‘The Veil of Mystery:’ Imperial Intelligence in the Arabian Peninsula

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the growing body of literature on intelligence in empire by examining British and Italian intelligence networks as imperial infrastructures in the Arabian Peninsula. Since the mid-1920s, the British and Italian empires had clashing strategic priorities, conflicting commercial interests, and diverging support for warring local leaders in Arabia. In an effort to limit competition, the British and Italians came to an agreement in early 1927 over their respective spheres of influence in Arabia. Many scholars have brushed over what has become known as the ‘Rome Understanding’ as largely ineffectual and having had little impact on the overall policy of the two empires. Far from being inconsequential, however, the Rome Understanding established a standard over the limits of empire in the Arabian Peninsula and gave rise to an information order in the region designed to enforce it. This article demonstrates that the British and Italians developed imperial intelligence networks as a tool designed to mediate competition and preserve cooperation under the Rome Understanding. I argue that both British and Italian interpretations of intelligence confirmed the policy of cooperation established in Rome.