Room 47: The Persian Prelude to the Zimmermann Telegram

Abstract

During the First World War, Persia was the scene of early British cryptanalytical successes against German diplomatic codes and ciphers under the auspices of Room 47 (one of the suite of rooms which for convenience have been listed under “Room 40 OB” or the Old Building of the British Admiralty in London). It is the contention of this article, based on newly discovered archival material, that there is a strong, and previously undetected link with the Zimmermann Telegram, which David Kahn has called “the greatest intelligence coup of all time.”

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to my colleagues Dr. Andrea Ellner and Dr. Mark Schelhase for advice on the German sources; to my old friend Dr. Jeff Rudd for copies of documents from the U.S National Archives and the National Cryptologic Museum; to the staffs of the Middle East Centre, St. Antony's College, Oxford, the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge, the Cambridge University Library, the libraries of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of London (Senate House), King's College, London, the Warburg Institute, the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, the National Archives, London, and the British Library, London, for assistance in making available the relevant primary and secondary sources. Lastly, I would like to thank James Bruce and the GCHQ Departmental Historian for looking over my article and making some helpful suggestions. The end result, however, is my own work for which I bear full responsibility.

Notes

¹Bell to Hurley, 13 July 1921, encl. Hendrick to Bell, 17 June 1921, printed in Kahn [33] and cited by Freeman [13, p. 109].

²Cited in Friedman and Mendelsohn [14, p. 53]; see also Hall and Peaslee [21, p. 96]. Hall incorporated the story into his “Intelligence in Wartime” lecture (n.d.), [20, pp. 3–4], 2/1, CAC.

³Freeman has Ewing leaving Room 40 in 1916 to become the Principal of the University of Edinburgh, but according to Ewing this did not occur until 31 May 1917, which means that he was at least nominally in charge during the Zimmermann Telegram episode. Freeman [13, p. 110]; Kahn [32, p. 39].

⁴Kahn [32, pp. 36 and 39]; TNA, HW 3/182 [19], The Times, 7 November 1925; Ewing's account of the Zimmermann Telegram seems to have been based on Hendrick's account; Churchill [4, p. 132].

⁵[20], TNA, HW 3/182, Admiralty official circular of 16 December 1927.

⁶Ibid., Knox note, undated.

⁷[5], CAC, Clarke Papers, 3, “History of Room 40,” p. 5; de Grey's 1945 memo printed by Kahn [33, pp. 153–156].

⁸For details, see [6], CAC, Denniston Papers, 1/1, James to Denniston, 21 May [no year given].

¹⁰Ibid., p. 25.

⁹[20], CAC, Hall Papers, 3/6. Hall, Admiral Sir W.Reginald, Draft Autobiography, Draft “D” Chapter 25, “the Zimmermann Telegram and America's entry into the First World War,” p. 24.

¹¹The Foreign Office file ([11], FO 370/425/L3531/554/405) on Hall's memoirs is missing on transfer to the TNA.

¹²[20], CAC, Hall Papers, 1/5, W. A. J. Shorto to Hall, 4 August 1933.

¹³Sykes [43]; this book was published the same year in Germany, Paderborn, by Schöningh.

¹⁴See [12], TNA, FO 371/17909/E1314/1314/34 file.

¹⁵[8], MEC, Edmonds Papers, Box 14, File 1, C. H. Fone (FO) to Edmonds, 24 March 1959, in which he said that he dealt with this “particular question [the Zimmermann Telegram] some six years ago from the point of view of cryptography.”

¹⁶Von Mikusch [46]. Wassmuss's widow, Irma, did not finish the task of transcribing the diaries of her husband. There are no diaries for 1915 in the Nachlass Wassmuss at Saltzgitter or in the Political Archive of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

¹⁷W. F. Clarke's marginalia on p. 159 of his copy of Landau's book denies that “the code was promptly forwarded to Sir Reginald Hall,” and questions that the code was “number 13040.” My thanks to the GCHQ Departmental Historian for drawing this to my attention.

¹⁸[19], TNA, HW 3/177, de Grey, “Zimmermann Telegram: A footnote to Friedman's Account,” 31 October 1945; also in Kahn [33].

