National and Imperial Belonging in Wartime: The Tangled Knot of Australians and New Zealanders as British Subjects during the Great War

The Great War is considered nationally foundational in both Australia and New Zealand. Yet, as critics of this view point out, British subjecthood remained important and sometimes central to identity at this time. This article pulls two threads from this tangled knot of belonging at a time when identifying and regulating loyal populations was critical. Looking at evidence of those Australians and New Zealanders who served in imperial forces and organisations, and the implications of passport control from 1915, I suggest that the relationship between British subjecthood and national identification was not always easily managed, and was often cut across by gender. Indeed, there is evidence that one's identification as a British subject or an Australasian citizen was not always a matter of choice or positive, and sometimes these identities were antagonists. The significant tensions between British subjecthood and being an “Australian” or a “New Zealander” were especially heightened by the increasingly intimate relationship between governments and their people during the First World War.     

MOTIVATION AND MOBILIZATION FOR WAR: RECRUITMENT FOR THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE, 1941-42

This article traces the process of recruiting Batswana men intothe British army in Bechuanaland during the Second World War.It outlines the motives and political aims that led the chiefsto offer wholehearted support for the war effort and examinesthe attitude of the British administration to African participationin the war. The outlook of the men who were required to jointhe army is also analysed, as are the methods used to inducethem to enlist. Therefore a picture of the recruitment processis created that features perspectives drawn from all levelsof colonial society. The article is a contribution to existingliterature addressing the subject of Bechuanaland during theSecond World War, and to the general literature on Africa andthe war. It focuses more closely on the recruitment processthan has been the case to date and makes extensive use of oralmaterial to provide an African perspective on a process thatis usually viewed from ‘above’.     

Unexplored regions of the Hadhramaut

Over the last few years publicly-expressed anti-British sentiment has been on the rise, tapping into a latent Anglophobia in Iranian political culture. Iran's relationship with the British goes back much further than the relationship with the Americans, who benefit from a curious indulgence. During the 19^th century, Iran was largely seen through the prism of British interests in India, yet Russia, which loomed large at that time, has also seemingly escaped responsibility for its role. Certainly the advent of oil changed British focus and the confrontation over Anglo-Iranian Oil came to define British-Iranian relations for the modern era. Yet paradoxically, there is, somewhere, a deeper and more complex relationship in which a degree of mutual respect remains.     

BRITAIN AND YEMEN: THE END OF BRITISH RULE IN SOUTH ARABIA THROUGH THE EYES OF A YOUNG POLITICAL OFFICER

This article publishes for the first time selections of the private correspondence (placing them in their historical context) of John G. T. Shipman (1939–2016), who took up his position as assistant adviser in the Eastern Aden Protectorate at the end of 1962 just as the first signs of political and social change were appearing in South Arabia. He served from this position in different parts of the Eastern Aden Protectorate until 1967. Shipman's correspondence allows for an unmediated appreciation of how people on the ground experienced the historical events at the time, including the British withdrawal in 1967, and highlights the extent of their own grasp of the goings-on when contrasted with the historical record. In this sense, the scope of this article is to allow the voice of one of the many British colonial officials to directly narrate their encounters during the last five years of British colonial rule over southern Arabia. The perceptive eye of a young political officer coupled with the ephemeral character of his handwritten correspondence, which providentially survived for more than five decades although it was never intended for publication, offers a fresh insight into the political and social life of the Eastern Aden Protectorate.     

The Assyrians

This article deals with a largely unknown British officer of the Indian Army, who served between 1900 and 1928 in India, Tibet, Burma, north-western Persia and Waziristan. It focuses on his unpublished diary from the British military expedition to Tibet in 1903-04, to which the present author has gained access. The written legacy of Harvey-Kelly includes a report on north-western Persia, various correspondence and five photo albums.     

Urbanization and voting for the Turkish parliament

The Silk Letters Conspiracy, or Case, was a plot by a small clique of Indian Pan-Islamists located in Afghanistan, India and the Hijaz to overthrow British rule in India during the First World War. Although British officials at the time were prepared to admit that the conspiracy had been ‘organised with some skill’, there was a general feeling that it was a rather ‘pathetic’ and ‘ineffectual’ affair, and ‘crazy in the extreme’. This verdict has been echoed by those who have subsequently considered the plot, if only in passing. But there is more to the Silk Letters Conspiracy than meets the eye, as this article will detail. In retrospect, the Case has a greater significance than previously thought in terms of Britain's encounter with Pan-Islam.     

Treasonous Conduct: Assessing the Wartime Activities,Post‐War Trials and Tribulations of Australian Collaborators in the Second World War*

There has been very little written about the activities of Australian citizens collaborating with the Germans during the Second World War. There are, however, a few instances where Australian citizens were involved in activities in Germany which could be considered treasonous. A number of these were individuals involved in an ill‐conceived military unit created by the Germans from British prisoners of war while there is at least one example of an Australian who allegedly carried out propaganda broadcasts for the Germans. The activities of these individuals and the way the authorities dealt with these cases after the war will be the focus of this article.     

