States attended as an observer.
During the conference the mandates for the Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire were finalized.
The Ottoman Province of Mosul had been included in the French sphere of influence in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. At the San Remo Conference the French Government formally agreed to Mosul’s inclusion in the mandate for Mesopotamia in exchange for the 25% of the Turkish Petroleum Company which had belonged to Germany, and an agreement that oil from Mesopotamia and Persia would be transported through Syria.
The Turkish Petroleum Company was a British-dominated company formed in 1914 and held the concessionary rights to the oil in Mosul.
The Ottoman Empire maintained its claim that the Province of Mosul still belonged to the Empire because the province had not been occupied by Allied forces when the Armistice of Moudros was signed.
The borders of Mandatory Mesopotamia, except for the existing border with Persia, were left undefined and were to be determined by the Principal Allied Powers.
May 5, 1920 - The United Kingdom officially accepted the mandate for Mesopotamia.
Unrest in what was now Mandatory Mesopotamia, the Provinces of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, had been growing in 1919 and 1920, caused by the harshness of the Acting Civil Commissioner’s administration, a desire for independence, and the events occurring in what was now Mandatory Syria.
The unrest grew into what is called the Great Uprising of 1920 upon the announcement that the British had become the Mandatory for Mesopotamia. It took the British military four months to restore order.
July 24, 1920 - In a brief but bloody battle west of Damascus, French forces defeated the Arab forces of the Arab Kingdom of Syria and occupied Damascus the next day. King Faisal then went into exile, first to Haifa and then to live in Europe.
The General Syrian Congress had declared the independence of the Arab Kingdom of Syria and had also proclaimed Emir Faisal the King of Syria four months earlier.
August 10, 1920 - The Treaty of Sevres was signed by the Allies and the Ottoman Empire, which was referred to as Turkey in the treaty as it was no longer an empire.
In the treaty the Ottoman Empire gave up all rights to its Arab territories, agreed to the creation of the mandates of Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine, and agreed that the Principal Allied Powers would select their mandatories and determine their borders.
The border between the Ottoman Empire and Mandatory Mesopotamia was loosely defined in the treaty as being generally the northern border of the Province of Mosul. The treaty also established a commission to define the border in detail, with the report of the commission being binding on the parties to the treaty.
Article 62 of the treaty called for the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey which, with the approval of the Council of the League of Nations, could become an independent country within a year of the coming into force of the treaty. Article 64 of the treaty stated that the Province of Mosul could then join this country, if it desired to do so.
However, the treaty was never ratified by the Ottoman Parliament and never came into effect.
The Ottoman Parliament had become dominated by Members who sided with or participated in the resistance to the Allied occupation of Istanbul and large areas of Anatolia. Parliament was dismissed by Sultan Mehmet VI on April 5, 1920, and the growing resistance to the occupation made it impossible for a new parliament to be elected.
The Treaty of Sevres was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923.
October 1, 1920 - Percy Cox took office in Baghdad as the first British High Commissioner for Mesopotamia, replacing the administration of the Acting Civil Commissioner.
Martial law was lifted, and the High Commissioner established a local provisional government which took over the day to day administration of the mandated territories.
December 1, 1920 - The Council of the League of Nations created the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations.
December 7, 1920 - The British Government submitted its draft of the Mandate for Mesopotamia to the Secretariat-General of the League of Nations for the approval of the Council of the League of Nations.
December 23, 1920 - The Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia was signed by the British and French Governments.
In the convention the borders between Mandatory Mesopotamia and Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon and between Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon and Mandatory Palestine were defined.
As the border between Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon and Mandatory Palestine from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sea of Galilee was very loosely defined in the convention, a commission was established in the convention to demarcate the borders on the ground and to prepare a final detailed report on the borders for the approval of the British and French Governments.
The convention also stated that if there were any disputes between the two governments about the report, the matter would be referred to the Council of the League of Nations for a final decision.
March 12-22, 1921 - The Cairo Conference, chaired by Winston Churchill - the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, was held to formulate strategies for the British mandates and to discuss ways to reduce the costs of administering them.
During the conference it was decided that a kingdom, called the Kingdom of Iraq, would be created in Mandatory Mesopotamia and that Emir Faisal would be asked to become its king.
Emir Faisal was chosen because he was the son of the King of Hejaz, he was a respected Arab leader, and he had been the King of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria. Emir Faisal accepted on the condition that a plebiscite on his becoming King be held in Mandatory Iraq.
It was also decided during the conference that the problematic Province of Mosul would be integrated into the Kingdom of Iraq, that an indigenous army would be established in Iraq, that a treaty between Britain and the Kingdom of Iraq would be prepared, and that Mandatory Mesopotamia would be called Mandatory Iraq.
