ABSTRACT
MODERN Iraq is the creation of British policy following the defeat of Turkey in the Great War of 1914–1918, and was formed out of three vilayets of the Ottoman Empire—Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul. The first two comprised the delta lands which were Arab by race, speech, and culture; but Mosul vilayet in the north in its geography, history, and people differed notably from the others. Although Great Britain accepted the mandate in April 1920, it was uncertain until 1926 that the Mosul vilayet would remain in Iraq. By the Treaty of Ankara in that year the Turks agreed to its incorporation in the State of Iraq, which in 1932 was emancipated from mandatory tutelage to become a sovereign state, linked to Great Britain only by treaty.
