Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq - Hardcover

Catherwood, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786713518 ISBN 13: 9780786713516

Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc, 2004

Synopsis

As Britain's colonial secretary in the 1920s, Winston Churchill made a mistake with calamitous consequences. Scholar and adviser to Tony Blair's government, Christopher Catherwood chronicles and analyzes how Churchill created the artificial monarchy of Iraq after World War I, thereby forcing together unfriendly peoples under a single ruler. The map of the Middle East that Churchill created led to the rise of Saddam Hussein and the wars in which American troops fought in 1991 and 2003. Defying a global wave of nationalistic sentiment, and the desire of subject peoples to rule themselves, Winston Churchill put together the broken pieces of the Ottoman Empire and created a Middle Eastern powder keg. Inducing Arabs under the rule of the Ottoman Turks to rebel against their oppressors, the British and French during World War I convinced the Hashemite clan that they would rule over Syria. In fact, Britain had promised the territory to the French. To make amends, Churchill created the nation of Iraq and made the Hashemite leader, Feisel, king of a land to which he had no connections at all. Eight pages of photographs add to this fascinating history on Churchill's decision and the terrible legacy of the Ottoman Empire's collapse.

About this title

Review:

Alexander

McCall Smith
My choice is Winston's Folly: Imperialism And The Creation Of Modern Iraq by Christopher Catherwood (Constable, £12.99 £10.39). One of Churchill's less glorious episodes was his role in the creation of modern Iraq, which was set up after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The Kurds were trapped; the monarchy was associated with a minority; ethnic rivalries simmered. If you want to understand why Iraq seems doomed to conflict (and why our lives are being changed as a result), this book is a good place to start. -- Mail on Sunday December 2004

Book Description:

As the American occupying force attempts to put together the disparate pieces of Iraq under one government, this book- called "An impressive study on the making of modern Iraq, with all its crises and catastrophes" by Kirkus Reviews- reveals what happened during the first such attempt by Winston Churchill after World War I

About this edition

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0786713518
• ISBN 13: 9780786713516
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320