Britains Man on the Spot in Iraq and Afghanistan: Government and Diplomacy by Sir Henry Dobbs at the Apex of Empire

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A little-know figure now, Sir Henry Dobbs was at the heart of Britains imperial administrations of Iraq and India in the twilight decades of the Empire. Drawing upon a recently discovered trove of meticulous records and correspondence, in this book Ann Wilks reconstructs the professional life of this career civil servant and Britains longest serving High Commissioner of Iraq to give a unique picture of life in Britains most important colony and one of its most newly acquired. The book reveals the inner workings of colonial administration, as Dobbs in his letters details the problems Britain encountered as it conquered the former Ottoman province of Mesopotamia during WWI, as well as crises and decisions of singular and lasting significance, such as settling the borders of Imperial India and Afghanistan and establishing those of the future state of Iraq, the first of Britains colonies or protectorates to become independent, a process which Dobbs oversaw. In his negotiations on the 1921 Anglo-Afghan Treaty, he manoeuvred between the different views in London and Delhi with great dexterity to negotiate alone with the Amir and to arrive at what he considered an acceptable agreement. In the crisis over the 1922 treaty between Britain and Iraq, Dobbs not only disregarded the unhelpful approach recommended by London but risked using his own wholly unauthorised tactics to achieve a breakthrough. The man-on-the-spot perspective offered by Dobbs, written contemporaneously, thus provides a unique source on key international treaties from an insider who was though a man of his time and its prejudices nonetheless an advocate for Iraqi independence, curious about the peoples over whose lives the administration he served ruled, and frequently at odds with attitudes displayed by his famous superiors, such as Sir Percy Cox.

Author Bio

Ann Wilks, CBE, is an independent historian. Her published work includes articles in The British Journal of Middle East Studies and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. She was previously a senior civil servant, where her last role was as Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council.