Gas in Mesopotamia
Encyclopedia
It has been claimed that the British used toxic gas against the Kurds in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

, during the Ath Thawra al Iraqiyya al Kubra or Iraqi revolt against the British
Iraqi revolt against the British
The Iraqi Revolt against the British , or the Great Iraqi Revolution of 1920, started in Baghdad in the summer of 1920 with mass demonstrations of both Sunni and Shia, including protests by embittered officers from the old Ottoman army, against the policies of British Acting Civil Commissioner Sir...

 in 1920, in the period of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. The most prominent original source quoted is a War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...

 minute of 12 May 1919, in which Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

 argued
"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare. It is sheer affectation to lacerate a man with the poisonous fragment of a bursting shell and to boggle at making his eyes water by means of lachrymatory gas
Lachrymatory agent
Tear gas, formally known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator , is a non-lethal chemical weapon that stimulates the corneal nerves in the eyes to cause tears, pain, and even blindness...

. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected."

British policy

The British "Manual of Military Law" stated that the rules of war applied to only conflict "between civilized nations." It had earlier been stated clearly that "they do not apply in wars with uncivilized States and tribes" in the Manual of Military Law of 1914.

Some gas shells and protective clothing were shipped to India in July 1919, with a further small shipment in January 1920, for use on the North-West Frontier. However a requisition for 16,000 shells and 10,000 gas masks was blocked by Lord Sinha
Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha
Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha of Raipur KCSI PC KC was a prominent lawyer and statesman in British India.-Background and education:...

, the Under Secretary of State for India. He believed that a first use of chemical weapons by British/Indian forces would have serious implications both moral and political, and that chemical weapons should only be used in retaliation for an Afghan or North-West Frontier Tribal chemical attack. In India a temporary Travelling Gas School was set up in September 1920, but thereafter the matter lapsed.

Britain had used gas weapons in the Middle East before, most notably in the Second Battle of Gaza
Second Battle of Gaza
The Second Battle of Gaza, fought in southern Palestine during the First World War, was another attempt mounted by British Empire forces to break Ottoman defences along the Gaza-Beersheba line...

 against Ottoman forces in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. On that occasion, the use of gas did not prevent a British military defeat.

Work of recent historians

United States congressman Henry B. Gonzalez
Henry B. Gonzalez
Henry Barbosa González was a Democratic politician from the state of Texas. He represented Texas's 20th congressional district from 1961 to 1999.-Background:...

, speaking in the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 in March 1992 said that Britain used gas against the Kurds; his statement was much quoted in years to come. The main source usually quoted in support of the idea that Britain used poison gas in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

 is Geoff Simons, Iraq: From Sumer to Saddam, who says "gas was used against the Iraqi rebels in 1920."

Another historian, Lawrence James
Lawrence James
Edwin James Lawrence , most commonly known as Lawrence James, is an English academic, notable for his works as a writer and historian. He has written several works of popular history about the British Empire...

, says "By September the local commander, General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 Sir
Sir
Sir is an honorific used as a title , or as a courtesy title to address a man without using his given or family name in many English speaking cultures...

 Aylmer Haldane
James Aylmer Lowthorpe Haldane
General Sir James Aylmer Lowthorpe Haldane GCMG, KCB, DSO was a senior British Army officer with a long and distinguished career.-Military career:...

, was beginning to get the upper hand, although he was still desperate enough to clamour for large supplies of poison gas. It was not needed, for air power had given his forces the edge whenever the going got tough". On whether gas was used he writes that: "RAF Officers asked Churchill... for use of poison gas. He agreed but it was not used"

Niall Ferguson
Niall Ferguson
Niall Campbell Douglas Ferguson is a British historian. His specialty is financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism.....

, in his recent book, The War of the World writes: "To end the Iraqi Insurgency of 1920…the British relied on a combination of aerial bombardment and punitive village burning expeditions. Indeed, they even contemplated using mustard gas too, though supplies proved unavailable”. Anthony Clayton, writing in the Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. four: The Twentieth Century that "[T]he use of poisonous gas was never sanctioned"

An article in the Journal of Modern History by R.M. Douglas of Colgate University published in December 2009 went through the known sources and concluded that "while at various moments tear gas munitions were available in Mesopotamia, circumstances seeming to call for their use existed, and official sanction to employ them had been received, at no time during the period of the mandate did all three of these conditions apply" and that it was clear that no poison gas was used. Douglas observed that Churchill's forceful statement had served to convince observers of the existence of weapons of mass destruction which were not actually there, which ironically matched events in 2003.
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