Occupation of Iraq, 1914-21

Type: Lab

This project, originating in the class Hist 383 (Spring 2020) at the History Department of Duke University, delineates the technological changes that occurred during the British occupation of the Ottoman Basra, Baghdad, Mosul provinces from 1914 to 1921. The infrastructure constructed in Ottoman Iraq, along with a new political administration and international agreements, resulted in a new, large technological system: a new country. The project’s assumption is that occupation was not only military or social action but also what we call “a technological event” inasmuch as the occupying forces transformed previous technological systems and created new ones by infrastructure development and often forced labor. This is the first step in the project and hopefully, further classes would elaborate it.