the war was over? Some regard the rising as the result of a
pure passion for liberty, of an exalted spirit such as led to the
liberation of Italy; others consider it a mere ebullition of turbu-
lence such as had swept over Mesopotamia every few years
since the Arabs imposed themselves on the Persians in the
7th and 8th centuries. It is worth while setting down the most
important of the causes to which the rising was attributed by
various authorities.
1. Arab nationalist sentiment. (This is of sufficient importance to be considered separately, below.)
2. The natural turbulence of the Mesopotamian tribes. Many of these tribes particularly those on the Euphrates never have submitted to authority for long. They were constantly in revolt against the Turks; and the enforced tranquillity of two or three years under the British peace, made the outbreak, when it did come, still more violent.
3. The increase in the number of modern weapons in the hands of the local population. Before the war the Arab of Mesopotamia was lucky if he owned an old Martini ; now, as a result of war condi- tions in the Near and Middle East, nearly every able-bodied man has a Mauser or other magazine-loader, and the temptation to a primi- tive man to shoot just because he has the means to shoot effectually is very great.
4. The reduction of the British garrison in Mesopotamia. This gave rise to the belief carefully fostered by interested parties that the British were leaving the country. The prospect of loot and of hitting an enemy who appeared to be down must have been alluring to the Arab.
5. The talk of " self-determination." This principle, in the form in which it reached minds reared in the rather primitive conditions of tribal Arab life, was often taken to mean the right to throw off all authority, to rob any weaker neighbour of his property or his women folk, to levy tolls on all traffic passing by, and, of course, to refuse payment of taxes.
6. The influence of the Shiah mujtahids. The history of Meso- potamia since the Arab conquest shows clearly that the Shiah towns have constantly rebelled against whatever authority there happened to be. The mujtahid is only carrying Out the will of God in rebelling against secular authority and trying to establish a theocratic state in which he will be the sole interpreter of God's will in all matters. Besides, mujtahids receive good fees for settling disputes which in a well-ordered state would be dealt with far less expensively in the regular courts. Then most of the chief mujtahids are of Persian origin, and all are in constant communication with the priesthood of Persia, which has long been anti-British.
7. The delay in the peace negotiations. The Arab is extremely impatient. Many of the officials who have had to do with the settle- ment of disputes in Mesopotamia maintain that the Arab would sooner have an adverse decision at once than linger in doubt even with the possibility of success in the end, and the uncertainty as to the fate of the occupied portions of the Ottoman Empire was cer- tainly a cause of unrest.
8. The increase in the power and wealth of the sheikhs. It was an ironical result of the British policy of working through the sheikhs that that policy of itself created enemies to the British authorities. Some of the leaders of the revolt on the Euphrates were men who had been raised from nothing to positions of wealth and power by the support of the British administration.
9. By adopting an attitude of sympathy towards the tribal cultivators against their absentee town landlords who wanted to enforce at their face value title-deeds which in many cases had been unenforceable under the Turks, the British authorities lost the support of many of such landowners. On the other hand, the tribes were too much in the hands of the sheikhs to be able to evince any gratitude they may have felt towards the Government which had defended their interests.
10. The increase in prices, and certain restrictions necessitated by the exigencies of the military campaign.
u. The demands for labour on flood-banks. It is true that the Turks used to call up cultivators for this purpose (the right of Gov- ernment to call up labour is not disputed), and that the flood-banks are to protect the cultivators' own crops; but the British authorities perhaps set too high a standard for the Arab, and exceptionally high floods increased the difficulty. To the Arab a flood is an act of God against which repining would be impious as well as useless; but if Government tries to make him mend a flood-bank to protect his crops why, there is a remedy.
