ABSTRACT
I N THE F I R S T days of 1919 there was a tangible note of optimism in the minds of several senior figures. T o Sir Percy Cox, who had done so much to lay the edifice of British imperialism in the Middle East, the question of Persia loomed large. Writing to Curzon on 13 January, Cox expressed the hope that in Persia Britain would 'take a serious line, with a definite objective'. It was, Cox added, 'a clear duty to civilisation that she should be taken in hand'. In Cox's view, Britain was the only power fitted to the task. T o Cox, surveying the region as a whole, the Pax Britannica emerged triumphant from the conflict:
They had a splendid finish in Mesopotamia and I was very sorry to have missed it: we hardly hoped to be able to dispose of the Mosul Vilayet too when I was at home - it is a grand sphere now and I hope we shall be left in peace there by the Conference. It is glorious to feel in such a strong position everywhere, with a strong Government and the nation solid behind it. How one must rejoice to have lived in this generation.1
