Author Description

The aggressive foreign policy of Fascist Italy, and the growing threats of Nazi Germany and of Japan, created multiple security problems for Britain and its empire. This book focuses on the Middle East, where the hegemony which Britain and France had established after the First World War was increasingly challenged during the 1930s. The first part examines the global context in which British strategy for the Middle East was formulated. It includes important new assessments of Italy's strategy in the Mediterranean, and of Egypt as the keystone of British defense plans. In part two, the political situation in Egypt in the aftermath of the Abyssinian crisis, and Egypt's own regional ambitions are vividly portrayed. It includes chapters on the rethinking of strategic policy in Iraq, and the decline in cooperation between Britain and Saudi Arabia. The third part focuses on Palestine, where British control was challenged by the Arab rebellion against the Mandate, which established the Jewish National Home. Britain was acutely embarrassed by the protracted struggle, 1936-39, given the pan-Arab sympathies for the rebels and the illicit support afforded by the dictatorships in Europe. The conclusion considers the question of appeasement and British colonial policy on the eve of World War II.