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File 2006/1917 'ARABIA: ARAB CONFEDERACY' [17r] (43/603)
The record is made up of 1 volume (295 folios). It was created in Mar 1917-Nov 1917. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
t."
t. ' .. ; v
IDRISI’S OFFENSIVE.
In our issue, No. 61, p. 365, we printed a statement about
agreements reported by Idrisi to have been made between him
and certain Yemen elements, including Hashid and Bekil tribesmen,
for a combined offensive, ostensibly against the Turkish garrisons
in the Yemenite Tihamah and northern highlands. Idrisi
proceeded to ask for the subsidy and supplies which had been
promised to him by us in the event of his enlisting the Hashid
and Bekil. After some demur, due to the difficulty of verifying
Idrisi’s statements and of devising guarantees that his objectives
should be such as would serve the purpose of the Allies, H.M.
Government decided to fulfil its part of the pact ; and, on
October 17, Aden sent Major B. R. Reilly, Assistant Resident,
up to Jeizan with the total sum allocated by H.M.G., and
instructions to interview Idrisi. If satisfied with his statements
and plans and assured that he would accept a British liaison
officer to accompany his operations, Major Reilly was to hand
over the money. Food supplies were to follow. On October 21,
Major Reilly telegraphed from Jeizan that his interview had been
satisfactory except in respect of the acceptance of a liaison officer.
To this Idrisi firmly objected, pleading that it would indispose
his tribesmen to him. Nevertheless, it was decided that the
whole sum of money, rather than, as had been suggested, an
instalment, should be handed to him, he being told that no more
would be forthcoming for six months. He fully accepted our
formula of policy ; but how far he will, or can, act up to it
remains to be seen. 1 he offensive must await the aiii\al of
arms and supplies, the assembling of Idrisi’s own tribesmen, and
the enlistment of others, e.g.^ Hashid, in numbers which we
cannot, at present, forecast.
Our own course has been guided rather by a sense of
honourable obligation than by sure and certain hope of decisive
action by Idrisi against the Turks. It is not intended that his
offensive should be directed against the Imam Yahya, unless the
latter should choose to send forces to fight side by side with
Turkish troops. Nor, since Hashid and Bekil tribesmen, and
many leading Zeidis, are among Idrisi’s proposed allies, can
the offensive be regarded as a threat to the prevailing creed of
the Yemen highlands. Should Idrisi, as he professes to desire,
advance primarily against the Turkish garrisons of northern
Yemen, his operations will be almost entirely m the Tihamah,
and he will hardly touch Zeidi country at all Still less wdl he
do so, if he should attempt to round up the Tnrks in Asn itself.
We are under no obligations to the Imam Yahya; but we bear
him no malice for a pro-Turk attitude, which he has been
in no good position to avoid or change ; and it is our policy to
support, rather than weaken the Zeidi Imamate, as an engine of
government. Whenever we shall have settled accounts with the
Turks ourselves, by expelling them with our own arms from
Lahej and the Aden hinterland generally—the only action which
can possibly decide the south-west Arabian issue m our favour
we expect the Imamate to range itself without rancour on out
side, and to resume commercial relations with Aden.
About this item
- Content
The volume comprises correspondence, telegrams, summaries, reports, notes and other papers concerning the support given by Britain to the tribes of South Arabia [present-day Yemen] in 1917, chiefly in relation to Britain’s principal wartime aim of ousting the Turks [Ottoman Empire] from the region and securing the Aden Protectorate.
The papers notably cover:
- British relations with Saiyid Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Idris, the Idrisi [Sayyid Muhammad ibn ‘Alī al-Idrīsī, ruler of the Idrisid Emirate of Asir], including the 1915 agreement with the Idrisi in return for his attacking the Turks; financial assistance (subsidy) for arms, ammunition, hirelings and transport; the Idrisi’s recruitment of Hashid wa Bakil (also spelled Bakill and Bekil in this volume) and British doubts about the loyalty of these ‘mercenary’ (f 259) tribesmen; British concerns over the Idrisi’s effectiveness against the Turks and his predominating enmity towards Imam Yahia bin Mohamed Hamid-ud-Din of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn, also referred to as 'Imam Yahya' in this volume]
- British policy towards the 'Arab Confederacy' of tribes formed around May 1917 (also referred to as the 'Yemen Confederacy' in this volume), including concerns over its potential effectiveness and lack of concrete victories against the Turks; and meetings with various Arab tribal chiefs explaining their intentions or applying for assistance from Britain
- British relations with the ‘neutral’ Imam Yahya, including a concurrently open-door and non-committal policy; avoidance of decisions or actions that could cause the Imam to stop ‘sitting on the fence’ and ally with the Turks; the Imam’s approach to the British in July 1917 offering support in exchange for territory, the removal of the Idrisi, and a position as sole leader in Yemen (the British politely declined the offer)
- Division of opinion between the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Aden, and the First Assistant Resident in Aden and Government of India, regarding the risks in either supporting or not supporting the Arab Confederacy; the viability and true aims of the Confederacy; and whether or not it was likely the Confederacy would to turn to Italy if Britain prolonged delaying assistance.
The principal correspondents are: Major-General James Marshall Stewart, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Aden; Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Fenton Jacob, First Assistant Resident, Aden; Saiyid Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Idris, the Idrisi [Sayyid Muhammad ibn ‘Alī al-Idrīsī, ruler of the Idrisid Emirate of Asir]; Imam Yahia bin Mohamed Hamid Ud-Din of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn] (also referred to in this volume as Saiyid Yehia bin Mohamed Hamid-ad-Din, Al Mutawakil, the Commander of the Faithful, and as Imam Yahia of San’a / Sana’a [Sanaa] and 'Imam Yahya'); senior officials of the Government of India at Simla [Shimla]; Secretaries of State and diplomats of the Foreign Office and the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. in London; General Sir Reginald Wingate, British High Commissioner in Egypt; Ronald William Graham, Foreign Office diplomat. Also included are translations and summaries of numerous communications from and between various chiefs of Arab tribes in Yemen.
The enclosures date from 1917 but some include content (mainly printed documents) dating from 1916.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (295 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 295; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Multiple intermittent additional mixed foliation/pagination sequences are also present. A previous foliation sequence in part of the volume, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/683
- Title
- File 2006/1917 'ARABIA: ARAB CONFEDERACY'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1r:8r, 8ar:8av, 9r:23v, 27v, 30v:35v, 37v, 40v:46v, 48v, 50v, 51v:78v, 79v, 81v, 84v:193v, 194v, 195v, 196v, 198v, 200v, 201v, 202v, 203v, 204v, 205v:208v, 210v, 211v, 213v:255v, 256v:265v, 271v:275v, 277v:278v, 280v:283v, 285v, 287v, 288v, 291v:295v, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence