The Aftermath of War: Perpetuation of Control

Abstract

During the period preceding the outbreak of World War I, British policy in the Gulf had primarily been concerned with asserting Britain’s omnipotence and exclusive rights in the area. Following a series of elaborate agreements and conventions, assisted by the strong personalities of Lord Curzon as Viceroy of India and Sir Percy Coxl as Political Resident in Bushire, the British position was defined and confirmed. The possibility of the extension of French interests to the Trucial Coast had been sharply terminated in 1892 by the Exclusive Agreement with the rulers, and French competition for control of the sultanate of Muscat and Oman was virtually ended in 1904 with the Anglo-French Entente.2 The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 had the effect of removing Russian opposition to the British presence in the Gulf. The other two powers that Britain regarded as a direct threat in the field were Germany and the Ottoman Empire, and during the period from 1908 to 1914 much effort was made to diminish their respective positions. The gravest menace came from the German policy of Drang nach Osten, which culminated in the project of the Baghdad Railway with a terminus in Kuwait; although British negotiations in the years immediately preceding the war had been successful, and conventions had been drawn up and initialled, the outbreak of hostilities in 1914 prevented ratification.