Improbable Women: Five Who Explored the Middle East

18. Creating Iraq

200 18 Creating Iraq Gertrude was sailing into a period of her life in which she would influence world events. In spite of, or perhaps because of the turmoil and pain of her personal life, she would immerse herself in the building of the modern Middle East. She has been described as the most powerful woman in the world during these years. As she arrived in Egypt, the last of the troops had been withdrawn from Gallipoli; the Sykes-Picot agreement had delineated the division of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine between France and England; and Lieutenant General Sir Archibald Murray, in command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force based in Egypt, was pushing for an Arab Movement to be led by Sharif Hussein of Mecca. Gertrude had been recruited by the Arab Bureau, a newly established intelligence organization headquartered in Cairo. Her friends David Hogarth and T. E. Lawrence were on the staff, and for Gertrude it was a homecoming. She immediately set to work, using intelligence files and her own vast knowledge, compiling a book on the sheikhs and tribes of Mesopotamia. Her social life began to reinflate with old and new friends, and in letters to her stepmother she wonders “if you sent me out a purple evening chiffon gown . . . also a new white skirt” and “Could you possibly send out to me the blue shot silk gown with a little coat and its own hat trimmed with feathers? . . . I should like too the purple satin day gown with a cape . . . and a mauve parasol.”1 Her life in Cairo was put on hold when she was invited to India by the viceroy, Lord Hardinge, whom she had first met in 1888 on her trip to visit the Lascelles in Bucharest. This was not a social Creating Iraq • 201 invitation but an assignment to build coordination and cooperation between the Foreign Office of the British Government of India and the Arab Bureau and to determine how best they might cooperate in intelligence work. As a consequence she was sent back, not to Cairo but to Basrah in Mesopotamia (Iraq) as an unofficial liaison between Cairo Intelligence and Indian Intelligence. She was the only woman assigned to Indian Expeditionary Force D and as such she stepped into a puddle of testosterone-fueled resentment at her presence. For the most part, the resentment was expressed in adolescent shunning and ridicule that Gertrude ignored with aplomb as she took on additional duties: briefing officers of the Expeditionary Force on tribes and terrain, and becoming editor of the Gazetteer of Arabia, an intelligence survey. She did encounter serious and growing hostility from A. T. Wilson, a deputy and soon to become her chief. In fairness to Mr. Wilson, Gertrude did have a habit of ignoring the chain of command and corresponding directly with her friends who also happened to be senior officials in the government . Still, instead of confronting Gertrude directly, he fueled his own resentment and resorted to carping and petty tactics such as refusing to take meals with her. By the time Gertrude had reached India, the armies of the Indian Expeditionary Force were facing a disaster second only to Gallipoli. In an attempt to march on Baghdad they had slogged through marshes and swamps to confront a large Turkish force with unexpected fighting ability and had been forced to retreat into the town of Kut al Amara, where they were surrounded and came under siege. Without food or ammunition to break out on their own, numerous relief forces were sent to rescue them only to be confronted by superior forces and forced to abandon their effort. On one ignominious occasion T. E. Lawrence was sent to attempt to bribe the Turkish commander into freeing the besieged troops, but he was refused. General C. V. F. Townshend (who we last saw as a lieutenant colonel in the Omdurman campaign) surrendered thirteen thousand Indian troops, who were marched off to a likely death. Some twenty thousand more had been killed during the campaign and the subsequent attempts at relief. 202 • Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell By 1916 a new commander, Lieutenant General Sir Stanley Maude, had planned, built a force, and launched a fresh campaign to take Baghdad. It was taken in March 1917, and Sir Percy Cox, who at that time was still chief political officer, moved his headquarters from Basrah to Baghdad. Gertrude, who had been named oriental secretary...