Durham E-Theses British political relation with Kuwait 1890-1921 Al-Khatrash, F. A. How to cite: Al-Khatrash, F. A. (1970) British political relation with Kuwait 1890-1921, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9812/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. BRITISH POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH KUWAIT 1890-1921 . by F.A. AL-KHATRASH B.A. 'Ain Shams "Cairo" A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in the University of Durham October 1970 CONTENTS Page Preface i - iii / Chapter One General History of Kuwait from 1890-1899 1 References 32 Chapter Two International Interests in Kuwait 37 References 54 Chapter Three Turkish Relations with Kuwait 1900-1906 57 References 84 J Chapter Four British Political Relations with Kuwait 1904-1921 88 References 131 Conclusion 135 Appendix One Exclusive Agreement: The Kuwaiti sheikh and Britain 23 January 1899 139 Appendix Two British Political Representation in the Persian Gulf 1890-1921 141 Appendix Three United Kingdom*s recognition of Kuwait as an Independent State under British Protection. 3 November 1914 144 Appendix Four British Treaty with Ibn Sa*ud 26 December 1915 146 Bibliography 148 ABSTRACT This thesis concerns British political relations with Kuwait between 1890 and 1921. The first notable ruler in this period was Sheikh Mubarak who assumed power in 1896 through the assassination of his brothers. At first he faced difficulties from the Turks, and he therefore signed a secret agreement with Britain in 1899 for protection. By this agreement he undertook not to sell, lease or contract with any foreign power except Britain. At the same time Russia and Germany were trying to secure a port or coaling station on the Gulf. This of course threatened British interests in the area, especially proposals to make Kuwait a terminus of the Baghdad Railway. Turkey in turn endeavoured to strengthen her position by attempting to exile Sheikh Mubarak and by occupying Umm Qasar, Bubiyan and Safwan. Britain denounced this as a disturbance of the "status quo", and appointed a political resident to Kuwait in 1904. In 1913, after two years of negotiations, Britain and Turkey finally reached agreement about Kuwait but the First World War prevented its ratification. Britain thus declared Kuwait an independent principality under British protection. Mubarak was succeeded by Sheikh Salim in 1917, bringing a great change in Anglo-Kuwaiti relations. Salim secretly gave active support to the Turks in the War, causing the British difficulties in enforcing the blockade they instituted. Salim also suffered from strained relations with Ibn Sa*ud over tribal matters and boundaries, culminating in a war for which Kuwait paid dearly, and in British arbitration to end the conflict. 2. Sheikh Saiim's reign lasted from 1917 to 1921 and was a critical period for Kuwait in her relations both with Britain and with Sa»udi Arabia. Developments in Kuwait during this period illustrate the growing interest and influence of the European Powers in the area as the Ottoman Bmpire disintegrated. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to express ray sincere gratitude to Sir John Richmond for his supervision in the preparation of this thesis. My gratitude also goes to the University of Kuwait for the scholarship which made it possible for me to conduct this research. My thanks go to the staff of the Public Records Office, the Indian Office and the School of Oriental Studies at Durham University for the help and co-operation they have given me. Finally, I must thank my friends in Kuwait for their valuable information on local Kuwaiti history and traditions. PREFACE European power and trade had come to the Indian Ocean when the Portugese rounded the Cape at the end of the 15th Century. Dutch, French and British had followed the Portugese, and by the middle of the 18th Century British influence had become predominant in the Arabian Gulf. In 1763 the British Residency was set up in Bushire under a firman from Karim Khan Zand which gave the East India Company a monopoly of the import of woollens into Persia and exemptions from all taxes. The British position was consolidated during the 19th Century by a series of agreements with local chiefs directed against piracy and the slave trade. These agreements had the effect of protecting local chiefs against Turkish or Persian efforts to turn their theoretical suzerainty into direct rule. Thus the Treaty with the Sheikh of Bahrain in 1861, by which he renounced piracy and slaving, protected his independence from the Turks when they occupied al Hasa in 1871. This occupation was part of the continuing process, begun by Sultan Mahmud II, intended to modernise the ramshackle Turkish Empire and to assert direct control over the provinces which had long enjoyed practical independence. In practice, in Arabia and on the shores of the Gulf, Turkish power was weak and had to be exercised mainly indirectly by playing off one local chieftain against another. During most of the 19th Century the strategic reason for British policy in the Gulf was fear of the expanding power of Russia in central Asia and the threat it presented to the Indian Empire. But by the end of the century a new threat to British predominance was developing. This was the German drive for trade and influence based on the concession, obtained in 1899, for the construction of a railway from the Sea of Marmora to the Gulf. Cii) It was against this background that Anglo Kuwaiti relations were developed. Sheikh Mubarak, known to Kuwaitis as the great Mubarak, aimed at retaining the power which he had seized from his brothers in 1896 and preserving the independence of Kuwait from outside interference from Turk or Arab. To achieve this he had to defeat the attempts of the sons of his brothers, whom he had dispossessed and killed, to assert their claims to the sheikhdom. This brought him into conflict with the Turkish governor in Basra and with Arab chiefs whose help his nephews tried to obtain. His determination to keep Kuwait independent in practice brought him into conflict with Turkish power at another level and the normal rivalries of Arab chieftains gave scope to his talent for diplomacy. In all these tasks he was able to obtain valuable, though sometimes hesitant, help from the British Government in their concern to defend and extend their influence against other European powers and to obtain a measure of control over the so-called Berlin-Baghdad Railway whose likely terminus seemed to be Kuwait. This thesis describes in some detail the successes and failures of Mubarak*s policies which eventually resulted in the declaration at the outbreak of World War I that Kuwait was an independent principality under British protection. The thesis carries on the story through the decline of Kuwait, which set in after Mubarak's death in 1917, and the deterioration of Anglo-Kuwait relations under his successor, Sheikh Salim. Chapter One gives the general history of Kuwait from 1890-1899 and describes the atmosphere and the political circumstances at that time in the countries surrounding Kuwait. It also describes the problems which face Sheikh Mubarak during the first two years of his reign from his nephews and the Turkish authorities at Basra. Finally, it shows the critical situation in Kuwait which obliged Mubarak to ask for British protection and indicates the part played by the Baghdad Railway project. (iii) Chapter Two deals with international interests in Kuwait, including the German and Russian Railway projects and plans to make Kuwait a coaling station, the opposition of the British Government to these proposals and their attempts to make Basra the end of the railway instead of Kuwait. Chapter Three describes Turkish relations with Kuwait from 1900- 1906. These relations depended on the Turkish authorities at Basra, whose attitude towards Kuwait was not stable and varied with changes in the Walis of Basra. Finally, Chapter Four deals with the British Political relations with Kuwait from 1904-1921, after the establishment of a British Agent there. It was thought necessary to throw some light on Sa*udi-Kuwaiti relations while discussing that period, owing to the relevance of this to British political relations with Kuwait. CHAPTER ONE GENERAL HISTORY OF KUWAIT FROM 1890-1899 Kuwait was founded on the Arabian Gulf shore about 250 years ago by the ancestor of the present ruling Sheikh Sabah, when a number of the families of famous tribes of 'Anaiza migrated from Central Arabia.1 These tribes included such important families as AL-Sabah who are Sheikhs of Kuwait at the present time, AL-Khalaifa the Sheikhs of Bahrain, AL- Jalahima, the Sheikhs of Qatar, AL-Zayid and AL-Ma'awida.