Glubb Pasha and the Arab Legion
Britain, Jordan and the End of Empire in the Middle East

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

Graham Jevon (Author)

9781316629239, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 May 2019

336 pages, 1 b/w illus. 5 maps
23 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.51 kg

'Jevon is to be congratulated for a scholarly, readable, and valuable study of the life and times of Glubb 'Pasha' from 1945 to 1956. Jevon's work proves the value of how new source material can add substantially to our under- standing of a key period of history.' Bustan

During the 1950s, John Glubb and the Arab Legion became the 'cornerstone' of Britain's imperial presence in the Middle East. Based on unprecedented access to the unofficial archive of the Arab Legion, including a major accession of Glubb's private papers, Graham Jevon examines and revises Britain's post-1945 retreat from empire in the Middle East. Jevon details how Glubb's command of the Arab Legion secured British and Jordanian interests during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, answering questions that have dogged historians of this conflict for decades. He reveals how the Arab Legion was transformed, by Cold War concerns, from an internal Jordanian security force to a quasi-division within the British Army. Jevon also sheds new light on the succession crisis following King Abdullah's assassination, and uses previously unseen documents to challenge accepted contentions concerning King Hussein's dismissal of Glubb, the 1956 Suez Crisis, and the nature of Britain's imperial decline.

Introduction
1. The 1946 Treaty, Palestine, and the preclusion of the Arab Legion's planned post-war disbandment
2. The Partition of Palestine, the Greater Transjordan solution, and the new-found significance of Glubb Pasha and the Arab Legion
3. The 1948 war and Glubb's management of the Greater Transjordan scheme
4. Bringing the 1948 war to an end: the ad hoc consolidation of Greater Transjordan
5. Beyond 1948: the Arab Legion, Arab nationalism and the Cold War
6. A puppeteer in search of a puppet: the royal succession and Britain's policy of selective non-intervention
7. The Glubb paradox and King Hussein's quest for control of the Arab Legion
8. Behind the veil of Suez: Glubbless Jordan and the termination of the Treaty
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Political geography [RGCP], Second World War [HBWQ], National liberation & independence, post-colonialism [HBTR], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]