12. The extension of orderly government, preventing crime and collecting taxes, to areas which had lived almost untouched by the Turkish administration. Land taxation was not heavier than in Turkish times; on the contrary, the rate was lowered in many districts, and the 2 J % cesses imposed by the Turks have never been collected since the occupation. But taxes have been collected more regularly, and collected from some areas which had usually escaped payment ; and it was not to be expected that the obvious fact that he was, on the whole, far richer and had raised his standard of living, would weigh with the wild Arab " whose sense is in his eye " and
who thought he could get all the benefits that flowed from Govern- ment enterprise and the maintenance of order without the expense of contributing to the upkeep of the Government.
Above are enumerated the most important of the causes of the 1920 rising, which, it must be remembered, by no means affected the whole country. The great Muntafik confederation did not rise, nor did the Albu Mohammed and other tribes on the Tigris, so turbulent in Turkish times. What weight Arab nationalist propaganda had with the tribes which took part in the rising it is impossible to determine. Some Shiah mujtahids preached a holy war and used. the religious argument, while clever Sunni leaders promised a reduction in taxation; and some tribes con- cerned were frankly after loot and nothing else. Yet it cannot be doubted that the rising must be attributed to some extent to the influence of the idea of an independent Arab state an idea which was almost non-existent in Mesopotamia before the war. Since the Turkish conquest of the i3th century the Arabs of Mesopotamia have always been under foreign domination, and during the first two or three years of the British occupation the only political question which occupied the inhabitants was whether a British amurath would succeed the Turkish or whether after the war the Turk would return; and their attitude towards the invader depended on their decision as to the respec- tive chances of the Allies and the Central Powers. But the alliance between the Allies and the Sherif of Mecca (now recog- nized as King of the Hejaz), the departure of many Mesopotam- ians formerly in the Turkish army to fight with the Hejaz Arabs against the Turks, and the talk of Arab independence could not fail to affect Mesopotamia. There is a striking con- trast between the speech of Lord Hardinge at Basra, in Feb. 1915, and the proclamation issued by Gen. Maude, on instruc- tions from H.M. Government after the capture of Bagdad, little more than two years later. All that Lord Hardinge could say was that " we might be permitted to indulge in the confident assurance that thenceforth a more benign administration would bring back to Mesopotamia that prosperity to which her rich potentialities entitled her." Gen. Maude's proclamation struck a very definite note. It announced that the British forces had come not as conquerors but as liberators, and pointed out that a long trade connexion had existed between Bagdad and Great Britain, and that the British Government could not remain indifferent to what took place in Mesopotamia, and was deter- mined not to permit again that which had been done in Bagdad by the Turks and Germans. The proclamation continued:
" But you, the people of Bagdad, whose commercial professions and whose safety from oppression and invasion must ever be a matter of the closest concern to the British Government, are not to under- stand 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 realized once again. The people of Bagdad shall flourish and enjoy their wealth and substance under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws and their racial ideal. In the Hejaz the Arabs have expelled the Turks and Germans who oppressed them and have pro- claimed Sherif Husain as their king and His Lordship rules in inde- pendence and freedom and is the ally of the nations who are fighting against the power of Turkey and Germany. So, indeed, are the noble Arabs, the Lords of Najd, Kuwait and Asir. Many noble Arabs have perished in the cause of freedom at the hands of those alien rulers, the Turks, who oppressed them. It is the determina- tion of the Government of Great Britain and the Great Powers allied to Great Britain that these noble Arabs shall not have suffered in vain. It is the desire and hope of the British people and the nations in alliance with them that the Arab race may rise once more to greatness and renown amongst the peoples of the earth and that it shall bind itself to this end in unity and concord. O, people of Bagdad! Remember that for 26 generations you have suffered under strange tyrants who have ever endeavoured to set one Arab house against another in order that they might profit by your dis- sensions. Therefore, I am commanded to invite you, through your nobles and elders and representatives, to participate in the manage- ment of your civil affairs, in collaboration with the political repre- sentatives of Great Britain who accompany the British army, so that you may unite with your kinsmen in the north, east, south and west in realizing the aspirations of your race."
This rather flamboyant proclamation attracted little attention in Bagdad at the time, but it was destined to be quoted later. But it must not be thought, as some harassed officials in Meso-