¹⁹In addition, James claims to have discovered the Zimmermann Telegram in a collection of “spring-backed notebooks” under the stairs of a house located in Beaulieu, Hampshire. Hall's house at Lyndhurst was nearby, so James must be referring to this. James alleges that these notebooks had been deposited there by Hall in 1925 for the use of Amos Peaslee, the American lawyer who was seeking evidence of German sabotage in the United States during the First World War [MEC, Edmonds Papers, Box 14/1, James to Edmonds, 1 April 1959]. Hall did, indeed, allow Peaslee access to the 10,000 decoded German telegrams and radiograms in his possession in August 1925, December 1926 and August 1930 (Hall and Peaslee [21, pp. 81, 90,131]), from which Peaslee took copious notes. In 1925 and 1926 Peaslee consulted these telegrams, which were kept in filing cabinets, at Hall's house in 63 Cadogan Gardens, London, but in 1930 Peaslee visited Hall's country house, Hawk's Lease, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, where the telegrams were to be found in boxes (according to Landau [34, pp. 166-71]. These were tin boxes, and attached to each original telegram was a translation en clair, also the recognition group or number of the code used). Hall died in July 1943 and the last recorded trace of his complete collection of Room 40's intercepts is by James at the house in Beaulieu, or rather Lyndhurst. They are not with the Hall papers in Cambridge or the HW (GCHQ collection) at TNA, Kew. After writing the biography of Hall, James returned the Hall papers to the family. It is not clear, however, whether he returned ‘the spring-backed notebooks’ of decoded German telegrams, including the Zimmermann Telegram to the Hall Family, or passed them to the Admiralty and the British government. They are not at the Naval Historical Branch in Portsmouth. As we have seen there is fragmentary evidence to suggest that the Foreign Office, which was responsible for GCHQ, had in about 1953 dealt with the question of the Zimmermann Telegram, the German codebook captured in the Middle East, etc, as a result of a general review of cryptographic matters. This was about the time that James was conducting the research for his biography of Hall.

²⁴[6], DENN 1/3, A. Denniston, “History of Rm. 40”; see also Robin Denniston [7, p. 38].

²⁰[6], CAC, Denniston papers, DENN 1/3, A. Denniston, “History of Rm. 40.”.

²¹[6], DENN 2/1, James to Denniston, 5 May, no year.

²²[6], DENN 2/1, Denniston's account of establishment of “Decoding Service and Room 40, 1914–1917,” penciled notes.

²³[6], DENN 2/1, James to Denniston, 1 July, no year given but early 1950s.

²⁵[20], CAC, Hall Papers, 2/1, “Intelligence in Wartime,” pp. 3–4.

²⁶[8], MEC, Edmonds Papers, 14/1, Edmonds to James, 8 August 1958. Withers was not the “invalided naval officer” referred to by James, based on Hall in his “Intelligence in Wartime.” Withers had remained in the Persian Gulf from 22 October 1914 to September 1917, and did not return to Europe in that time [8]., MEC, Edmonds Papers, 14/1, Sutton to Edmonds, R4040/59, 26 May 1957.

²⁷[8], MEC, Edmonds Papers, 14/1, James to Edmonds, 13 August 1958.

²⁸The date when Room 40 became aware of the Wassmuss codebook has exercised various writers. Andrew in Secret Service (1985), p. 68, plumps for 6 March 1915, the date of Wassmuss's capture. Beesly in Room 40 (1982) followed James in giving April as the month when the codebook was discovered in the cellars of the India Office. But Tuchman was closer to the date for Hall's being alerted to the existence of the Bushire codebooks, though not for the Wassmuss codebook, as shall be seen.

²⁹[8], MEC, Edmonds Papers, 14/1, James to Edmonds, 26 March 1959.

³⁰See Edmonds [9]. As a former member of the Consular Service, Edmonds had to obtain clearance from the Foreign Office before publishing this article. By 1959, in contrast to their objection to the publication of Hall's memoirs in 1933, the Foreign Office seemed to be more relaxed about the publication of details of the seizure of the German codebooks some forty-five years previously and gave Edmonds permission to publish his article. See [8], MEC, Edmonds Papers, 14/1, Fone (FO) to Edmonds, 24 March 1959.

³¹[8], MEC, Edmonds Papers, 14/1, Tuchman to Edmonds, 6 April 1960.

³²Wassmuss, “Offizieller Bericht des Konsuls W. Wassmuss uber seine Tätigkeit in Südpersien für dur zeit von 1915 bis 1919, verfast vermutlich im Jahre 1920.” Listed in Gehrke [18, p. 332].

³³Gehrke [18, p. 81, n. 386, which refers to Wassmuss-Bericht, S.13, u.. A lo 688/15 u. A lo 926/15].

³⁴Freeman [13, p. 141], citing Kahn [31, p. 1026, n. 289].

³⁵See [19], HW 3/181, The Goeppert Report, a copy of which was seen by Kahn.

³⁶Winstone [49, pp. 140–141] also followed Edmonds's account.

