Glubb Pasha And The Arab Legion

This study uses the private papers of Glubb Pasha to rethink the end of Britain's imperial presence in the Middle East.

This is a biography of Sir John Bagot Glubb, Glubb Pasha, who was best known as the Commander of the Arab Legion. Appointed in 1930 to pacify warring Bedouin tribes in Jordan, he then led them in distinguished service in Iraq and Syria.

The Glubb Reports studies papers written by General Sir John Glubb, the long-serving British commander of the Jordanian Arab Legion. It covers issues such as the role of tribes and desert control, the impact of Palestine, the Arab Legion's role in the first Arab-Israeli war, the expansion of the Arab Legion, and Glubb's dismissal in 1956.

General Sir John Glubb, the last British pro-Consul in the region, could be seen as midwife to the birth of the modern Middle East - a birth as painful and tortuous as its subsequent history. Glubb Pasha was the British commander of the Arab Legion during those crucial years between 1936 and 1956 which were to witness the collapse of Palestine and the final foundation and establishment of the State of Israel. As well as analysing Glubb's personal vision of the Middle East and its peoples - a surprisingly racial vision that would condition his politics - this book examines his reactions to the Arab Revolt in Palestine and the periodic plans to partition Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. It offers the first in-depth account of his thinking and actions during 1948, as he led his small army into Palestine and war against Israel. His aims and actions - which lie at the very heart of the controversy between 'Old' and 'New' historians of the Arab-Israeli conflict - are carefully detailed using, for the first time, contemporary British, Arab and Israeli intelligence sources. This masterful account of Glubb the soldier, strategist and pro-Arab mouth-piece, based on hitherto unseen classified documents, will become a vital addition to the literature on this defining period in Middle Eastern history. It is required reading for students, academics and anyone interested in the impasse which has dominated Middle Eastern affairs for over half a century. 'an intriguing and valuable contribution to the history of the 1948 conflict' - Times Literary Supplement “This masterful account...will become a vital addition to the literature on this defining period in the Middle Eastern history" Fred Rhodes, Middle East Journal