Mandatory Iraq

Mandatory Iraq, officially the Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration, was the British mandate over Mesopotamia created after the First World War. The San Remo conference assigned the mandate in 1920, and the 1920 Iraqi Revolt against British rule led Britain to install Faisal ibn Husayn as king in 1921. The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922 defined the relationship, and Britain retained military control through the Royal Air Force while a high commissioner advised the government. Baghdad, the old Ottoman provincial capital, became the capital of the new state. A constituent assembly and the treaty framework gave the kingdom formal independence by 1932. The mandate ended in 1932, when Iraq joined the League of Nations as an independent kingdom. British influence nevertheless continued through the treaty relationship and the oil concession held by the Iraq Petroleum Company, and the country's borders, drawn largely from the Ottoman vilayets of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra, left lasting disputes over Mosul and Kurdistan.