Overview

How did Great Britain and France, the largest imperial powers of the early twentieth century, cope with mounting anticolonial nationalism in the Arab world? What linked domestic opponents and foreign challengers in the Middle East and North Africa - Syria, Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt - as inhabitants attempted to overthrow the European colonial order? What strategies did the British and French adopt in the face of these threats? ""Empires of Intelligence"", the first study of colonial intelligence services to use recently declassified reports, argues that colonial control in the British and French empires depended on an elaborate security apparatus. Martin Thomas shows for the first time the crucial role of intelligence gathering in maintaining imperial control in the years before decolonization.

Full Product Details

Author:   Martin Thomas
Publisher:   University of California Press
Imprint:   University of California Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.20cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.771kg
ISBN:  

9780520251175

ISBN 10:   0520251172
Pages:   446
Publication Date:   09 October 2007
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Awaiting stock  

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: Exploring Intelligence and Empire 1. The Development of Intelligence Services and Security Policing in North Africa and the Middle East 2. Past Precedents and Colonial Rule 3. Constructing the Enemy: Intelligence, Islam, and Communism 4. Intelligence and Revolt I: British Security Services and Communal Unrest in Egypt, Iraq, and Sudan 5. Intelligence and Revolt II: French Security Services and Communal Unrest in Morocco and Syria 6. Policing the Desert Frontier: Intelligence, Environment, and Bedouin Communities 7. Intelligence and Urban Opposition in French Territories 8. Disorder in the Palestine Mandate: Intelligence and the Descent to War in the British Middle East 9. Domestic Politics, International Threats, and Colonial Security in French Territories, 1936 1939 Conclusion: Intelligence, Security, and the Colonial State Glossary Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Reviews

Provides a masterful synthesis of historiography with extensive archival research. --H-Diplo/H-Net Fascinating... Impressive... Thomas should be applauded. --Intl Journal of Middle East Stds (Ijmes)

Provides a masterful synthesis of historiography with extensive archival research. --H-Diplo/H-Net

Author Information

Martin Thomas is Reader in Colonial History at the University of Exeter. He is the author of The French Empire at War (1998), The French North African Crisis (2000), and The French Empire between the Wars. Imperialism, Politics, and Society (2005).

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