Mahmud Barzanji revolts#1919 Kurdish revolt

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Mahmud Barzanji revolts

| partof = the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict

| image = Mehmûd Berzencî.jpg

| image_size = 260

| caption = Mahmud Barzanji as Kurdish warlord (prior to 1919)

| date = May–June 1919; November 1922 – July 1924

| place = Occupied Enemy Territory Administration and Mandatory Iraq

| casus =

| result = British-Assyrian victory{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afhaAAAAMAAJ&q=Assyrian+levies+sulaimanya|title=The RAF in Action: From Flanders to the Falklands|date=1985|publisher=Blandford Press|isbn=978-0-7137-1419-7|pages=20|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Great Britain|first=Colonial Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXlAAQAAIAAJ&q=Assyrian+levies+sulaimanya|title=Report by His Britannic Majesty's Government to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Iraq|date=1930|pages=31|language=en}}

Kingdom of Kurdistan abolished in 1924
Sheykh Mahmud retreats to underground
Iraqi Kurdistan merged into Mandatory Iraq (1926)

| territory = Kingdom of Kurdistan reconquered by the British

| combatant1 = {{flagicon|Iraq|1924}} Mandatory Iraq
{{flagicon|UK}} RAF Iraq Command
{{flagicon|Assyria}} Assyrian levies

| combatant2 = Kurdish state

Barzinja tenantry and tribesmen
Hamavand tribe
Sections of the Jaf, Jabbari, Sheykh Bizayni and Shuan tribes

----

{{flagicon image|Flag of kurdistan-1922 1924.svg}} Kingdom of Kurdistan

Kurdish National Army

| commander1 = {{flagicon|Iraq|1924}} Faisal I
{{flagicon|Assyria}} Dawid Mar Shimun

| commander2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of kurdistan-1922 1924.svg}} Mahmud Barzanji{{surrendered}}

| strength1 = {{flagicon|UK}} Two British brigades

| strength2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of kurdistan-1922 1924.svg}} 500

| casualties1 =

| casualties2 =

| casualties3 =

| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Kurdish–Iraqi conflict}}

}}

The Mahmud Barzanji revolts were a series of armed uprisings by Kurdish Sheykh Mahmud Barzanji against the Iraqi authority in newly conquered British Mesopotamia and later the British Mandate in Iraq. Following his first insurrection in May 1919, Sheykh Mahmud was imprisoned and eventually exiled to India for a year. When returning, he was once again appointed a governor, but shortly revolted again declaring himself as the ruler of the Kingdom of Kurdistan. The Kingdom of Kurdistan lasted from September 1922 – July 1924.{{cite journal|last=Prince |first=James M. |date=January 1993 |title=A Kurdish State in Iraq? |journal=Current History |volume=92|number=570|page={{page needed|date=March 2020}}}} With British forces greatly exceeding his in ammunition and training, the defeat finally subdued the region to central British Iraqi rule in 1924. Sheykh Mahmud retreated into mountains, and eventually reached terms with the independent Kingdom of Iraq in 1932, over his return from the underground. Sheykh Mahmud revolts are considered the first chapter of the modern Iraqi–Kurdish conflict.

Background

Shortly after the final accords of World War I, the Sheykh of the Qadiriyya order of Sufis, the most influential personality in Iraqi Kurdistan,{{cite journal|last=Eskander |first=Saad |date=2000 |title=Britain's Policy in Southern Kurdistan: The Formation and the Termination of the First Kurdish Government, 1918–1919 |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=27 |number=2| pages=139–163|doi=10.1080/13530190020000501|s2cid=144862193 }} was appointed Governor of the former sanjak of Duhok.

1919 Kurdish revolt

1922 Kurdish revolt

After the Treaty of Sèvres, which settled some territories, Sulaymaniyah still remained under the direct control of the British High Commissioner. After the subsequent penetration of the Turkish "Özdemir" Detachment into the area, an attempt was made by the British to counter this by appointing Sheykh Mahmud, who was returned from his exile, as Governor once again, on 14 September 1922.{{cite journal|last=Khidir |first=Jaafar Hussein |url=http://www.kurdish-academic.net/articles/KAN_2004_Jaafar_Khidir_1.pdf |title=The Kurdish National Movement |journal=Kurdistan Studies Journal |number=11 |date=March 2004 |page=14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040722065626/http://www.kurdish-academic.net/articles/KAN_2004_Jaafar_Khidir_1.pdf |archive-date=22 July 2004}}{{verify source|date=April 2012}}

The Sheykh revolted again and in November declared himself King of the Kingdom of Kurdistan. Members of his cabinet included:.{{cite web|last=Fatah |first=Rebwar |author-link=Rebwar Fatah|date=12 April 2006 |title= The Kurdish resistance to Southern Kurdistan annexing with Iraq |url=http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=11980|website=KurdishMedia.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060418050534/http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=11980|archive-date=2006-04-18}} The army of the Kingdom of Kurdistan was called the Kurdish National Army.

Barzanji was defeated in July 1924 when the British had sent out the Assyrian Levies to capture Sulaymaniyah.{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Robert|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afhaAAAAMAAJ&q=Assyrian+levies+sulaimanya|title=The RAF in Action: From Flanders to the Falklands|date=1985|publisher=Blandford Press|isbn=978-0-7137-1419-7|pages=20|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Great Britain|first=Colonial Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXlAAQAAIAAJ&q=Assyrian+levies+sulaimanya|title=Report by His Britannic Majesty's Government to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Iraq|date=1930|pages=31|language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Mofidi |first=Sabah |url=https://books.google.se/books?id=4aVeEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA53&dq=Ahmed+Barzani+assyrians&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjNt8jhu--MAxUsKhAIHfeoIAwQ6wF6BAgHEAU#v=onepage&q=Ahmed%20Barzani%20assyrians&f=false |title=Political Function of Religion in Nationalistic Confrontations in Greater Kurdistan |date=2022-01-21 |publisher=Transnational Press London |isbn=978-1-80135-109-6 |pages=53 |language=en}} After the British government finally defeated Sheykh Mahmud, they signed Iraq over to King Faisal I and a new Arab-led government. In January 1926, the League of Nations gave the mandate over the territory to Mandatory Iraq, with the provision for special rights for Kurds.

Aftermath

Following the defeat Sheykh Mahmud retreated into the mountains. In 1930–1931, Sheykh Mahmud Barzanji made his last unsuccessful attempt to gain power.

He later signed a peace accord with the new Iraqi government, returning from the underground to the independent Iraq in 1932.{{cite thesis|last=Lortz |first=Michael G. |chapter-url=http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11142005-144616/unrestricted/003Manuscript.pdf |chapter=Chapter 1: Introduction: The Kurdish Warrior Tradition and the Importance of the Peshmerga|title=Willing to Face Death: A History of Kurdish Military Forces — the Peshmerga — from the Ottoman Empire to Present-Day Iraq |publisher=Florida State University |year=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191132/http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-11142005-144616/unrestricted/003Manuscript.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2013}}