Britain and Imperial Rivalry in the Red Sea, 1906-1927

This volume examines the rivalry between the British Empire and numerous local powers in the Red Sea region during the first quarter of the twentieth century. The strategic importance of the Red Sea grew significantly following the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, making it a critical linchpin of the British imperial system. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Britain and its Empire faced a range of challengers across the Red Sea Basin and its surrounding regions. An increasingly assertive Ottoman Empire contested British influence in South Arabia, while Italian and French interests competed with Britain in East Africa alongside the Ethiopian Empire. These imperial powers were, in turn, challenged by the rise of Muslim revivalist movements and emerging state actors, including Sayid Mohamed Abdullah Hassan (Somalia), Ibn Saud (Arabia), Ali Dinar (Sudan), and Yahya Muhammad Hamid al-Din (Yemen), among others. Although the First World War disrupted these dynamics, it did not resolve them: while some powers withdrew, many actors and underlying tensions remained. Set against the backdrop of the ‘Scramble for Arabia’ from 1906 to 1919—the contest for dominance over the Arabian Peninsula—this volume highlights the interactions between Cairo, Khartoum, Aden, Asmara, London, and Istanbul in the early twentieth century.