July and August, 1921 - The plebiscite on Emir Faisal’s becoming the King of Iraq was held in Mandatory Iraq and approved. Emir Faisal then began preparing to become the King of Iraq.
• Mandatory Iraq and the Kingdom of Iraq - August, 1921 to October, 1932
August 27, 1921 - Emir Faisal was crowned the King of Iraq by the British High Commissioner. The provisional government which had been formed by the High Commissioner resigned, and King Faisal formed his first government.
The Province of Mosul was not included in the Kingdom of Iraq at this time. The province remained under the administration of the High Commissioner but with the understanding that it would eventually be integrated into the kingdom.
February 3, 1922 - The Demarcation Agreement containing the final report of the commission established in the Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia of 1920 was signed by the British and French Governments.
The report included in the agreement defined in detail the border between Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon and the Palestine territory of Mandatory Palestine. No changes to the border between Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon and the Transjordan territory of Mandatory Palestine or to the border between Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon and Mandatory Iraq were made in the agreement.
May 5, 1922 - The Treaty of Mohammara, which loosely defined the boundaries between Mandatory Iraq and Nejd, was signed by the Sultan of Nejd, the High Commissioner and the King of Iraq.
October 10, 1922 - The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922 was signed by the British Government and King Faisal. The treaty established an alliance between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Iraq and contained many of the provisions contained in the United Kingdom’s draft of the Mandate for Mesopotamia. The duration of the treaty was set at 20 years.
December 2, 1922 - The Uqair Protocol, which more clearly defined the boundaries between Mandatory Iraq and Nejd, was signed by the Sultan of Nejd, the High Commissioner and the King of Iraq.
The desert areas west of the Provinces Basra and Baghdad were included within the borders of Mandatory Iraq by the Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia of 1920, the Treaty of Mohammara of 1922, and the Uqair Protocol of 1922.
The northern border, the Province of Mosul, was still contested by the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and the far western border was still undefined.
March 7, 1923 - The Demarcation Agreement (which included the final report of the commission established by the December 23, 1920 Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia) was ratified by the British and French Governments.
April 23, 1923 - The High Commissioner and the Government of Iraq signed a protocol to place the Suleymaniye Sub-district of the Province of Mosul under the control of the Government of Iraq. Until this protocol was signed Suleymaniye had been under the direct administration of the High Commissioner. The other sub-districts of the Province of Mosul had been integrated into the kingdom in 1922.
April 23, 1923 - The British High Commissioner for Iraq in a memorandum to the British Political Agent in Kuwait and the Sheik of Kuwait confirmed the border between Mandatory Iraq and Kuwait which had been established in 1913.
April 30, 1923 - The Protocol to the 1922 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty was signed by the British Government and the Kingdom of Iraq. The protocol modified the duration of the treaty and stated that the treaty would terminate when the Kingdom of Iraq became a member of the League of Nations or not later than four years after the ratification of a peace treaty with Turkey.
July 24, 1923 - The Treaty of Lausanne was signed by the Allies and the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The question of Mosul was not decided in this treaty. However, Article 3, Section 2 stated that the matter would be referred to the League of Nations if Britain and Turkey could not reach an agreement within nine months.
In Article 16 of the treaty Turkey renounced all rights and title to all territories situated outside the borders established in the treaty.
October 29, 1923 - The Republic of Turkey was established.
March 27, 1924 - The Iraqi Constituent Assembly, which had been elected a month earlier, was opened by the King of Iraq. The election was contentious and there were numerous accusations made that the vote had been rigged by the British.
The Assembly was formed to ratify the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922 and to prepare a constitution.
May, 1924 - The revolt in the Province of Mosul of Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji was defeated by the British and Iraq forces. Sheikh Mahmud had revolted against the British in 1919 and had been defeated and exiled by the British in June, 1919.
In September, 1922 Sheikh Mahmud had been recalled from exile by the High Commissioner and appointed the Governor of Suleymaniye. The British intention was that he would quash a growing revolt in the province which was pro-Turkish. There was a danger that a pro-Turkish revolt could succeed and that the province could return to Turkey.
Instead Sheikh Mahmud began his own rebellion against the British which would last for almost two years and be put down by constant bombing by the British Royal Air Force.
May 19, 1924 - June 9, 1924 - During the Golden Horn Conference in Istanbul the British, French and Turkish Governments unsuccessfully tried to reach an agreement on the questions of the control of the Province of Mosul and the border between the Republic of Turkey and Mandatory Iraq.
June 10, 1924 - The Iraqi Constituent Assembly finally ratified the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922. There had been strong resistance to ratifying the treaty and the British threatened to take the matter back to the Council of the League of Nations where the fate of Iraq would be decided with no input from the people of Iraq.
