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historians’ own assumptions and/or political orientation as this Historiography

presents.
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Another error in which historians in Bahrain and the Arab World fall into

when recounting events is based on their reliance on only three sources: those being

the memoir and diary of Belgrave; Al-Bakir’s memoir; and (to a lesser extent) on

selected republished FO documents. In some cases, although little information on

the conflict was presented, Al-Bakir’s memoir was heavily utilised and his claims

were presented without questioning their validity. Those historians have, therefore,

denied themselves access to a wealth of information on the topic found in other

sources, such as the FO documents at TNA including inter alia British Cabinet

papers, memoirs and diaries of British Cabinet members and officials in Bahrain,

memoirs of travellers, and international newspapers.

Some of the earliest traces of the foundation and influences on the Movement

in Bahrain have been covered, in particular the rise of nationalist activities such as

Mosaddegh’s nationalisation of Iranian oil. As a consequence of this action Britain
71

suffered, as historian Douglas Farnie puts it, its ‘greatest blow ever inflicted on the

British economic empire in the Middle East’. Bahrainis’ fascination with
72

Mosaddegh was evident as he was viewed as a saviour and ‘in the early part of 1953

pictures of him could be seen in many shops in Manamah’, observed Arab-American

70 An example of Bahraini and Arab historians whose work dealt with or touched on the topic of the
thesis include: Rashid Al-Jassim, Noor-el-Deen Hajlawi, Ebrahim Al-Aubaidi, Abdulla Al-Ghanem,
Rashid Al-Zayani, Falah Al-Mudairis, Mohammed Al-Jassim, Sawsan Al-Shaer, Ahmed Hamidan, and
Tayebah Al-Anzi.
71 For information on Mosaddegh and his nationalisation of Iranian oil see C. De Bellaigue, Patriot of
Persia (New York: 2012).
72 D.A. Farnie, East and West of Suez: The Suez Canal in History 1854-1956 (London: 1969), 101,
hereafter East and West of Suez.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 22