³⁷Moberly [38]. The author recalls going down to the HMSO bookshop on High Holborn, London, to purchase a copy. In 1928–1929, the India Office and the Foreign Office had objected to its publication on political and diplomatic grounds since they were concerned that it would cause problems with the Persians, the Afghans, and the Soviets. A limited number of copies were printed for the secret and confidential use of the Government of India and the British government.

³⁸McKale [35, p. 131]. He relied on Sykes, Mikusch, and Tuchman for his evidence. Robert Johnson [30, pp. 218, 285] also cited Edmonds.

³⁹[16], TNA, GFM 14/140, F 499, Wangenheim to AA, no. 722, 24 March 1915.

⁴⁰[16], TNA, GFM 14/140, F 502, Wangenheim to AA, no. 728, 24 March 1915.

⁴¹[8], MEC, Edmonds Papers, 14/1, Fone to Edmonds, 24 March 1959.

⁴²See the HW 3, HW 7, and ADM 223 series in TNA [19, 42, and 2].

⁴³[10], TNA, FO 248/405, Townley to Bushire, tel. 53, 18 Feb. 1915.

⁴⁴[10], TNA, FO 248/1101, Knox to Cox, tel. 45C, 28 Feb. 1915, rpt'd Teheran.

⁴⁵[10], TNA, FO 248/1101, Cox to Townley, 28 Feb. 1915.

⁴⁶[19], TNA, HW 3/183, Beach to Gribbons, 23 July 1915.

⁴⁷[19], TNA, HW 3/183, C-T minute, 25 Feb. 1916.

⁴⁸[10], TNA, FO 248/1102, Trevor to Marling, tel. 247C, 21 June 1915. For Trevor's earlier efforts to shut down Wassmuss, see FO 248/1102, Trevor to Marling, tel. 205C, 29 May 1915 and FO 248/1105, Marling to Trevor, tel. 214, n.d. but late May 1915.

⁴⁹[10], TNA FO 248/1102, Cox to Marling, 26 May 1915 and Marling to Cox, tel. 184, 29 May 1915.

⁵⁰[10], TNA, FO 248/1103, Bushire Diary for Week ending 3 July 1915.

⁵¹[16], TNA, GFM 14/149, F 503, Wangenheim to AA, nr. 730, 24 March 1915.

⁵²[16], TNA, GFM 14/140, Vol. 13, Wangenheim to AA, nr. 974, 26 April 1915.

⁵³The coded telegram can be found in [2], TNA, ADM 223/765, which contains some of the intercepted German telegrams worked on by Fleet Paymaster Rotter, the key codebreaker in Room 40 in the summer of 1915.

⁵⁴[16], TNA, GFM 14/140, Wangenheim to AA, Nr. 1514, 1 July 1915 and Wangenheim to AA, Nr. 1281, 2 June 1915.

⁵⁵[10], TNA, FO 248/1101, Trevor to Shiraz, tel. 143C, 18 April 1915, rpt'd Basra, Teheran, India and London (IO); [12], FO 371/2430/75394/9869/W34, IO to FO, 9 June 1915, with encls.; FO 371/2430/79164/9869/W34, IO to FO, 16 June 1915, with encls.

⁵⁶[19], TNA, HW 3/183, Beach to Gribbon, 23 July 1915.

⁵⁷[19], TNA, HW 3/183, Beach memo to Cox, 9 Aug. 1915, Cox to Marling, tel. 1590B, 9 Aug. 1915, Marling to Cox, tel. 268, 20 Aug. 1915.

⁵⁸[10], TNA, FO 248/1103, Bushire to Teheran, tel. 1718B, 26 August 1915.

⁵⁹[19], TNA, HW 3/183, Beach to GOC, Egypt, 2 Sept. 1915.

⁶⁰[26], BL, L/PS/10/482, File 3516/1914, Pt. 5, 1040, Oliphant to Hirtzel, minute of 17 March 1915.

⁶¹[22], CUL, Hardinge Papers, 99, Pt. 1, no. 195, SofS to Viceroy, tel. P, 19 March 1915; The Times, 19 March 1915.

⁶²[22], CUL, Hardinge Papers, 99, Pt. 1, no. 278, Crewe to Hardinge, tel. P, 27 April 1915; Hardinge to Crewe, 25 April 1915 is missing from Pt. 2 of vol. 99. But it can be found in [27], BL, IOLR/L/PS/11/91, P3214a/1915.

⁶³[22], CUL, Hardinge Papers, 99, Pt. 1, no. 414, Chamberlain to Hardinge, tel. P, 11 June 1915.

⁶⁴[27], BL, IOLR/L/PS/11/91, P3214a/1915, From Viceroy. Foreign. Secret. Hirtzel. 19 June 1915.

