Iraq

Mercenaries are nothing new in history. Irish warriors hired themselves out in the Middle Ages and William of Hesse-Kassel made a fortune hiring out German Mercenaries in the 18th century. However, the situation we find today is different than these two historic examples. Today, mercenaries are paid large salaries by private companies who, although they have close relationships with governments, are not actually government organizations themselves. This provides a much different scenario than individuals hiring themselves out to governments (the Irish) or a Prince hiring out his own military to other governments (Hesse-Kassel). I would say this privatized military more closely resembles activities of private European companies in colonization such as the East India Company. The East India Company was given a state sanctioned monopoly by the British crown in 1600 and although made up of private shareholders still contained many government officials in its members. The East India Company started out just trading but employed armies and eventually took over most of what we now know as India, even employing a Sepoy Army made up of Indians to help in this endeavor.

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Lawrence of Arabia has been a household name in the West, right up there with Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and perhaps even Peter O’Toole. In the late 20th century this was largely due to the latters portrayal of Lawrence in the 1962 film. This romantic portrayal shows Lawrence dressed as a bedouin dashing around on horseback showing the evil Germans and Turks who’s boss. However, the fame and romanticism surrounding T.E. Lawrence and the Arab revolt of WWI is due to an even earlier spread of propaganda.
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Iraq, a nation since 1920, war-torn, conflict-ridden, plagued by despotic rulers, and western political and economic aspirations. The area we now know as Iraq is also the site of many ancient civilizations. Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians all built their monuments and cities in this area. A little overwhelmed with my self-driven project to find out more about the history of this “nation” I’ve read almost too much. Now I’m faced with the fact that I wrote a blog that is 3 single-spaced pages. Don’t worry I cut the lot and will not bore you with the whole thing. Do people really care about what the Persians called their Iraq province or when the Mongols sacked Baghdad? Well, perhaps a few people care, but I think my blog is already long enough for most of your TV-addled attention spans.

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British history is filled with intrepid adventurers who took off to foreign climes in search of wealth, fame, and freedom from British conventions. While many of these adventurers did tend to look on “natives” with a more sympathetic eye than Brits at home, prejudice and British patriotism still played a large role in their actions. Gertrude Bell is one such famous British adventurer. While her role is unusual because she was a woman, her actions and sentiments are not really much different from her male counterparts. At least not so far as I can see.
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