ABSTRACT
Tsarist Russia gave Britain and France the total military, political a n d
economic control of the Middle East. Among the spoils of war were two t rophies
which German statesmen and bankers had striven hard to create and control — t h e
Baghdad Railway, which, nearing completion, was inevitably associated with t h e
KaiserÕs eastern vision, and the rights to the undeveloped oil fields of n o r t h e r n
Iraq, the latter subsequently achieving much greater significance in world affairs.