A Common Appeal: Anglo‐British Nationalism and Opposition to Europe, 1970–1975

Debates over European integration allow the articulation of an English nationalism based upon an Anglo‐British identity committed to Parliamentary sovereignty and British exceptionalism. This was seen during debates over entry to the European Economic Community between 1970 and 1975, which ended with a referendum. Tony Benn and Enoch Powell emerged as leaders of the campaign. With Benn a leading figure of the Labour Left and Powell a prominent yet contradictory figure on the right, they presented unlikely allies. However, since European integration conflicted with their Anglo‐British identity, partisan politics were secondary to nationalist sentiments. By examining Benn and Powell's anti‐Market rhetoric, this article considers 1970–1975 as the period in which the paradox of Anglo‐British nationalism was affirmed: that its populist expression can be used to reinforce parliamentary sovereignty.     

Liability, Responsibility and Blame: British Ransom Victims in the Mediterranean Periphery, 1860–81

Between 1865 and 1881 there occurred in southern Europe and the Balkans several cases of kidnapping in which British subjects were seized and held to ransom by brigands. Most ended peacefully (though expensively) with the negotiation and handing over of a substantial ransom, usually in gold, and the subsequent freeing of the hostage(s); one case, that of the so‐called ‘Marathon murders’ of 1870 in Greece, ended in tragedy. Quite apart from the problems these incidents created for the victims and their families, some kidnappings also raised important questions for the governments involved, notably who was to blame for such incidents, who was formally responsible for them, and — crucially — who was ultimately liable for the cost involved? These questions and the responses of British governments to them, culminating in 1881 with the enunciation by Gladstone's administration of a clear policy on such matters, form the core of this article.     

The Dead Hand of the Treasury: The Economic and Social Development of the Trucial States, 1948–60

This paper addresses an aspect of British policy in the Trucial States that has received scant scholarly attention. It examines British attempts to promote economic and social development in the Trucial States, and places this policy within the context of British attitudes towards the economic development of the colonial empire. During the 1950s Britain's interest in the Arabian Peninsula expanded, in notable contrast with the rest of the Middle East. One aspect of this expanded role was British efforts to improve the economic and social conditions prior to the discovery of oil in Abu Dhabi in 1958. British officials on the ground were concerned to improve the lot of the population of these impoverished shaikhdoms for a combination of political and strategic and ethical reasons. This article shows that attempts to introduce a modicum of economic and social development in the Trucial States were hindered by the Treasury's refusal to provide adequate funds, and because of inherent problems in finding suitable development projects. Nonetheless, the plans put in place during the 1950s did provide the foundations for subsequent development programmes, which, in turn, drastically expanded as a result of oil wealth.     

Urban Mobilization in Iraqi Kurdistan during the British Mandate: Sulaimaniya 1918–30

Abstract

Great Britain created ‘Southern Kurdistan’, an autonomous Kurdish entity with Sulaimaniya as its capital, under British political supervision in November 1918. Sulaimaniya became a political and social testing ground in the hands of British officers who participated in the process of building local identities by defining the arena in which the elites entered into competition, by defining the categories into which the political blocs were arranged, and by defining which leaders were recognized. Furthermore, the creation of ‘Southern Kurdistan’ allowed the extension of nationalist rethoric among its inhabitants culminating in the radicalization of Sulaimaniya's notables. Paradoxically, the peak of nationalist agitation in urban areas in 1930 coincided with the Kurdish mobilization shifting its centre of gravity to the countryside.     

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and the Turks

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a pioneer of higher education for the Muslims of India after political power passed to the British in the nineteenth century. He was a leader who foresaw with clarity that Hindus and Muslims were bound to seek separate national destinies after the British left India. After the collapse of their own empire, the Indian Muslims aligned themselves with the Ottoman Turks and Sir Syed therefore deliberately chose Turkish models for educational, cultural and even sartorial reform. He was loyal to British rule in India mainly because, though it subdued all Indians, it simultaneously prevented the Hindu domination of Muslims.     

From Mare Nostrum to Insula Nostra: British Colonial Cyprus and the Italian Imperial Threat

As part of its growing imperial aspirations that were part of the so-called Mare Nostrum attempt, the Italian Empire sought to build up nationalist propaganda on Cyprus. The irredentist activities and propaganda coordinated by the Italian Embassy in Cyprus alarmed the British governors and the Foreign Office. By drawing upon archival documents, this article analyses the evolution of the strategic importance of Cyprus for the British Empire, which began in response to the perceived threat posed by the Italian Empire during the interwar period. The main argument put forward here is that under these new circumstances Cyprus became a significant geostrategic possession for the British Empire. The Italian Empire, having colonised the Dodecanese islands of the Aegean Sea, was gradually making its presence felt in Cyprus in the 1920s and went on to do so more vigorously in the 1930s. The Italian ambassador was perceived as persona non grata by the British government in Cyprus. It was therefore difficult for the British Empire under the actual, or at least the perceived, threat of Italian influence to permit Cypriots to exercise their right of self-determination.     