⁶⁵[2], TNA, ADM 223/765, Marling to Sec., GofI, F and P Dept., tel. P, 15 June 1915.

⁶⁶[2], TNA, ADM 223/765, Marling to Sec., GofI, F and P Dept., tel. P, 20 June 1915.

⁶⁷[2], TNA, ADM 223/765, Holderness to Hall, 21 July 1915, no. P2630, encls. rec'd. in Sec.'s letter (no. 25 M) from GofI, P&D Dept., 24 June 1915, “with enclosures in original—for eventual return—regarding German cyphers.” File no. P2630 is missing from the Political and Secret Annual Files in BL, IOR/L/PS/11/94 for 1915.

⁶⁸Charles John Erhardt Rotter was a career paymaster officer of German ancestry, though Clarke's ironic description of him is as “a German scholar.” [5], Clarke Papers, 3/1, “History of Room 40,” p. 5.

⁶⁹[27], BL, IOLR/L/PS/11/91, P3214a, From Viceroy. Foreign. Secret. Hirtzel. 27 July 1915.

⁷⁰[22], CUL, Hardinge Papers, 99, Pt. 1, no. 551, SofS to Viceroy (F&P Dept.), tel. P, 29 July 1915.

⁷¹[22], CUL, Hardinge Papers, 99, Pt. 2, no. 502, Viceroy (F&P Dept.) to SofS, tel. P, 4 Aug. 1915; [27], BL, IOLR/L/PS/11/91, P1581/1915, F&P Dept. Simla to HBM Teheran, (rpt.'d Bushire), tel. no. 772-S, 4 Aug. 1915; Grant in Simla wanted the British Consul for Seistan and Kain, Colonel Prideaux, to send a copy or the original of a cipher tel. sent by a German called Fischer, referred to in Consul's tel. no. 152 of 28 July 1915. Any other German cypher message that fell into his hands was to be sent by wire to Simla. Prideaux sent Fischer's cypher telegram to Grant on 4 August, who relayed it to London on 27 August. It arrived in London on 21 September and a copy was sent to Hall at the Admiralty on 22 September, BL, IOLR/L/PS/11/91, P1581/1915, F&P Dept. Simla to HBM Consul Seistan, tel. no. 771-S, 4 Aug. 1915, P3350/1915, HBM Consul Seistan and Kain to F&P Dept. Simla, tel. no. 178-C, 13 Aug. 1915. On 6 August, Grant sent Hirtzel a batch of telegrams found in the possession of Listemann, the German Consul in Bushire. They arrived in London on 2 September and Hirtzel minuted on 7 September that the “deciphering was done by our people at Bushire and was reproduced textually.” The German telegrams dated from September/October 1914. Hirtzel translated them for his Secretary of State, Austen Chamberlain [27]., BL, IOLR/L/PS/11/91, P1581/1915. Hirtzel minute, 7 September 1915.

⁷²[27], BL, IOLR/L/PS/11/91, P2948/1915, From HBM Min. Tehran (rpt'd. GofI), 12 August 1915.

⁷³[6], CAC, Denniston Papers, DENN 1/2, Denniston's account of establishment of “Decoding Service and Room 40, 1914–1917.” Pencil Notes.

⁷⁴[2], TNA, ADM 223/765, German Minister, Teheran to German Consul, Baghdad, no. 42, 25 May 1915. For Von Hentig.

⁷⁵[2], TNA, ADM 223/765, German Minister, Teheran to German Consul, Baghdad, no. 45, 5 June 1915.

⁷⁶[2], TNA, ADM 223/765, German Minister, Teheran to German Consul, Baghdad, no. 43, 31 May 1915.

⁷⁷[2], TNA, ADM 223/765, German Minister, Teheran to German Consul, Baghdad, no. 44, 3 June 1915.

⁷⁸For this, and other German plots against India in the Far East and the Pacific, see Popplewell [40, pp. 239, 249, 260–261, 263–264, 286].

⁷⁹[10], TNA, FO 248/1097, Marling to Grey, no. 2, 23 May 1915.

⁸⁰[42], TNA, HW 7/26.

⁸¹[2], TNA, ADM 223/773, George Young, “‘Political Branch’ of Room 40,” p. 3.

⁸²Ibid., p. 2. Mendelsohn [37] in Studies in German Diplomatic Codes Employed during the First World War, pp. 26–29, reveals that this was in the 18470 code and its variants, which would have included 3512 and 89734.

⁸³TNA, ADM 223/773, George Young, “‘Political Branch’ of Room 40”, p. 3.

