History of Arabia and Iraq

France, trying to assert its influence in Oman, to obtain a naval trade and military base at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, protested the section of Oman. The Anglo-French conflict ended in a compromise: under an agreement of 1862 England and France recognized the "independence" of Muscat and Zanzibar. Thus, France reconciled with the division of Oman; England, on the other hand, acknowledged his "independence" in words, in order to in fact immediately violate it. For almost ten years (1862-1871) Oman was captured by popular uprisings against the English protege Sultan Suvaini (1856-1866 gg.). These uprisings were supported by the Wahhabis of Najd, seeking to restore their former power in Oman. Contrary to the agreement of 1862, Britain openly intervened in Omani affairs. She gave Suwaini guns and ships to fight the people, bombarded the insurgent cities and villages, ordered the dependent sheikhs to support their protege. The British helped the rulers of Muscat to suppress the popular uprising.

In 1861, England imposed an agreement on the protectorate of the sheikh of the island of Bahrain. This treaty was directed against Turkey and Persia, each of which considered Bahrain to be its possession. In 1865, during the uprising in Oman, an English resident in the Persian Gulf penetrated the Wahhabi capital of Riyadh and secured an agreement under which the Wahhabi ruler pledged not to assist the Omani insurgents. In return, England secured Najdah with a regular tribute from Oman. In the 50's, the British seized the island of Perim and the islands of Curia-Muria on the southern coast of Arabia. The history of Arabia and Iraq.

The positions of England also strengthened in Iraq, where in the sixties the English company Lynch established river navigation on the Tigris - between Baghdad and Basra. In its turn, Basra was connected by regular "English sea voyages with the ports of the Persian Gulf and India, and after the opening of the Suez Canal and with the ports of Europe. During the same period, the British conducted through Iraq a line of the East India Telegraph. All these measures contributed to the development of British trade with Iraq and Persia (transit through Iraq). English merchants pumped from Iraq grain, wool, dates. The influx of English goods led to the ruin of local craft.

In 1869, Midhat Pasha, the future author of the Turkish constitution, was appointed Governor of Baghdad. Under the rule of Midhat Pasha, Turkish oppression took on particularly severe forms. Midhat taxed nomadic and semi-nomadic Arab tribes with large taxes and demanded their unremitting payment, He disarmed the tribes, forced the Fallahs and Bedouins to serve in the Turkish army. These "innovations" caused, and in 1869, a major uprising of the Arab tribes, which was ruthlessly suppressed by Midhat. The history of Arabia and Iraq .