History,Memory and Commemoration: The Iraqi Revolution of 1920 and the Process of Nation Building in Iraq

The Great Iraqi Revolution of 1920 was actually a series of local, mostly Shi‘ite, uprisings against the British forces which had occupied Iraq during the First World War. Even though it was squashed by the British, it has been established since then in the Iraqi collective memory as a war of independence and a formative event of Iraqi nationalism, symbolizing the unity of the Iraqi people, their solidarity and patriotic spirit. This article tries to show how the Great Iraqi Revolution was commemorated and remembered through time in order to provide better understanding about how Iraqis see themselves and their past.     

The ‘Missing Dimension’: Britain's Secret War against France in Syria and Lebanon, 1942–45 – Part II

The article provides the ‘missing dimension’ in the historiography of Syria and Lebanon in the Second World War. It is based on secret British and Syrian documents obtained by the French intelligence from their agents in the British Legation in Beirut and the Syrian government in Damascus, never published before. These documents, recently discovered by the author, shed new light on the activities of the British intelligence agencies in the Middle East during and after the war. They reveal that these agencies played an important role in shaping Britain's policy in the region by securing the tacit collaboration of prominent Arab nationalists in Syria and Lebanon and other Arab countries. In Syria (and Palestine), Britain conducted a ‘dual policy’: one purported to mediate between the French and the Syrians, details of which are found in British archives, and a tacit policy aimed to evict France, of which few traces remain in official documentation. Hence de Gaulle's accusations that Britain secretly engineered the expulsion of France from the Levant were indeed justified, and that the Syrians' claim that their country was the first Arab state to secure complete independence is questionable. The article also discloses that Britain was behind the Hashemite schemes to integrate Syria in a Greater Syria or an Iraqi-led Hashemite confederation. Copies of more than one hundred of the documents are annexed to the article, including a secret agreement from 29 May 1945 revealing that President Quwatli was coerced into granting Britain a dominant position in Syria.     

Resisting Homosexual Law Reform in Britain in the 1950s: the Passions of Earl Winterton*

The Sixth Earl Winterton was an eccentric who is too easily dismissed as a homophobe and bigoted critic of the reforms proposed in the Wolfenden Report. But his outbursts in the Parliament against homosexuality point to his personal concerns for British masculinity and to an alternative understanding of masculinity that has received scant attention in the assessment of gay law reforms initiated by Wolfenden. Sociologists insist that the main function of homophobia is the maintenance of heterosexuality and patriarchal homo‐society. In this article I examine Winterton's arguments in their historical context, not to understand “homosexualism” which affronted him, but for what they say between the lines about British manliness, identity, intimacy and friendship. Winterton's is one version of a masculine self that experienced being cut adrift and betrayed by the cultural and political shifts which the Wolfenden Report both signified and embodied. I think now, after studying the history of sex, we should try to understand the history of friendship, or friendships. That history is very, very important (Michel Foucault, 1982). 1     

PERSIA THROUGH WRITERS' EYES

This article examines the experiences of Persia of four British writers, whose travels were spread over the nineteenth century. David Blow describes, and quotes extensively from, their published works. He begins with Captain John Malcolm, who first visited Persia as a diplomatic envoy in 1800, then turns to the archaeologist, Henry Layard, who spent months with the semi-nomadic tribes in south-west Persia in1840/1841. Blow then relates the journeys of Isabella Bishop through western Persia which took place in 1889. Coincidentally this was almost at the same time as the journey to Persia of Lord Curzon, whose great work Persia and the Persia Question, crowns all 19th century writing on Persia. This is the edited text of the lecture which he gave to the Society on 21st May 2008.     

Two Aspects of Rhodesian Economy: 1. Africa's Industrial Revolution

These two articles in a sense complement each other: the firstis the greater part of the lantern lecture by the British industrialiston the 26th November, the second by a man who saw war-servicein Eastern and Central Africa, and is keenly concerned for humanrelations there.     

Whose Land? Land Tenure in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Palestine

The present article aims to uncover the different meanings attached to land ownership in Palestine during the late Ottoman and British Mandate eras and to show how a ‘modern’ understanding of ownership was imposed on the local population, particularly the fellahin (peasants), without a consideration of their needs and traditions. Many widespread claims are challenged, first and foremost the one according to which, at the time of the partition of Palestine (1947), ‘over 70 percent’ of it did not ‘legally’ belong to the local Arab majority, but to the British Mandate power, an assumption that has had political, cultural and social ramifications that have lasted until the present day.