Fomenting revolt in the Hejaz

Said, Nuri al-. Muhadarat 'an 'l-harakat al-'askariya li-l-jaish al-'arabi fi 'l-Hijaz wa-Suriya, 916-918 [Lectures on the Military Activities of the Arab Army in the Hejaz and Syria, 1916-1918.]

€ 3,500.00

First edition. Nuri al-Said's memoir of his part in the Arab Revolt, with much on the early military actions in the Hejaz and a folding map of the region.

In May 1947, Nuri al-Said delivered a series of lectures to the students of the Staff College in Baghdad, which were later printed by the Army Press. This scarce pamphlet contains three lectures on his role in the Arab Revolt. The first outlines the period from the start of the revolt (June 1916) to the Battle of Aqaba (6 July 1917); the second continues from the victory at Aqaba up to August 1918; the third describes the advance of the Arab Army through Ottoman Arabia to the end of hostilities.

Much of the content was taken from the diaries he kept during the conflict. Only the third lecture appears to draw on other sources, such as the diary of General Jafar Pasha al-Askari (1885-1936), who later served as Prime Minister of Iraq.

At the time of publication, Iraq was under British occupation and the government was facing increasing pressure from the population for its pro-British stance, with Nuri (as Prime Minister) particularly under fire. The present pamphlet (Britain's role in the Arab Revolt notwithstanding) might represent an effort on his behalf to reassert his credentials as a fighter for Arab independence and unity.

No copies in LibraryHub. OCLC lists a single copy at the Orient-Institut Beirut, while the American University of Beirut has an annotated photocopy.