Anglo-Iraqi Treaty

The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1921 was an agreement signed by the governments of the United Kingdom and the government of Iraq. The treaty was designed to allow locals a limited share in power while allowing the British to control foreign and military policy. It was intended to conclude an agreement made at the Cairo Conference to establish a hashemite to rule Iraq.

In the aftermath of World War I, the possessions of the Ottoman Empire were split mainly between France and Britain, with the remainder becoming the country of Turkey. The former Ottoman provinces of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra became a League of Nations Class A mandate under direct British rule, known as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. On 23 August 1921, Faisal ibn Hasayn was crowned as Faisal I, King of Iraq. The new kingdom continued to operate as a League of Nations mandate. The idea of being a “mandate” was seen with serious skepticism among many Iraqis as a thinly veiled attempt at colonization.

Concurrently, Iraq was going through a period of political turmoil. Nationalists who believed that the expulsion of the Ottomans would lead to greater independence were disappointed with the system of government formed by the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. Short of the Iraqis gaining a new sense of national identity through self-governing, the British imported civil servants from India who had previous knowledge and experience on how the government of a colony is supposed to run.

The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922 served to regulate Iraqi citizen uprisings by giving Britain control of the Iraqi military, and its economic and political affairs.