The British Mandate of Transjordan,
 1922-1946

           From the 16th century through 1918 Transjordan, the present-day Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, centered in Turkey. When World War I (1914-1918) began, the Ottoman Empire sided with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany against the Allied powers of Great Britain, France, and Russia. Throughout the early stages of the war there was little fighting in the Levant, but as the war continued the British added the Levant to their strategic planning. As the British began to plan their assault on the Levant from the British-controlled city of Cairo, Egypt a young archaeologist and scholar named T.E. Lawrence traveled into the Arabian Desert to meet Prince Feisal of the Hejaz. They came to the conclusion that Great Britain and the Arabs of the Levant had a common goal; the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. Further, the British promised the Arabs self-government when the Ottomans were out of power. The Arab League was formed out of this alliance, and tribal leaders as well as T.E. Lawrence, who would later be known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” led troops against the Ottomans. A combined effort of British and Arab units took much of the Levant in 1917.

            It was in this context that Great Britain and France, their ally in WWI, split up the Middle East, including the Levant. Britain, for the time being, was breaking its promise to the Arabs. The British take included Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine as protectorates. The French were given Syria and Lebanon (then one province). In 1922 the League of Nations gave Great Britain and France state-building mandates for their territories. They were to build an infrastructure such that after a time these areas could be independent nations. Throughout the 1920s, 1930s, and early 1940s Transjordan made strides toward nationhood, despite the traditionally tribal nature of the region. Due in part to the leadership of John Bagot “Pasha” Glubb, a British officer, the Arab Legion created what could be seen as an army of national unity. The Arab Legion was made up of members of different tribes who would not traditionally join together. The project worked well, however, and the Arab Legion saw combat in Iraq during a revolt, against Saudi Arabian raiders, against the Vichy French of Syria during WWII, and against the newly formed Israeli state in 1948. For 10 years after Jordan gained independence, Glubb continued to command the Arab Legion. In 1946 the British Mandate ended and the region of Transjordan became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan under King Abdullah. Britain phased out its military presence in the following years although good relations have been maintained between the nations.

           
Strategic State-Building

          When discussing the British Imperial presence in Transjordan, it is important to understand why they would want to maintain control of the region in the first place. Since Transjordan, Palestine, and Iraq were not to be colonies in the traditional sense of the word, why go through the trouble to control these regions? There was a practical application, at least in the case of Transjordan, of having a buffer between Palestine, Egypt, and the raiding Bedouins of Saudi Arabia. Further, it later became apparent that the power of the Arab Legion would be a great asset to Britain’s strength in the Levant, specifically because of its proximity to Egypt and the Suez Canal.

            It should also be noted that the concept of imperial state-building as in the mandate program proscribed by the League of Nations is a historically atypical type of imperial project. Although Great Britain certainly had economic and strategic impetuses to have influence over this region, the project was not undertaken in the Victorian model of imperialism. Britain brought many of the hallmarks of its colonial programs to Transjordan; education, roads, welfare and agricultural programs, an organized local police force, but brought all of this into a context quite different from India, South Africa, or Egypt. When the British Mandate began in 1922, the goal of the program was the Britain would give up control of the region. The mandates system marks the beginning of a trend in imperial projects undertaken by Western nations. From the 1940s onward, European nations would give political freedom to colonies in exchange for an economic, political, and military influence and pressure which continues in many former colonies to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Works Consulted and Cited:

 

Yoav Alon, "The Tribal System in the Face of the State-Fomation Process: Mandatory Transjordan, 1921-46" International Journal of Middle East Studies, (May 2005, Vol. 37 No. 2 (Cambridge U. Press, 2005)

Malcolm Brown, T.E. Lawrence, (New York: New York University Press, 2003) 93

Reader Bullard, Britain and the Middle East, (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1951)

B.H. Liddell Hart, Lawrence of Arabia (USA: De Capo Press, 1989) 228

Ilan Pappe, A History of Palestine, Second Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Eugene Rogan, Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999)

P.J. Vatikiotis, Politics and the Military in Jordan: A Study of the Arab Legion 1921 - 1957, (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers, 1967)

Mary C. Wilson, King Abdullah, Britain and the making of Jordan, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987)