History of Jordan - Transjordan Emirate

Transjordan Emirate

With the break-up of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the League of Nations and the occupying powers were required to redraw the borders of the Middle East. The ensuing decisions, most notably the Sykes–Picot Agreement gave birth to the French Mandate for Syria and British Mandate for Palestine, the latter of which included the territory of Transjordan which had been allocated to Abdullah I of Jordan approximately a year prior to the finalisation of the Mandate document.

Another reason was that the British government had yet to find a role for Abdullah Ibn-Hussain, after his brother Faisal Ibn-Hussain had lost his control in Syria and given the role of the king of Iraq. The British made him Emir of the newly created Transjordan. At first, Abdullah actually didn't appreciate the "wasteland" he was given, and hoped it to be only a temporary appointment, replaced by Syria or Palestine. The Permanent Court of International Justice and an International Court of Arbitration established by the Council of the League of Nations handed down rulings in 1925 which determined that Palestine and Transjordan were newly-created successor states of the Ottoman Empire as defined by international law.

The most serious threats to emir Abdullah's position in Transjordan were repeated Wahhabi incursions from Najd into southern parts of his territory. The emir was powerless to repel those raids by himself, thus the British maintained a military base, with a small air force, at Marka, close to Amman. The British military force was the primary obstacle against the Ikhwan between 1922–1924, and was also utilized to help emir Abdullah with the suppression of local rebellions at Kura and later by Sultan Adwan, in 1921 and 1923 respectively.