Article ID: CBB001212669

Steam Power and British Influence in Baghdad, 1820--1860 (2013)

unapi

Parry, J. P. (Author)


Historical Journal
Volume: 56, no. 1
Issue: 1
Pages: 145-173

Very little has been published on British political activity in the province of Baghdad in the nineteenth century. Indeed, those formally responsible for it -- officials in India -- considered the region insignificant. This article argues, however, that it was not insignificant either to men on the spot or to influential British public figures in London and Constantinople. These men argued for its strategic and commercial potential, based on an inter-continental rather than a narrowly Indian view of policy, and optimism about the transformative material and moral power of steamships. Their pressure was responsible for the introduction of British armed steamers to the Mesopotamian rivers in 1835 and their retention throughout the century. This helped to ensure that the British had greater power in the region than any rival. The British also cultivated good relations with Arabs, expecting Ottoman rule to collapse in favour of something more progressive. The case of Baghdad shows the value for diplomatic historians of seeing Britain's European and Indian strategy as connected. It also raises doubts about the importance to British officials of promoting specific commercial interests abroad: the British in the region were much more concerned with the projection of power, reliability, and even-handedness. For the early Victorian mind, the key to progress was surely not the making of particular tariff arrangements, but the dynamic potential of steam itself.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001212669/

Similar Citations

Article Armstrong, John; Williams, David M.; (2011)
The Beginnings of a New Technology: The Constructors of Early Steamboats, 1812--22 (/isis/citation/CBB001231618/)

Thesis Lebiedowski, Lech; (2011)
Coal and Canvas: The Social and Technological Origins of the Steamship Era, circa 1700--1838 (/isis/citation/CBB001562831/)

Book Busch, John Laurence; (2010)
Steam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers and the Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier (/isis/citation/CBB001022978/)

Article Humphreys, David; (2013)
Competition in the Merchant Steamship Market, 1889--1914 (/isis/citation/CBB001422494/)

Article Pietsch, Tamson; (2010)
A British Sea: Making Sense of Global Space in the Late Nineteenth Century (/isis/citation/CBB001421504/)

Article MacLeod, Christine; Stein, Jeremy; Tann, Jennifer; Andrew, James; (2000)
Making Waves: The Royal Navy's Management of Invention and Innovation in Steam Shipping, 1815-1832 (/isis/citation/CBB000111818/)

Chapter SUZUKI Jun; Nicholas Pertwee; (2020)
Boiler Manufacture in Late-nineteenth Century Japan: From First Beginnings to Nationwide Expansion (/isis/citation/CBB586056676/)

Article Broom, C. Ian; (2007)
The History of Crofton Pumping Station on the Kennet and Avon Canal (/isis/citation/CBB000831455/)

Article Nuvolari, Alessandro; (2010)
The Theory and the Practice of Steam Engineering in Britain and in France, 1800-1850 (/isis/citation/CBB001180624/)

Article Smith, Crosbie; Higginson, Ian; Wolstenholme, Phillip; (2003)
“Imitations of God's Own Works”: Making Trustworthy the Ocean Steamship (/isis/citation/CBB000470276/)

Article McOwat, Peter; (2006)
The Design and Performance of the King Edward Turbines (/isis/citation/CBB000700481/)

Article Michael R. Bailey; (2017)
Brunel’s Fan: His Locomotive Draught Experiments of 1840/41 (/isis/citation/CBB279215031/)

Article Leggett, Don; (2011)
Spectacle and Witnessing: Constructing Readings of Charles Parsons's Marine Turbine (/isis/citation/CBB001230706/)

Article David Hardwick; Steve Grudgings; (2019)
Discoveries and Dilemmas—Excavating the Serridge Engine House (c1790) (/isis/citation/CBB343607070/)

Article Hills, Richard L.; (2006)
The Importance of Steam Power during the Nineteenth Century (/isis/citation/CBB000720096/)

Authors & Contributors
Smith, Crosbie W.
Hardwick, David
Pertwee, Nicholas
Jun, Suzuki
Humphreys, David
Wolstenholme, Phillip
Concepts
Steam engines; steam turbines
Technology
Steamboats
Ships and shipbuilding
Engineering
Industrialization
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century, early
Places
Great Britain
Coalpit Heath
United States
Japan
China
Australia
Institutions
South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group
Great Britain. Royal Navy
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment