157-561: Philby can refer to the following people St John Philby (1885–1960), British Arabist, explorer, writer and intelligence officer Kim Philby (1912–1988), British intelligence officer and spy for the Soviet Union Dell Philby, fictional character in American children's novel series Kingdom Keepers See also [ edit ] Filby , an orthographic variant of
314-473: A "machine with strong brakes but no engine". He initially wanted to boycott the 1937 provincial elections , but agreed to lead the election campaign after receiving vague assurances about abstentionism from the party leaders who wished to contest. Nehru hoped to treat the election campaign as a mass outreach programme. During the campaign, Nehru was elected to another term as Congress president. The election manifesto, drafted largely by Nehru, attacked both
471-520: A "sheltered and uneventful one". He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege in wealthy homes, including a palatial estate called the Anand Bhavan . His father had him educated at home by private governesses and tutors. Influenced by the Irish theosophist Ferdinand T. Brooks' teaching, Nehru became interested in science and theosophy . A family friend, Annie Besant subsequently initiated him into
628-417: A British diplomat: "I swear by Allah as a Muslim that I have no money for my children, for my family, and I know it if they will have money for food and clothing". At the same time, Ibn Saud had complained that the royal cars never seemed to have any petrol, leading him to dispatch Philby to investigate. Philby soon found out that the royal chauffeurs had not been paid for the last five months and were stealing
785-640: A British protectorate, and mispresented Ibn Saud's letters to Cox as an appeals for "cordial understanding". Goldberg wrote that Philby's picture of British policy as anti-Saudi was misleading to say the least as the British were interested in curbing Saudi expansion to the Persian Gulf, but were content to let Ibn Saud rule the Nejd whereas the policy of the Sublime Porte was to incorporate the Nejd into
942-707: A Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire . In 1920, he was awarded the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal for his two journeys in South Central Arabia. A subspecies of Middle Eastern lizard, Uromastyx ornata philbyi , and a partridge, Alectoris philbyi , are named in his honour. Some authors have summarised Philby as a British traitor and an anti-Semite. They suggest that Philby never forgave
1099-486: A Saudi oil concession. In May 1933, IPC instructed Longrigg to withdraw from Jeddah and to leave SoCal free to conclude negotiations with Saudi Arabia for a 60-year contract to obtain the exclusive concession for exploration and extraction of oil in the al-Hasa region along the Persian Gulf. Ibn Saud did not believe that his kingdom actually had any oil and was more interested in an upfront payment in gold than any long-time rights for revenue from an oil concession. In 1933,
1256-868: A better deal for the Saudi king, made contact with George Martin Lees , the chief geologist of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company , to alert him to SoCal's interest in gaining oil exploration rights in Saudi Arabia. Anglo-Persian was one of five international partners in the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) through which it pursued its interest in the Saudi concession. Philby told Ibn Saud that the best deal he could get would be £100, 000 British gold sovereigns, considering that no oil had actually been found in Saudi Arabia yet. Lloyd Hamilton,
1413-763: A cheap hostel attracted the attention of the British newspapers and on 30 October 1919 King George V received Crown Prince Faisal at Buckingham Palace to make up for the slight. After the 1920 Iraqi revolt against the British , Philby was appointed Minister of Internal Security in Mandatory Iraq . In November 1921, Philby was named chief head of the Secret Service in Mandatory Palestine , worked with T. E. Lawrence and met his American counterpart, Allen Dulles . In late 1922, Philby travelled to London for extensive meetings with parties involved in
1570-496: A conflict between democracy and fascism , "our sympathies must inevitably be on the side of democracy, ... I should like India to play its full part and throw all her resources into the struggle for a new order". After much deliberation, the Congress under Nehru informed the government that it would co-operate with the British but on certain conditions. First, Britain must give an assurance of full independence for India after
1727-620: A crossing from Riyadh to Jeddah by a "backdoor" route to demonstrate that Saud, not Hussein, was in control of the Arabian highlands. Philby who prided himself on his ability to travel over Arabia-at the time a region that few Westerners had ever visited-kept his distance away from the Ikhwan (Arabic for "the brotherhood"), a ferociously fanatical Wahhabi movement notorious for their practice of shooting anyone who refused their offers to convert to Wahhabism. In 1918, Philby went within 3 miles of
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#17327879015601884-552: A difference of opinion to estrange us. We had differences from the time we became co-workers and yet I have said for some years and say so now that not Rajaji but Jawaharlal will be my successor. After spending a little more than a year in jail, Nehru was released, along with other Congress prisoners, three days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. When the Japanese carried their attack through Burma (now Myanmar ) to
2041-470: A discontenting habit of starting fires anywhere they wanted to brew coffee for Crown Prince Faisal. Philby who served as the host for Faisal was forced to have the Nejdi delegation stay at a hostel for Indian Army orderly officers at St. George's Road as it was the only establishment that was willing to accept Faisal and his party. The sight of Faisal and his party dressed in traditional Arabian robes staying at
2198-755: A fanatic" and in 1908 "the first Socialist to join the Indian Civil Service ". After studying Oriental languages at the University of Cambridge , he was posted to Lahore in the Punjab in 1908, acquiring fluency in Urdu , Punjabi , Baluchi , Persian and eventually Arabic . He converted to Islam in 1930 and later became an adviser to Ibn Saud, urging him to unite the Arabian Peninsula under Saudi rule , and helping him to negotiate with
2355-602: A federal state along the lines suggested originally by the Government of India Act 1935. But as the drafting of the constitution progressed, and the idea of forming a republic took concrete shape, it was decided that all the princely states/covenanting states would merge with the Indian republic. In 1963, Nehru brought in legislation making it illegal to demand secession and introduced the Sixteenth Amendment to
2512-503: A fully fledged member of that circle of boon companions, half Privy Council, half gang of chums, who went everywhere with Abdul Aziz [Ibn Saud], chatting, laughing and arguing, discussing politics one minute, playing practical jokes the next". In 1931, Philby invited Charles Richard Crane to Jeddah to facilitate exploration of the kingdom's subsoil oil. Crane was accompanied by noted historian George Antonius , who acted as translator. Lacey wrote that Philby greatly embellished his role in
2669-593: A group of CWC members and Nehru threatened to resign and counter-resign their posts over disagreements. He became discontented with his role, especially after the death of his mother in January 1938. In February 1938, he did not stand for re-election as president, and was succeeded by Subash Chandra Bose . He left for Europe in June, stopping on the way at Alexandria , Egypt. While in Europe, Nehru became very concerned with
2826-775: A heart attack. Hailed as the "Architect of Modern India", his birthday is celebrated as Children's Day in India. Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad in British India . His father, Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), a self-made wealthy barrister who was born into the Kashmiri Pandit community, served twice as president of the Indian National Congress , in 1919 and 1928. His mother, Swarup Rani Thussu (1868–1938), who came from
2983-714: A leading pro-German voice at the court of Ibn Saud who pushed for an alliance of the kingdom with the Reich . In July 1939, a contract was signed for Germany to deliver 4, 000 rifles plus ammunition to Saudi Arabia. Philby, previously a member of the Labour Party , fought a by-election held on 20 July 1939 for the parliamentary constituency of Hythe , Kent. He stood for the anti-Semitic British People's Party (BPP) which had been founded by Lord Tavistock in April 1939. Despite his later post-war claims to have to not to share
3140-557: A leading role in establishing Non-Aligned Movement , a group of nations that did not seek membership in the two main ideological blocs of the Cold War. Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress emerged as a catch-all party , dominating national and state-level politics and winning elections in 1951 , 1957 and 1962 . His premiership, spanning 16 years and 286 days—which is, to date, the longest in India—ended with his death in 1964 from
3297-664: A major misunderstanding of Ibn Saud who wanted to be an independent and to serve no-one. In November 1941, Churchill abandoned the Philby Plan and decided to "get on with the war" with the problems of the Middle East to be resolved after the war. Dockter wrote that Churchill's willingness to accept the Philby Plan reflected his Victorian understanding of the Muslim world as a place whose leaders did not have agendas of their own and could made to serve British interests because what
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#17327879015603454-579: A mule from Aqaba to Ma'an to meet the Emir Abdullah. Philby wrote about the 71 year old Sharif riding a mule across the desert: "He never seemed to wilt and whenever I saw him on the way he was riding upright, stiff as a ramrod". The Sharif of Mecca was a very unpopular ruler owing to his rapacious corruption and cruelty and it was only the monthly subsidy of British gold that kept the Bedouin tribal chiefs loyal to him. On 5 March 1924 upon hearing
3611-619: A postcard of thanks for the part I had played'". In May 1932, Philby was in London to give a speech about his crossing of the Rub' al Khali , the "Empty Quarter" of Arabia, when he was contacted by Albert Halstead of the American embassy in London who wanted to introduce Philiby to Francis Loomis of the Standard Oil of California (SoCal). Contrary to what Philby later claimed, he assumed that Loomis wanted to meet him to hear about his crossing of
3768-455: A resolution that called for the British to grant Dominion status to India within two years. If the British failed to meet the deadline, the Congress would call upon all Indians to fight for complete independence. Nehru was one of the leaders who objected to the time given to the British—he pressed Gandhi to demand immediate actions from the British. Gandhi brokered a further compromise by reducing
3925-535: A secret from Longrigg. The IPC were only half-hearted in seeking oil concessions in Saudi Arabia as their geologists were not entirely convinced there was oil in Saudi Arabia and the Great Depression had caused the price of oil to hit all-time lows. The primary interest for the IPC was keeping the American oil companies out of the Middle East, which was rapidly became clear as SoCal offered much higher bids for
4082-462: A skin of a desert fox included survey maps inside it. He contributed to Bates' uncompleted work on the birds of Arabia. The manuscript was later used by Richard Meinertzhagen who produced Birds of Arabia (1954) giving little credit to Bates. In 1932, while searching for the lost city of Ubar , he was the first Westerner to visit and describe the Wabar craters . In August 1917, he was appointed
4239-538: A spring had been suddenly released". He was arrested on 14 April 1930 while on a train from Allahabad to Raipur . Earlier, after addressing a huge meeting and leading a vast procession, he had ceremoniously manufactured some contraband salt. He was charged with breach of the salt law and sentenced to six months of imprisonment at Central Jail. He nominated Gandhi to succeed him as the Congress president during his absence in jail, but Gandhi declined, and Nehru nominated his father as his successor. With Nehru's arrest,
4396-477: A time the organisation was suppressed. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi's call for immediate independence, and had desired instead to support the Allied war effort during World War II , came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered political landscape. The Muslim League, under Muhammad Ali Jinnah , had come to dominate Muslim politics in the interim. In the 1946 provincial elections , Congress won
4553-571: A visit to Kim in Beirut, he suddenly became ill and was rushed to hospital. "The man whose life had been so eventful and panoramic, so daring and theatrical, now lay unconscious. He awoke only for a moment and murmured to his son, 'I am so bored'. And then he expired". He is buried in the Muslim cemetery in the Basta district of Beirut. His tombstone reads, "Greatest of Arabian Explorers". In collaboration with George Latimer Bates he took an interest in
4710-627: A visit to the Soviet Union, which sparked his interest in Marxism and socialism. Appealed by its ideas but repelled by some of its tactics, he never completely agreed with Karl Marx 's ideas. However, from that time on, the benchmark of his economic view remained Marxist, adapted, where necessary, to Indian circumstances. After returning to India in December 1927, Nehru was elected to another two-year term as Congress general secretary. Nehru
4867-541: A war against the Reich . Philby and other speakers on his behalf such as Admiral Barry Domvile , Lord Tavistock, John Beckett, Ben Greene, Lady Pearson, Captain Vincent Collier and Dr. Meyrick Booth devoted much of their time to praising Germany and blaming the entire British Jewish community for having supposedly pushed Britain to the brink of war with Germany in the Danzig crisis. One of the pamphlets produced by
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5024-583: A well-known Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Lahore , was Motilal's second wife, his first having died in childbirth . Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children. The elder of his two sisters, Vijaya Lakshmi , later became the first female president of the United Nations General Assembly . His youngest sister, Krishna Hutheesing , became a noted writer and authored several books on her brother. Nehru described his childhood as
5181-422: Is Arabic for "Slave of Sixpence" on the account of his greed. Philby was an atheist and his reasons for converting to Islam were cultural, not spiritual, namely that he wanted to become part of the social life of the court of Ibn Saud, which could not do as an infidel. In 1931, Ibn Saud gave Philby the gift of a slave girl, Mariam, who served as his sex slave. Lacey wrote that after becoming a Muslim Philby "became
5338-476: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles St John Philby Harry St John Bridger Philby , CIE (3 April 1885 – 30 September 1960), also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah ( Arabic : الشيخ عبدالله ), was a British Arabist , advisor, explorer, writer, and a colonial intelligence officer who served as an advisor to King Abdulaziz ibn Saud , the founder of Saudi Arabia . As he states in his autobiography, he "became something of
5495-647: Is now the Saudi–Yemeni border on the Rub' al Khali . In his unique position, he became Ibn Saud's chief adviser in dealing with the British Empire and the other Western powers. He converted to Islam in 1930. Upon his conversion to Islam in August 1930, he was given the new name of Abdullah, which is Arabic for "Slave of Allah". The merchants of Jeddah joked that Philby's Muslim name should have been Abdulqirsh, which
5652-534: Is played again," Nehru wrote bitterly to Gandhi, "the background is the same, the various epithets are the same and the actors are the same and the results must be the same". On 23 October 1939, the Congress condemned the Viceroy's attitude and called upon the Congress ministries in the various provinces to resign in protest. Before this crucial announcement, Nehru urged Jinnah and the Muslim League to join
5809-533: Is regarded as a menace to the Semitic culture of Arabia... the European Jew of today, with his secular outlook... is regarded as an unwelcome intruder within the gates of Arabia. In Beirut, he reconciled with Kim, and they lived together for a time. The son was reemployed by MI6 as an outside informer on retainer. Philby helped further his son's career by introducing him to his extensive network of contacts in
5966-609: The Ahmednagar Fort until 15 June 1945. During the period when all the Congress leaders were in jail, the Muslim League under Jinnah grew in power. In April 1943, the League captured the governments of Bengal and, a month later, that of the North-West Frontier Province . In none of these provinces had the League previously had a majority—only the arrest of Congress members made it possible. With all
6123-665: The Athenaeum Club, London . Ben Gurion attempted to use Philby as an intermediary to reach an agreement between the Zionist Movement and King Ibn Saud. A few days after their meeting, Philby sent to Ben Gurion a draft treaty by which the Zionists would renounce the Balfour Declaration in exchange for being welcomed to the Middle East by an Arab Federation, headed by Ibn Saud. However, several clauses of
6280-761: The Hashemites and the Arab Revolt, who were both contenders for "King of the Arabs". Cox had wanted Ibn Saud to attack the Kingdom of Hali, which had supported the Ottoman Empire. The British mission of four officers which arrived in Riyadh, the capital of the Nejd, doubled in one month the total number of Westerners known to have visited Riyadh in all of its recorded history. The Nejd region in central Arabia
6437-696: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , and a member of Brit Shalom , reacted to the proposal positively, and suggested alterations in order to secure guarantees for the Jewish minority. The Philby Plan was subsequently modified to allow for some sort of Jewish state in Palestine in order to gain the acceptance of the Zionist leaders. As related in his memoirs, David Ben Gurion , who would become Israel's first prime minister, met Philby on 18 May 1937 at
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6594-682: The Ikhwan base at Artawiya, and watched the Ikhwan via his binoculars. For his safety, Philby chose not to go any closer to Artawiya. Philby who was fluent in Arabic liked to tease Ibn Saud by telling him it was possible to reach America by either travelling east or west as the earth was round, which led Ibn Saud to say that was not possible as he believed the earth was flat. When Ibn Saud asked what language people in America spoke, Philby told him English, which confused Ibn Saud to no end as he heard that
6751-557: The Indian National Congress , rose to become the leader of a progressive faction during the 1920s, and eventually of the Congress in its totality, receiving the support of Mahatma Gandhi who was to designate Nehru as his political heir. As Congress president in 1929, Nehru called for complete independence from the British Raj . Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s. Nehru promoted
6908-641: The Inner Temple (one of the four Inns of Court to which English barristers must belong). During this time, he continued to study Fabian Society scholars including Beatrice Webb . He was called to the Bar in 1912. After returning to India in August 1912, Nehru enrolled as an advocate of the Allahabad High Court and tried to settle down as a barrister. But, unlike his father, he had very little interest in his profession and relished neither
7065-456: The Jallianwala Bagh killings . Motilal Nehru lost his belief in constitutional reform, and joined his son in accepting Gandhi's methods and paramount leadership of the Congress. In December 1919, Nehru's father was elected president of the Indian National Congress in what is regarded as "the first Gandhi Congress". During the non-cooperation movement launched by Gandhi in 1920, Nehru played an influential role in directing political activities in
7222-411: The Palestine question, included Winston Churchill , George V , Edward, Prince of Wales , Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild , Wickham Steed and Chaim Weizmann . Philby's view was that the interests of both the British and the Saud family would be best served by uniting the Arabian Peninsula under one government stretching from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf , with the Saudis supplanting
7379-406: The Rub' al Khali , and he was surprised when he learned Loomis was instead interested in oil. Because oil had been discovered in Iran in 1908, it was assumed that the same geological deposit of oil that had been found on the northern end of the Persian Gulf might also extend to the southern end of the Persian Gulf. Besides for being fluent in Arabic, Philby had the advantage of being allowed to enter
7536-453: The Theosophical Society at age thirteen. However, his interest in theosophy did not prove to be enduring, and he left the society shortly after Brooks departed as his tutor. He wrote: "For nearly three years [Brooks] was with me and in many ways, he influenced me greatly". Nehru's theosophical interests induced him to study the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures . According to B. R. Nanda , these scriptures were Nehru's "first introduction to
7693-464: The United States Department of Justice Office of Special Investigations Nazi -hunting unit, claimed that Adolf Eichmann , on a mission to the Middle East, met with Philby "during the mid-1930s". The discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in 1938 had made Ibn Saud into an important world leader. In January 1939, Saudi Arabia established diplomatic relations with Germany, and in February 1939 a Saudi emissary arrived at Berchtesgarten to see Adolf Hitler in
7850-498: The divine right of kings . In May 1947, he declared that any princely state which refused to join the Constituent Assembly would be treated as an enemy state. Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon were more conciliatory towards the princes, and as the men charged with integrating the states, were successful in the task. During the drafting of the Indian constitution, many Indian leaders (except Nehru) were in favour of allowing each princely state or covenanting state to be independent as
8007-973: The thraldom of Europe." Later, in 1905, when he had begun his institutional schooling at Harrow , a leading school in England where he was nicknamed "Joe", G. M. Trevelyan 's Garibaldi books, which he had received as prizes for academic merit, influenced him greatly. He viewed Garibaldi as a revolutionary hero. He wrote: "Visions of similar deeds in India came before, of [my] gallant fight for [Indian] freedom and in my mind, India and Italy got strangely mixed together." Nehru went to Trinity College, Cambridge , in October 1907 and graduated with an honours degree in natural science in 1910. During this period, he studied politics, economics, history and literature with interest. The writings of Bernard Shaw , H. G. Wells , John Maynard Keynes , Bertrand Russell , Lowes Dickinson and Meredith Townsend moulded much of his political and economic thinking. After completing his degree in 1910, Nehru moved to London and studied law at
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#17327879015608164-458: The "protection of the small man against big business". Philby was recruited by Lord Tavistock to run as the BPP candidate for the by-election. Philby in his 1948 memoir Arabian Days downplayed his commitment to the BPP as he wrote "...I was approached by Lord Tavistock, John Beckett and Ben Greene of a new and small organisation called the British People's Party, with those general outlook I had no sympathy, though I fully and cordially agreed with
8321-433: The 1935 Act. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) under Gandhi passed a compromise resolution that authorised office acceptance, but reiterated that the fundamental objective of the Congress was the destruction of the 1935 Act. Nehru was more popular than before with the public, but he found himself isolated at the CWC meetings due to the anti-socialist orientation of its membership. Gandhi had to personally intervene when
8478-447: The 1950s, influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he is well-known as one of the Founders of the Non-aligned Movement and, concomitantly, for steering India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War . A coveted author, the books he wrote in prison, such as Letters from a Father to His Daughter (1929), An Autobiography (1936) and The Discovery of India (1946), have been read and deliberated upon around
8635-402: The Act and the Communal Award that went with it. He campaigned against the Muslim League , and argued that Muslims could not be regarded as a separate nation. The Congress won most general seats, and the Muslim League fared poorly with Muslim electorates. After the elections, Nehru drafted a resolution against taking office, but there were many Congress leaders who wanted to assume power under
8792-417: The Arabs, which promised self-determination . Philby felt there was a betrayal of that assurance, along with others made in the Balfour Declaration and the Sykes-Picot Agreement , of the promise of a single unified Arab nation. Philby argued that Ibn Saud was a "democrat" guiding his affairs "by mutual counsel", as laid out in the Quran , in contrast to George Curzon 's support for Hussein. Tensions between
8949-438: The BPP in the by-election, Alien Money Power in Great Britain attacked the Conservative candidate Rupert Brabner by claiming he worked for a London law firm run by Jews. Philby in a speech in the by-election on 8 July 1939 praised Hitler for having "restored one of the greatest races in the world to the position of one of the foremost nations in the world as it was in present times". The British historian Martin Pugh wrote that
9106-417: The Berghof high up in the Bavarian Alps to tell him "that it is our foremost aim to see the friendly and intimate relations with the German Reich developed to the utmost limits". Dr. Fritz Grobba visited Riyadh in January-February 1939 to see Ibn Saud who told him he "hated the English" and looked forward to the day when Germany would replace Britain as the world's foremost power. Grobba described Philby as
9263-531: The British connection and attain Purna Swaraj or complete independence. At midnight on New Year's Eve 1929, Nehru hoisted the tricolour flag of India upon the banks of the Ravi in Lahore. A pledge of independence was read out, which included a readiness to withhold taxes. The massive gathering of the public attending the ceremony was asked if they agreed with it, and the majority of people were witnessed raising their hands in approval. 172 Indian members of central and provincial legislatures resigned in support of
9420-673: The British government for ending his civil service career for sexual misconduct. Once recruited by MI6, according to those authors, Philby used his intelligence assignment to take revenge on the British government. With the extensive contacts he acquired as a British agent, Philby continued to betray British policy and to resist all efforts at creating a Jewish homeland throughout his life. Philby disclosed classified British intelligence to Ibn Saud during wartime, secretly helped secure American oil concessions in Saudi Arabia, double-crossed British competitors, created economic partnerships allied against British interests and for those of Nazi Germany with
9577-420: The British secret service. When Harold B. Hoskins of the United States State Department visited Ibn Saud in August 1943, he asked if the king would be willing to have an intermediary meet with Chaim Weizmann. Ibn Saud angrily responded that he was insulted by the suggestion that he could be bribed for £20 million to accept resettlement of Arabs from Palestine. Hoskins reports the king said Weizmann told him
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#17327879015609734-450: The Congress radicals, who promoted Swaraj , Swadesh , and boycott. The two factions had split in 1907. After returning to India in 1912, Nehru attended the annual session of the Congress at Patna . The Congress was then considered a party of moderates and elites dominated by Gopal Krishna Gokhale , and Nehru was disconcerted by what he saw as "very much an English-knowing upper-class affair". However, Nehru agreed to raise funds for
9891-462: The Hashemites as Islamic "Keepers of the Holy Places" and protecting shipping lanes along the Suez Canal –Aden– Mumbai (then Bombay) route. Philby was forced to resign his post in 1924 over differences about allowing Jewish immigration to Palestine. He was found to have had unauthorised correspondence with Ibn Saud and to have sent confidential information, which carried with it the connotation of espionage. Shortly afterward, Ibn Saud began to call for
10048-418: The Hejaz went very well as the Ikhwan fighting for Ibn Saud crushed the army of the Sharif who proved quite unwilling to fight for him without British gold. On 16 October 1924, the defeated Sharif of Mecca abdicated as King of the Hejaz and fled the Hejaz, never to return. All the Hashemites held at the end of October 1924 were the cities of Medina and Jeddah. On 17 December 1925, the war ended with Jeddah ,
10205-449: The Hejaz. At the same time, Britain also ceased paying the £25,000 subsidy in gold coins per month to the Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca. Without British gold, the authority of the Sharif of Mecca promptly collapsed as he was not able to bribe the Bedouin tribal chiefs to fight for him. In March 1924, Hussein bin Ali visited his son Abdullah, the Emir of Transjordan, and Philby noticed the Sharif refused to use an automobile as he instead rode
10362-436: The Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca who ruled the Hejaz vs. Ibn Saud the Emir of the Nejd increased after the war as both men sought to rule Arabia. In October 1919, Ibn Saud sent his Foreign Minister, his 14-year-old son, Crown Prince Faisal , to London to seek British mediation of his dispute with the Sharif of Mecca. None of the major London hotels would allow Faisal and the Nejdi delegation to stay as Faisal's slaves had
10519-416: The Indian independence movement. Gandhi stepped back into a more spiritual role. Although Gandhi did not explicitly designate Nehru as his political heir until 1942, as early as the mid-1930s, the country saw Nehru as the natural successor to Gandhi. In 1929, Nehru had already drafted the "Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy" resolution that set the government agenda for an independent India. The resolution
10676-412: The Lahore session in 1929, Nehru had declared that, "The Indian States cannot live apart from the rest of India and their rulers must, unless they accept their inevitable limitations, go the way of others like them." In July 1946, Nehru pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India. In January 1947, he said that independent India would not accept
10833-562: The Middle East, including Lebanese President Camille Chamoun . Both were sympathetic to Gamal Abdel Nasser during the Suez Crisis in August 1956. Between Jack's access to ARAMCO and Kim's access to British intelligence, there was little they did not know about Operation Musketeer , the French and British plan to capture the Suez Canal. The Soviets exposed the entire plan in the United Nations and threatened Britain and France with "long-range guided missiles equipped with atomic warheads ". In 1955, Philby returned to live in Riyadh. In 1960, on
10990-471: The Middle East. The British historian Stephen Dockter wrote that the Philby Plan was impractical not least because Philby was not speaking on behalf of Ibn Saud as he claimed to be. Ibn Saud was willing to allow a Jewish presence in Palestine, but would never accept a Jewish state in Palestine, which he regarded as Muslim land in its entirety. Finally, the plan proposed that the Hashemite monarchs of Iraq and Transjordan accept Ibn Saud as their overlord, which
11147-499: The Muslim areas after the war to see whether they wanted to separate from the rest of India. Essentially, it was an acceptance of the principle of Pakistan—but not in so many words. Jinnah demanded that the exact words be used. Gandhi refused and the talks broke down. Jinnah, however, had greatly strengthened his own position and that of the League. The most influential member of the Congress had been seen to negotiate with him on equal terms. Nehru and his colleagues were released prior to
11304-502: The Muslim holy city of Mecca (where Ibn Saud often stayed), which all non-Muslims were banned from entering while the oil company executives stayed in Jeddah. The principle revenue in Saudi Arabia prior to the discovery of oil was taxing the pilgrims making the hajj to Mecca, and the Great Depression had drastically lowered the number of Muslims making the hajj to Mecca, causing a crisis in Saudi Arabia. In early 1932, Ibn Saud had told
11461-482: The Muslim-dominated provinces except Punjab under Jinnah's control, the concept of a separate Muslim State was turning into a reality. However, by 1944, Jinnah's power and prestige were waning. A general sympathy towards the jailed Congress leaders was developing among Muslims, and much of the blame for the disastrous Bengal famine of 1943 –44 during which two million died had been laid on the shoulders of
11618-513: The Nejd enough to risk a confrontation with the Ottoman over. The British only cared about control of the coastal areas of Arabia around the Persian Gulf and had no interest in the interior of Arabia, which a barely inhabited desert. Ultimately Ibn Saud was able to defeat the Ottomans on his own. In his histories, Philby did not admit that his hero Ibn Saud had tried hard to have the Nejd become
11775-673: The Nejd in May 1906, 13 months after their supposed retreat in April 1905. Goldberg accused Philby of trying to "rewrite" the foundation of the modern Saudi state in a manner that glorified Ibn Saud as a "freedom-fighter". [REDACTED] Media related to Harry St-John Bridger Philby at Wikimedia Commons Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister of India (1947–1964) Influenced [REDACTED] Jawaharlal Nehru ( / ˈ n eɪ r u / NAY -roo or / ˈ n ɛ r u / NERR -oo , Hindi: [dʒəˌʋaːɦəɾˈlaːl ˈneːɦɾuː] ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964)
11932-545: The Ottoman Army, Ibn Saud wrote several fawning letters in 1905 and 1906 professing his loyalty to the Ottoman Empire as he argued that he taken Riyadh in 1902 from Ibn Rasheed because it had belonged to his family until 1891, but that he was not disloyal to the Sultan-Caliph Abdul Hamid II. In several of his letters, Ibn Saud wrote that he was willing to submit to the Sublime Porte provided that
12089-478: The Ottoman Empire. Goldberg wrote in this way Philby gave a dishonest account of British policy in Arabia as he left the reader with the impression that the British were seeking to annex the Nejd. Likewise, Goldberg noted that Ibn Saud failed to gain the support of the British that he chose appeasement of the Sublime Porte as he feared that Ottomans would dispatch even more troops against him. Despite his battles with
12246-473: The Ottomans allowed him to rule as the Emir of the Nejd. Goldberg noted that Philby failed to mention any of this in his books and instead portrayed the Ottomans as leaving the Nejd forever in April 1905 when in fact Ibn Saud handed over several forts to the Ottomans that month in exchange for the Sublime Porte allowing him to stay on as Emir. Goldberg noted Philby himself had written that the Ottomans were still in
12403-857: The United Kingdom and the United States when petroleum was discovered in 1938. His second marriage was to a Saudi Arabian woman, Rozy al-Abdul Aziz. His only son by his first wife, Dora Johnston, was Kim Philby , who became known worldwide as a double agent for the Soviet Union who defected in 1963. Khaled Philby, one of his three sons with his second wife, is the former United Nations Resident Coordinator (equivalent to an ambassador) in, among others, Kuwait and Turkmenistan. Born in Badulla in British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka ),
12560-595: The United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh ) as provincial Congress secretary. He was imprisoned on 6 December 1921 on charges of anti-governmental activities, marking the first of eight periods of detention between 1921-1945, lasting over nine years in all. By 1923, Nehru had emerged as a national figure of some stature. He was elected general secretary of the Congress, president of the United Provinces Congress, and mayor of Allahabad all in
12717-403: The United States did not even maintain diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and Ibn Saud had preferred to award an oil concession to a British company as Britain was the hegemonic power in the Middle East. Despite what Philby later claimed, the decisive moment in the talks came when Sir Andrew Ryan , the British plenipotentiary-minister to Saudi Arabia told Ibn Saud to accept SoCal's offer as it
12874-614: The United States to give a defeatist lectures to isolationist groups opposed to the pro-Allied neutrality of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Philby believed that Germany was invincible and the theme of his speeches during his planned American tour was that it was folly for the United States to support the United Kingdom. When he travelled to Bombay , he was arrested on 3 August 1940 under Defence Regulation 18B , deported to England and there briefly interned. Shortly after his release from custody, Philby recommended his son, Kim, to Valentine Vivian , MI6 deputy chief, who recruited him into
13031-628: The abolition of the caliphate in Turkey, Hussein bin Ali proclaimed himself the new caliph and declared that henceforward all Muslims now owed him their loyalty. The decision of Hussein to proclaim himself caliph sparked outrage all over the Muslim world with the general feeling being that the Sharif had no right to call himself caliph. In August 1924, Ibn Saud declared jihad on Hussein for his sacrilegious act in proclaiming himself caliph. The Nejdi invasion of
13188-464: The accounts of his travels in Arabia has dominated the Arabian scholarship in a manner that no-one has ever managed. However, Goldberg wrote that Philby was not a reliable source on the history of Arabia owing to his hero worship of Ibn Saud, whom Philby regarded was a close to a perfect man as possible. Furthermore, Goldberg noted that Philby had a strong antagonism towards his own country that verged on Anglophobia and in his account of Arabian history it
13345-480: The aim of reasserting control over the Nejd. Faced with 7, 000 troops of the German-armed and German-trained Ottoman Army marching into the Arabian desert in 1904, Ibn Saud appealed to Sir Percy Cox, the British resident in the Persian Gulf to make the Nejd into a British protectorate as a way to gain British support against the Sublime Porte; Cox did not answer Ibn Saud's appeals as the British did not care about
13502-629: The anti-war attitude. Eventually I agreed to fight the Hythe by-election". Reflecting the way that various extreme right movements in Britain often co-operated, Lady Domville, the wife of Admiral Barry Domvile , the leader of The Link , campaigned hard for Philipy in the Hythe by-election. Joining her were Lady Grace Pearson along with a number of activists from the British Union of Fascists-who came mostly from London- who descended upon Hythe and
13659-478: The arrival of the British 1946 Cabinet Mission to India to propose plans for the transfer of power. The agreed plan in 1946 led to elections to the provincial assemblies. In turn, the members of the assemblies elected members of the Constituent Assembly. Congress won the majority of seats in the assembly and headed the interim government , with Nehru as the prime minister. The Muslim League joined
13816-497: The authority of which was denied by various elements in India's national life". In October 1940, Gandhi and Nehru, abandoning their original stand of supporting Britain, decided to launch a limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one. Nehru was arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment. On 15 January 1941, Gandhi stated: Some say Jawaharlal and I were estranged. It will require much more than
13973-616: The best solution to the "Palestine Question" as Churchill found the rival Jewish and Arab claims to the Palestine Mandate deeply vexing and wished to find some compromise to the intractable dispute. Subsequently, several other leading figures such as the South African prime minister General Jan Smuts and the India Secretary Leo Amery accepted the Philby Plan as the best solution to the problems of
14130-589: The birds of the Arabian region. In his travels, he collected specimens for Bates and several new species were described from his specimens. These included the Arabian woodpecker ( Desertipicus (now Dendrocopos ) dorae ), a subspecies (no longer valid) of a scops owl ( Otus scops pamelae ) and Philby's partridge ( Alectoris philbyi ). His specimens are held in the British Museum . His specimen packages were sometimes used to transport sensitive documents,
14287-513: The borders of India in the spring of 1942, the British government, faced with this new military threat, decided to make some overtures to India, as Nehru had originally desired. Prime Minister Winston Churchill dispatched Sir Stafford Cripps , a member of the War Cabinet who was known to be politically close to Nehru and knew Jinnah, with proposals for a settlement of the constitutional problem. As soon as he arrived, he discovered that India
14444-495: The campaign for Philby was "amateurish" with Beckett at one point reporting false returns on his canvassing and then saying "That's done. Let's go to the pub!" Philby won 576 votes in the by-election. Philby lost his deposit . Soon afterward, the Second World War began. He is recorded as having referred to Adolf Hitler as un homme très fin ("a most sophisticated man"). In August 1940, Philby had decided to visit
14601-466: The civil disobedience acquired a new tempo, and arrests, firing on crowds and lathi charges grew to be ordinary occurrences. The salt satyagraha ("pressure for reform through passive resistance") succeeded in attracting world attention. Indian, British, and world opinion increasingly recognised the legitimacy of the claims by the Congress party for independence. Nehru considered the salt satyagraha
14758-452: The corrupt, Westernised monarchs of Egypt, Transjordan and Iraq was the main reason for the support of Churchill, Namier, and Weizmann for the Philby Plan. The image of Ibn Saud as an "authentic Arab" who was "independent" of the West led to the conclusion that any plan endorsed by him would gain the acceptance of all the Arabs. On 12 March 1941, Churchill told Weizmann that the Philby Plan was
14915-539: The discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia, writing: "If you read his own accounts-and there are several-Philby was in there from the very beginning. It was he who, in the autumn of 1930, started off the whole story of Saudi oil by telling Abdul Aziz [Ibn Saud] in his car at Taif that he was 'like a man sleeping on top of buried treasure'; it was he who told the king about Charles Crane; it was he who arranged for Crane to come down from Jeddah from Egypt-and later Philby even published his displeasure that 'Mr. Crane never so much as sent
15072-404: The draft treaty were unacceptable to Ben Gurion. In particular, Philby had proposed that Palestine would be "open to the immigration of all those seeking to become its citizens, regardless of race and creed" and refused to mention specific Jewish immigration. To Ben Gurion, that would have defeated the whole aim of Zionism. Ben Gurion sent Philby a counterproposal based on what Ben Gurion regarded as
15229-516: The elections but the League won most seats reserved for Muslims, which the British interpreted to be a clear mandate for Pakistan in some form. Nehru became the interim prime minister of India in September 1946, with the League joining his government with some hesitancy in October 1946. Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, Nehru gave a critically acclaimed speech, " Tryst with Destiny "; he
15386-821: The finance branch of the British administration in Baghdad . The position included fixing compensation for property and business owners. The mission was to organise the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks and to protect the oil fields in Abadan and the Shatt al Arab , which were a source of fuel for the Royal Navy . The revolt was organised with the promise of creating a unified Arab state, or Arab federation, from Aleppo , Syria , to Aden , Yemen . Gertrude Bell
15543-471: The first shipment of oil from Saudi Arabia to go abroad left on an oil tanker, the D.G. Schofield , which set sail for America. Philby, then known as an anti-Zionist , outlined a plan to reach a compromise with Zionism , after consultation with Arab leaders, and it was reported in The New York Times in October 1929. The Philby Plan foresaw a shared confirmation of the Balfour Declaration in
15700-529: The fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities for growth. We believe also that if any government deprives a people of these rights and oppresses them the people have a further right to alter it or abolish it. The British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses, and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually. We believe, therefore, that India must sever
15857-578: The government later with Liaquat Ali Khan as the Finance member. Nehru served as prime minister for 16 years, initially as the interim prime minister, then from 1947 as the prime minister of the Dominion of India and then from 1950 as the prime minister of the Republic of India. Jawaharlal Nehru showed his concern for the princely states of South Asia since 1920s. During his Presidential Address at
16014-568: The government soon moved to detain him again. On 22 December 1933, the Home Secretary sent a memo to all local governments in India: The Government of India regard him [Nehru] as by far the most dangerous element at large in India, and their view is that the time has come, in accordance with their general policy of taking steps at an early stage to prevent attempts to work up mass agitation, to take action against him. He
16171-415: The help of Allen Dulles (later CIA Director) and worked with Nazi intelligence to sabotage efforts at creating a Jewish homeland. Philby's 1955 book Saudi Arabia contains the only known account of the 1931 Saudi–Yemeni border skirmish . The American scholar Jacob Goldberg noted that Philby with his varied interests in the archaeology, literature, politics, geography, and zoology of Arabia plus with
16328-479: The high-water mark of his association with Gandhi, and felt its lasting importance was in changing the attitudes of Indians: Of course these movements exercised tremendous pressure on the British Government and shook the government machinery. But the real importance, to my mind, lay in the effect they had on our own people, and especially the village masses. ... Non-cooperation dragged them out of
16485-455: The history of Arabia down to a morality play, a constant struggle between his villains such as the duplicitous British vs. heroes such as his noble Saudis. Goldberg noted that Philby aggressively engaged in historical distortion in his books. As an example, Goldberg noted that when Ibn Saud seized Riyadh in 1902 from Ibn Rasheed, he become a rebel against the Ottoman Empire and the Sublime Porte dispatched several expeditions in 1904 and 1905 when
16642-522: The idea of the secular nation-state in the 1937 provincial elections , allowing the Congress to sweep the elections, and to form governments in several provinces. In September 1939, the Congress ministries resigned to protest Viceroy Lord Linlithgow 's decision to join the war without consulting them. After the All India Congress Committee 's Quit India Resolution of 8 August 1942, senior Congress leaders were imprisoned and for
16799-524: The ideology of the BPP, Philby was a founding member of the BPP and sat on the National Executive of the BPP alongside Lord Tavistock, John Beckett , Ben Greene , John Scanlon, and Lord Lymington . Other members of the BPP included Robert Gordon-Canning , Anthony Ludovici and Henry Williamson . During the by-election, Philby declared "no cause whatever is worth the spilling of human blood" and
16956-421: The indispensable minimum Zionist aspirations to which Philby never replied. Philby's plans for a confederation headed by Ibn Saud with a Jewish "national Home' in Palestine never seems to have interested Ibn Saud, but gained support of Winston Churchill along with the Zionist leaders Lewis Namier and Chaim Weizmann . The romantic image of Ibn Saud as the "desert king" who was more of an "authentic" Arab than
17113-552: The last stronghold of the Hashemites surrendering to Ibn Saud. In 1925, Philby claimed that Ibn Saud had brought unprecedented order into Arabia. The new kingdom of the Hejaz and the Nejd was later renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Philby settled in Jeddah and became a partner in a trading company. Over the next few years, he became famous as an international writer and explorer. Philby personally mapped on camel back what
17270-481: The latest stand taken by the Muslim League leader in Lahore". Linlithgow made Nehru an offer on 8 October 1940, which stated that Dominion status for India was the objective of the British government. However, it referred neither to a date nor a method to accomplish this. Only Jinnah received something more precise: "The British would not contemplate transferring power to a Congress-dominated national government,
17427-404: The lawyer who represented SoCal during the talks in Jeddah in 1932-1933 paid Philby a secret $ 1, 000 month "retainer" to advance SoCal's right to the oil concessions. In March 1933, IPC sent a representative, Stephen Longrigg, to join negotiations with the Saudi government in Jeddah. However, Philby's primary loyalty was to the Saudi king. Although he was being paid by SoCal, he kept the arrangement
17584-471: The leadership of Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak to voice a demand for Swaraj or self-governance . Besant and Tilak formed separate Home Rule Leagues . Nehru joined both groups, but he worked primarily with Besant, with whom he had a very close relationship since childhood. He became the secretary of Besant's Home Rule League. In June 1917, the British government arrested Besant. The Congress and other organisations threatened to launch protests if she
17741-526: The minimal sense of Palestine as the "Jewish national home" without being opposed to the maximal interpretation of the Balfour declaration as a call for a Jewish state in Palestine. The plan called for continued Jewish immigration into Palestine in exchange for a renunciation by Zionists of any desire to seek political dominance. Representation of the two groups would be based on respecting the numerical proportions between both groups. Judah Magnes , chancellor of
17898-446: The mire and gave them self-respect and self-reliance. ... They acted courageously and did not submit so easily to unjust oppression; their outlook widened and they began to think a little in terms of India as a whole. ... It was a remarkable transformation and the Congress, under Gandhi's leadership, must have the credit for it. On 11 October 1930, Nehru's detention ended, but he was back in jail in less than ten days for resuming
18055-545: The ongoing Indian civil rights movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa. In 1916, Nehru married Kamala Kaul , who came from a Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Delhi. Their only daughter, Indira , was born in 1917. Kamala gave birth to a son in 1924, but the baby lived for only a few days. The influence of moderates declined after Gokhale died in 1915. Several nationalist leaders banded together in 1916 under
18212-657: The other small towns of Kent in order to campaign for Philby. The major issue in the by-election was the Danzig crisis with Philby attacking the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for having "just sat back to see what would happen". Philby took the Chamberlain government to task for the "guarantee" of Poland which he felt was pushing Britain towards an unnecessary war with Germany and favored abandoning Poland to its fate rather than risking
18369-479: The overthrow of the Hashemite dynasty, with Philby advising him on how far he could go in occupying the Hejaz without incurring the wrath of the British, the principal power in the Middle East. The principle reason why Ibn Saud chose not to invade the Hejaz was the £60,000 annual subsidy in gold coins paid to him by the British government and in 1923 Britain ceased paying the subsidy, which inspired Ibn Saud to invade
18526-553: The people in America were Indians and he thought they spoke Hindi, leading Philby to explain to him that there was a difference between the indigenous peoples of the Americas vs. the peoples of the Indian subcontinent. Philby was allowed to meet the future kings of Saudi Arabia who were boys at the time, namely Saud, Faisal, and Fahad. In November 1918, Britain and France issued the Anglo-French Declaration to
18683-452: The petrol to support their families. In May 1932, SoCal sought out Philby in its quest to obtain an oil concession in Saudi Arabia, ultimately signing Philby as a paid adviser to SoCal. On 11 July 1932, Philby told Loomis that Ibn Saud wanted cash in the form of gold sovereigns in exchange for an oil concession and was not interested in the fine print of any agreement. Philby, in turn, recognised that competition by foreign interests would get
18840-605: The possibility of another world war. At that time, he emphasised that, in the event of war, India's place was alongside the democracies, though he insisted India could only fight in support of Great Britain and France as a free country. After returning to India in December 1938, Nehru accepted Bose's offer to head the Planning Commission . In February 1939, he became president of the All India States Peoples Conference (AISPC), which
18997-531: The practice of law nor the company of lawyers: "Decidedly the atmosphere was not intellectually stimulating and a sense of the utter insipidity of life grew upon me." His involvement in nationalist politics was to gradually replace his legal practice. Nehru's father, Motilal, was an important moderate leader of the Indian National Congress. The moderates believed British rule was modernising, and sought reform and more participation in government in cooperation with British authorities. However, Nehru sympathised with
19154-409: The presidency of the banned Congress. On 26 January 1931, Nehru and other prisoners were released early by Lord Irwin , who was negotiating with Gandhi. His father died on 6 February 1931. Nehru was back in jail on 26 December 1931 after violating court orders not to leave Allahabad while leading a "no-rent" campaign to alleviate peasant distress. On 30 August 1933, Nehru was released from prison, but
19311-448: The promise of payment would be "guaranteed by President Roosevelt". A month later Weizmann wrote in a letter to Sumner Welles : "It is conceived on big lines, large enough to satisfy the legitimate aspirations of both Arabs and Jews, and the strategic and economic interests of the United States;... properly managed, Mr. Philby's scheme offers an approach which should not be abandoned". After Ibn Saud died in 1953, Philby openly criticised
19468-563: The protest, but Jinnah declined. In March 1940, Muhammad Ali Jinnah passed what came to be known as the Pakistan Resolution , declaring that, "Muslims are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands , their territory and their State." This state was to be known as Pakistan, meaning 'Land of the Pure'. Nehru angrily declared that "all the old problems ... pale into insignificance before
19625-520: The province's Muslim League government. The numbers at Jinnah's meetings, once counted in thousands, soon numbered only a few hundred. In despair, Jinnah left the political scene for a stay in Kashmir. His prestige was restored unwittingly by Gandhi, who had been released from prison on medical grounds in May 1944 and had met Jinnah in Bombay in September. There, he offered the Muslim leader a plebiscite in
19782-627: The religious and cultural heritage of [India]....[They] provided Nehru the initial impulse for [his] long intellectual quest which culminated...in The Discovery of India ." Nehru became an ardent nationalist during his youth. The Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War intensified his feelings. Of the latter he wrote, "[The] Japanese victories [had] stirred up my enthusiasm. ... Nationalistic ideas filled my mind. ... I mused of Indian freedom and Asiatic freedom from
19939-407: The resolution and in accordance with Indian public sentiment. The Congress asked the people of India to observe 26 January as Independence Day. Congress volunteers, nationalists, and the public hoisted the flag of India publicly across India. Plans for mass civil disobedience were also underway. After the Lahore session of the Congress in 1929, Nehru gradually emerged as the paramount leader of
20096-544: The richest commercial prize in the history of the planet. Philby represented Saudi interests. In 1937 when the Spanish Civil War broke out, Philby arranged for his son, Kim Philby , to become a war correspondent for The Times . On 16 March 1938 the oil prospectors for SoCal at Well Number 7 in Dhahran discovered the world's richest vein of oil, which marked the beginning of the Saudi oil industry. In May 1939,
20253-416: The right to a Saudi oil concession than the IPC. Philby's main role in the talks was to spark a bidding war that ensured that SoCal paid more for a Saudi oil concession than otherwise would have been the case. During the talks in 1932–1933, Philby sought to increase tensions by telling the rival oil executives in Jeddah cryptic statements that gave the impression that the other side was willing to pay more for
20410-508: The room before speaking. Philby greatly liked and admired Ibn Saud, whom he presented as a romantic hero. Philby's attitude to Ibn Saud bordered on hero worship. Reflecting his disenchantment with modern Britain, Philby saw Abdul Aziz as a sort of noble savage, a man unaffected by modern civilisation who because he was "primitive" was a better and nobler man than more "civilised" people. Philby secretly began to favour Ibn Saud even though British policy supported Sherif Hussein. Philby completed
20567-426: The royal palace, he was taken to see a "little old man somewhat inclined to stoutness, sharp-featured and bright-eyed" who was generous in supplying coffee and then retired. At that point, Philby realised "another person had been in the room all the room...a very giant of a man" who introduced himself as Abdul Aziz al-Saud, the Emir of the Nejd, also known as Ibn Saud, who had waiting respectfully for his father to leave
20724-488: The same surname [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Philby . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philby&oldid=1247204794 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
20881-480: The same year. The non-cooperation movement was halted in 1923 as a result of the Chauri Chaura incident . Nehru's two-year term as general secretary ended after 1925, and earlier that year he resigned as mayor of Allahabad due to his disillusionment with municipal politics. In 1926, Nehru left for Europe with his wife and daughter to seek treatment for his wife's tuberculosis diagnosis. While in Europe, he
21038-627: The son of a tea planter, he was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge , where he studied oriental languages under Edward Granville Browne , and was a friend and classmate of Jawaharlal Nehru , who later became the first prime minister of independent India . Philby married Dora Johnston in September 1910, with his distant cousin Bernard Law Montgomery as best man. In addition to their son, Kim, born in 1912, they had three daughters: Diana, Helena and Patricia. The British historian Robert Lacey wrote that Philby
21195-471: The successor, King Saud , by saying the royal family's morals were being picked up "in the gutters of the West". He was exiled to Lebanon in 1955. There, he wrote: the true basis of Arab hostility to Jewish immigration into Palestine is xenophobia , and instinctive perception that the vast majority of central and eastern European Jews , seeking admission... are not Semites at all.... Whatever political repercussions of their settlement may be, their advent
21352-530: The time given from two years to one. The British rejected demands for Dominion status in 1929. Nehru assumed the presidency of the Congress party during the Lahore session on 29 December 1929 and introduced a successful resolution calling for complete independence . Nehru drafted the Indian Declaration of Independence, which stated: We believe that it is the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and to enjoy
21509-601: The two later reconciled. In 1942, Gandhi called on the British to leave India; Nehru, though reluctant to embarrass the allied war effort, had no alternative but to join Gandhi. Following the Quit India resolution passed by the Congress party in Bombay on 8 August 1942, the entire Congress working committee, including Gandhi and Nehru, was arrested and imprisoned. Most of the Congress working committee including Nehru, Abdul Kalam Azad, and Sardar Patel were incarcerated at
21666-505: The war and allow the election of a constituent assembly to frame a new constitution; second, although the Indian armed forces would remain under the British Commander-in-chief , Indians must be included immediately in the central government and given a chance to share power and responsibility. When Nehru presented Lord Linlithgow with these demands, he chose to reject them. A deadlock was reached: "The same old game
21823-490: The world. The son of Motilal Nehru , a prominent lawyer and Indian nationalist , Jawaharlal Nehru was educated in England—at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge , and trained in the law at the Inner Temple . He became a barrister , returned to India, enrolled at the Allahabad High Court and soon began to take an interest in national politics, which eventually became a full-time occupation. He joined
21980-459: Was "conceited, irascible, and thoroughly perverse". Arnold Wilson wrote that Philby was "one of those men who are apt to assume that everything they come across from a government to be a fountain-pen is constructed on wrong principles and is capable of amendment", leading Philby to reply that he "had never yet the good fortune to encounter either a perfect government or a perfect fountain-pen". In late 1915, Percy Cox recruited Philby as head of
22137-580: Was "money for nothing" as Ryan doubted that Saudi Arabia even had oil. The IPC was willing to offer £10, 000 gold sovereigns for an oil concession while SoCal was willing to offer Ibn Saud £50, 000 gold sovereigns for an oil concession. On 9 May 1933, Ibn Saud signed a contract with SoCal giving them the exclusive rights to an oil concession in exchange for an upfront payment of £35, 000 gold sovereigns, another £20, 000 gold sovereigns after 18 months, and £5, 000 gold sovereigns in rental fees, which would increase to £50, 000 gold sovereigns in monthly rent if any oil
22294-778: Was always the British who were at fault while Ibn Saud was always the wronged party. Goldberg wrote that Philby was the "official apologist" of Saudi Arabia in the West as evidenced by his 1955 polemical pamphlet about the Buraymi dispute Saudi Arabia Memorial , which laid out the Saudi claim to the oasis of Buraymi that was also claimed by Britain as the protecting power of the Sultan of Oman. Several passages from Saudi Arabia Memorial were incorporated verbatim into his 1955 book Saudi Arabia . Finally, Goldberg noted that even sympathetic observers commented that Philby "saw everything in black and white, without finer shades" which let him to reduce
22451-544: Was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist , secular humanist , social democrat , author and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was second only to Mahatma Gandhi in leading the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence from Britain in 1947, he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years. Nehru championed parliamentary democracy , secularism , science and technology during
22608-547: Was arrested in Allahabad on 12 January 1934. In August 1934, he was briefly released for eleven days to attend to his wife's ailing health. In October, he was allowed to see her again, but he turned down an early release conditional on withdrawing from politics for the duration of his sentence. In September 1935, Nehru's wife, Kamala, became terminally ill while receiving medical treatment in Badenweiler , Germany. Nehru
22765-414: Was best for Britain was always in the best interests of everyone, an assumption not necessarily shared by the peoples of the Middle East. Philby later began secret negotiations with Germany and Spain on Saudi Arabia's role in the event of a general European war. The discussions allowed neutral Saudi Arabia to sell oil to neutral Spain, which would then be transported to Germany. John Loftus , who worked in
22922-664: Was discovered. By 1934, in an effort to safeguard the port of Aden, Britain had no fewer than 1,400 "peace treaties" with the various tribal rulers of the hinterlands of what became Yemen. Philby undermined British influence in the region, however, by facilitating the entry of American commercial interests, followed by a political alliance between the US and the Saud dynasty. In 1936, SoCal and Texaco pooled their assets together into what later became ARAMCO (Arabian–American Oil Company). The United States Department of State described ARAMCO as
23079-614: Was his first controller and taught him the finer arts of espionage. In 1916 he became Revenue Commissioner for the British Occupied Territories . In November 1917, Philby was sent to the interior of the Arabian Peninsula as head of a mission to Ibn Saud , the chieftain who professed Wahhabism , the movement within Sunni Islam , and a bitter enemy of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca , who led
23236-580: Was invited to attend the Congress of oppressed nationalities in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was called to coordinate and plan a common struggle against imperialism . Nehru represented India and was elected to the Executive Council of the League against Imperialism which was born at this meeting. He made a statement in favour of complete independence for India. Nehru's stay in Europe included
23393-483: Was leading popular agitations in princely states. Nehru was not directly involved in the events that split the Congress during the Bose presidency, and unsuccessfully attempted to mediate. When World War II began, Viceroy Linlithgow unilaterally declared India a belligerent on the side of Britain, without consulting the elected Indian representatives. Nehru hurried back from a visit to China, announcing that, in
23550-498: Was more deeply divided than he had imagined. Nehru, eager for a compromise, was hopeful; Gandhi was not. Jinnah had continued opposing the Congress: "Pakistan is our only demand, and by God, we will have it," he declared in the Muslim League newspaper Dawn . Cripps' mission failed as Gandhi would accept nothing less than independence. Relations between Nehru and Gandhi cooled over the latter's refusal to co-operate with Cripps, but
23707-497: Was not freed. The government was forced to release Besant in September, but the protestors successfully negotiated further concessions . Nehru met Gandhi for the first time in 1916 at the Lucknow session of the Congress, but he had been then dissuaded by his father from being drawn into Gandhi's satyagraha politics. 1919 marked the beginning of a strong wave of nationalist activity and subsequent government repression that included
23864-606: Was one of the first leaders to demand that the Congress Party should resolve to make a complete and explicit break from all ties with the British Empire. The Madras session of Congress in 1927, approved his resolution for independence despite Gandhi's criticism. At that time, he formed the Independence for India League, a pressure group within the Congress. In 1928, Gandhi agreed to Nehru's demands and proposed
24021-464: Was ratified in 1931 at the Karachi session chaired by Vallabhbhai Patel . Nehru and most of the Congress leaders were ambivalent initially about Gandhi's plan to begin civil disobedience with a satyagraha aimed at the British salt tax . After the protest had gathered steam, they realised the power of salt as a symbol. Nehru remarked about the unprecedented popular response, "It seemed as though
24178-409: Was released from prison early on compassionate grounds, and moved his wife to a sanatorium in Lausanne , Switzerland, where she died on 28 February 1936. While in Europe, Nehru learned that he was elected as Congress president for the coming year. He returned to India in March 1936 and led the Congress response to the Government of India Act 1935 . He condemned the Act as a "new charter of bondage" and
24335-422: Was so little known in the West at the time that the precise location of Riyadh was a mystery to Western cartographers who did not know the latitude and longitude of Riyadh. Lacey wrote that in Western maps in the early 20th century "Riyadh was a dot placed capriciously somewhere in the central wilderness". On 30 November 1917, Philby arrived in Riyadh after riding across the Arabian desert on a camel. Upon entering
24492-423: Was sworn in as the Dominion of India 's prime minister and raised the Indian flag at the Red Fort in Delhi. On 26 January 1950, when India became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations , Nehru became the Republic of India 's first prime minister. He embarked on an ambitious program of economic, social, and political reforms. Nehru promoted a pluralistic multi-party democracy. In foreign affairs, he played
24649-483: Was very unlikely given the long-standing feud between the Hashemite and al-Saud families. In 1924, Ibn Saud had deposed Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemite as King of the Hejaz, who was the father of Emir Abdullah of Transjordan and the great-grandfather of King Faisal II of Iraq, which would have presented serious problems for the Philby plan. Finally, the plan assumed that Ibn Saud as the leader of the proposed confederation would be willing to serve British interests, which showed
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