Only 69 of the 100 deputies participated in the vote which passed with 39 votes for, 24 votes against and 8 abstentions.
August 6, 1924 - The Treaty of Lausanne came into force.
August 6, 1924 - After being unable to reach an agreement on the questions of the control of the Province of Mosul and the border between Turkey and Mandatory Iraq, the British and Turkish Governments agreed to submit the question to the League of Nations for resolution, as had been stipulated in Article 3, paragraph 2 of the Treaty of Lausanne.
September 27, 1924 - The Council of the League of Nations accepted that the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922 defined the relationship between the Mandatory (the British Government) and the mandated territory (Iraq), and therefore gave effect to Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations.
The decision of the Council stated that the British Government was to provide an annual report to the Council describing the measures taken that year to implement the provisions of the treaty - with a list of all laws and regulations passed that year attached, that no modifications to the treaty could be made without the consent of the Council, that the Mandate would end when Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations, and that if the treaty expired before Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations further measures regarding the Mandate would be decided by the Council.
Until this decision by the Council of the League of Nations, Mesopotamia/Iraq had been administered by the British Government under the mandate which had been assigned to it by the Principal Allied Powers at the San Remo Conference and under the general terms determined by the Allied Supreme Council, also at the San Remo Conference.
The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922 and the decision of Council of the League of Nations now constituted the League of Nations Mandate for Iraq.
Following this decision Mandatory Iraq was administered by the British Government on behalf of the League of Nations under the supervision of the Council of the League of Nations according to the terms of this newly defined Mandate for Iraq.
October 29, 1924 - The Council of the League of Nations declared a provisional border, the Brussels Line, between Turkey and Mandatory Iraq. The Brussels Line was essentially the northern border of the Province of Mosul.
The Council also established a commission to study the border and prepare a report on it for the Council.
March 14, 1925 - The Turkish Petroleum Company and the Kingdom of Iraq signed a seventy-five-year concession agreement to explore for oil. The company was required to select 24 rectangular plots of eight square miles (21 square kilometers) each in Iraq and explore for oil in those plots.
The terms of agreement were very advantageous for the British-controlled company.
March 21, 1925 - The first Iraqi constitution entered into force after being prepared and approved by the Constituent Assembly, approved by the King of Iraq, and approved by the High Commissioner.
Iraq then became a constitutional monarchy which was ‘guided by the advice’ of the High Commissioner. The constitution established a bicameral legislature with an elected House of Representatives and a Senate which was appointed by the king. The constitution also gave very broad constitutional powers to the King.
The constitution called for the establishment of an Iraqi currency to replace the Rupee of British India which was still the legal tender in Mandatory Iraq.
September 19, 1925 - The Council of the League of Nations accepted the report of the commission which had been established in October, 1924 to study the border between Turkey and Mandatory Iraq. The report advised that the border be the provisional border, the Brussels Line, which had been established by the Council on October 29, 1924.
The Council also requested an advisory opinion from the Permanent Court of International Justice as to whether or not the decision of the Council on this matter was binding.
November 1, 1925 - The Bahra Agreement was signed by Mandatory Iraq and Nejd to resolve Nejd-Iraqi border issues.
November 21, 1925 - The Permanent Court of International Justice issued an advisory opinion that the decision taken by the Council of the League of Nations on the border between Turkey and Mandatory Iraq ‘will be binding on the Parties and will constitute a definitive determination of the frontier between Turkey and Iraq’.
December 16, 1925 - The Council of the League of Nations decided to award the former Ottoman province of Mosul to Mandatory Iraq on the condition that Britain conclude a new treaty extending the Mandate for 25 years, or until Iraq became a Member of the League of Nations, whichever came first.
January 13, 1926 - The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1926 was signed by the British Government and the King of Iraq. In this treaty the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922 was extended for 25 years, or until Iraq became a member of the League of Nations, whichever came first. The treaty also stated that the question of the Kingdom of Iraq’s membership in the League of Nations would be examined every four years.
June 5, 1926 - The Treaty of Ankara of 1926 was signed by Britain, Iraq and Turkey establishing the border between Mandatory Iraq and Turkey. This border was essentially identical to the border decided on by the Council of the League of Nations on December 16, 1925.
In the treaty it was also agreed that for 25 years Turkey would receive 10% of the royalties received for the oil in the Province of Mosul.
October 15, 1927 - Oil was struck in the Kirkuk District of the Province of Mosul by the Turkish Petroleum Company.
July 31, 1928 - The Turkish Petroleum Company was reorganized and 23.75% of the company was acquired by a group of five U.S. oil companies.
