ABSTRACT
With the policy of creating a chain of friendly states Lord Curzon, Acting Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, had been long in agreement,l In late 1917 and early 191B, he had urged their creation, particularly in Persia and in 'Iraq, in the occupation of which he saw the logical climax to three centuries of British activity in the Middle East. He had then held, in common with other members of the Cabinet, including Sir William Robertson, 2 that Germany, operating through prostrate Russia, was still the chief enemy of Great Britain in Asia, although concern had not been lacking that Bolshevik doctrines might reach India, a fear which was later to become paramount. He had proposed that neither Germany nor her allies should ever again be permitted to occupy Palestine or Mesopotamia. Every effort should be made to re-create Russia - 'even though it may take ten or twenty years' - as a bulwark against German
COMMITMENTS, ETC. penetration towards India, and finally, 'we must endeavour by any means in our power to secure a friendly Persia and a loyal Afghanistan'. 1 Sir Percy Cox's mission to Persia in 1918-20 had been to bring Persia, rehabilitated by Great Britain, into treaty relations. The full success of British policy in Persia depended on possessing in 'Iraq what would be 'tantamount to a British frontier'. 2
Bolshevik Russia replaced Germany, in Lord Curzon's opinion, as Great Britain's chief enemy in Asia, but his policy remained the same, as was indicated in his address to the Central Asian Society, October 12th, 1920. He said then, in part:
We want ... freedom from the contagion of Bolshevist misgovernment and anarchy, which will not only be injurious to the British Empire, but which will mean its ruin. 3 Not until January, 1919, when he was Acting Secretary of
They [H.M. Government] will be glad if you will telegraph outline of constitution of Arab State or group of States, which you would propose on basis of wishes of inhabitants, as disclosed in telegrams and of necessity of effective and indisputable British control. By Anglo-French Declaration we are committed to indigenous administration and we must adhere to this; not only in letter but in spirit. Our objective should be a flexible constitution, giving full play to different elements of population and recognizing and incorporating local peculiarities and idiosyncrasies such as will provide for Arab participation as the time goes on in the actual Government and Administration of country, and preventing Arab nationalists from being drawn into opposition to British control.