June 30, 1930 - The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1930 was signed by the British Government and the Kingdom of Iraq. In the treaty the British Government recognized the Kingdom of Iraq’s independence and stated its support for Iraq’s admission to the League of Nations.
The treaty granted the British the right to maintain two airbases in Iraq and to freely transport troops and military equipment through Iraq for the duration of the treaty, which was set at 25 years. The treaty also gave the British ‘in the event of war or the imminent menace of war’ essentially unlimited use of all facilities in Iraq.
The treaty stated that it was to come into force when the Kingdom of Iraq became a Member of the League of Nations and that upon its coming into force, the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922 and the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1926 would cease to have effect.
January 22, 1931 - The British government presented the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1930 to the League of Nations for approval. This began the process for the admission of the Kingdom of Iraq to the League.
March 24, 1931 - The Iraq Petroleum Company (The Turkish Petroleum Company until April, 1929) and the Kingdom of Iraq signed a seventy-year concession agreement in which the company was granted an exclusive oil concession on all lands in Iraq east of the Tigris River.
April 19, 1931 - The Government of the Kingdom of Iraq passed a law to establish an Iraqi currency, the Iraqi Dinar, to replace the Rupee of British India, which was still the legal tender in Mandatory Iraq.
The currency was to be issued and controlled by the Iraq Currency Board, located in London, on behalf of the Government of Iraq. The Iraqi Dinar was tied to the British Pound and came into circulation on March 16, 1932.
The Iraq Currency Board had five members, two were appointed by the Government of Iraq, two by banks operating in Iraq, and one by the League of Nations or the Bank of England. When the board was appointed only one of the members was an Iraqi. The Iraq Currency Board issued and controlled the Iraqi Dinar until June 30, 1949.
May, 1931 - A revolt in the Province of Mosul, once again led by Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji, which had begun in October, 1930 was defeated by British and Iraqi forces. The revolt began as independence for the Kingdom of Iraq approached without Kurdish grievances being addressed.
April 20, 1932 - The British Oil Development Company and the Kingdom of Iraq signed a seventy-five-year concession agreement in which the company was granted an exclusive oil concession on all lands in Iraq west of the Tigris River and north of the thirty-third parallel of latitude.
June, 1932 - British and Iraqi forces defeated the forces of Kurdish Sheikh Ahmed Barzani in the Province of Mosul after six months of fierce combat in which many civilians were killed by British RAF bombing attacks. The fighting had begun with clashes between Sheikh Ahmed Barzani’s forces and the forces of another Kurdish leader Sheikh Rashid.
July 12, 1932 - The Kingdom of Iraq applied for membership in the League of Nations.
July 31, 1932 - August 16, 1932 - The border between the Kingdom of Iraq and the Emirate of Transjordan was established in an exchange of letters between the Prime Minister of Iraq, the Chief Minister of Transjordan, and the British Resident in Amman, Henry Cox.
September 10, 1932 - The Report of the Commission entrusted by the Council with the study of the Frontier between Syria and Iraq was accepted by the Council of the League of Nations and finalized the border between Mandatory Iraq and Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon. In the report changes were made to the border, primarily to include of all of the Sinjar Mountains in Iraq.
The commission had been established by the Council in its December, 1931 meeting at the request of the British and French Governments. The request was based on Article 2 of the Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia of 1920.
October 3, 1932 - After receiving a favorable report from the Mandates Commission, the Assembly of League of Nations admitted the Kingdom of Iraq to the League of Nations.
The Mandate for Iraq ended, and the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1930 came into effect.
During the process of approval the borders of Iraq had been studied and confirmed by the League of Nations, and the Kingdom of Iraq had been required to provide a series guarantees to the League of Nations regarding the assumption of Mandatory Iraq’s debts, the validity of past treaties, the protection of minorities, citizenship, and civil, political and religious rights.
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• The Series
The Arabian Peninsula during and after World War I
The Mandate for Mesopotamia Timeline 1916 - 1932 Part I
• Treaties, Resolutions, Etc.
The Sykes Picot Agreement - May 16, 1916
The Proclamation of Baghdad - March 19, 1917
The Declaration to the Seven - June 16, 1918
The Anglo-French Declaration - November 7, 1918
Draft Resolutions in Reference to Mandatories - January 30, 1919
The Covenant of the League of Nations - April 28, 1919
Memorandum of Agreement at San Remo - April 24, 1920
The San Remo Resolution - April 25, 1920
The Draft of the Mandate for Mesopotamia - December 7, 1920
The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922 - October 10, 1922
• Notes
I used many sources to collect this information and there is no way I can list all of them.
I have tried to present the information so that anyone who wants to look for more information can do searches easily.
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