⁸⁴In order to escape incarceration or worse by the Germans, Peters went into hiding in the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, Julfa, emerging occasionally to wire through reports of what was happening to the British Legation in Teheran. So valuable were his reports on German activities that he was rewarded with a payment of £200 after the war by the British Government in recognition of his services. BL, IOR, Mss.Eur.C732 [28].

⁸⁵[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/141130/141130/W34, Hall to Clerk, 28 Sept. 1915; [10], FO 248/1094, FO to Teheran, tel. 394, 29 Sept. 1915; FO 248/1098, Marling to FO, tel. 414, 27 Oct. 1915; FO 248/1099, India to Teheran, tel. 1015S, 4 Oct. 1915; Marling to GoI, tel. 139, 10 Oct. 1915, tel. 141 F, 19 Oct. 1915, and 142 F, 27 Oct. 1915, tel. 144, 1 Nov. 1915, tel. 146, 4 Nov. 1915; FO 248/1105, Teheran to Cox, tel. 368, 14 Nov. 1915.

⁸⁶[10], TNA, FO 248/1098, Marling to FO, tel. 384, n.d.

⁹⁰[2], TNA, ADM 223/773, George Young, “‘Political Branch’ of Room 40,” p. 3.

⁸⁷[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/144847/144847/W34, Hall to FO, 5 Oct. 1915; FO 371/2436/161386/144847/W34, Oliphant min. Of 31 Oct. 1915.

⁸⁸[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/158939/144847/W34, Nicolson to Grey, min. of 25 Oct. 1915.

⁸⁹[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/160914/144847/W34, Langley to Holderness, 29 Oct. 1915.

⁹¹[27], BL, IOR/L/PS/11/91, P3350/1915. From Viceroy, 15 Sept. 1915.

⁹²[27], BL, IOR/L/PS/11/91, P3350/1915, Anderson to Hirtzel, 16 Sept. 1915.

⁹³[27], BL, IOR/L/PS/11/91, P3350/1915, Hall to Hirtzel, 15 Sept. 1915, Hirtzel to Hall, 21 Sept. 1915, Hall to Hirtzel, 22 Sept. 1915.

⁹⁴[27], BL, IOR/L/PS/11/91, P3350/1915, Hirtzel minute 8 January 1916.

⁹⁵[27], BL, IOR/L/PS/11/91, P3350/1915, tells. From Viceroy, 21, 25, and 28 Sept. 1915 and Hirtzel minute 23 Sept. 1915.

⁹⁶[12], TNA FO 371/2436/144847/144847/W34, Hall to FO, 5 October 1915 and FO to Marling, tel. 307, 5 October 1915.

⁹⁷[10], TNA, FO 248/1095, Grey to Marling, tel. 322, 21 Oct. 1915; Nicolson to Marling, 21 Oct. 1915; [12], FO 371/2436/154808/144847/W34, Spring Rice to FO, 20 October 1915 and FO mins. Rpt'd to Viceroy, India, and Brit. Amb. Petrograd.

⁹⁸[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/156093/144847/W34, FO to Buchanan, tel. 2452, 22 Oct. 1915; FO 371/2436/156094/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tel. 324, 22 Oct. 1915.

⁹⁹[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/158939/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tel. 333, 25 Oct. 1915.

¹⁰⁰[10], TNA, FO 248/1098, Marling to FO, tel. 426, 30 Oct. 1915.

¹⁰¹[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/181715/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tels. 427 and 428, 30 Nov. 1915, and FO to Petrograd, tel. 2863, 30 Nov. 1915. Drafted by Nicolson and initialled by Grey; TNA, GFM 19/58, for German copy of original text of Convention, signed by Von Kanitz and R. Nezamessa Hamieh, 26 Dec. 1915.

¹⁰²[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/163871/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tel. 348, 2 Nov. 1915.

¹⁰³[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/163872/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tel. 349, 2 Nov. 1915.

¹⁰⁴[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/167882/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tel. 361, 9 Nov. 1915; TNA, GFM 19/58, Neurath (Constantinople) to AA, no. 2561, 4 Nov. 1915, relaying Teheran to Berlin, no. 385, 29 October 1915, via Baghdad, 2 Nov. 1915.

¹⁰⁵[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/167883/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tel. 362, 9 Nov. 1915; [25], BL, IOR/L/PS/8/71, SofS to Viceroy, 9 Nov. 1915.

¹⁰⁶[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/171217/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tel. 380, 13 Nov. 1915; [17], TNA, GFM 19/58, Von Lossow (Constantinople) to Pol. Section, GS, Field HQ, Berlin, tel. 170, 16 Nov. 1915; [12], FO 371/2436/171642/144847/W34, FO to Marling, tel. 386, 14 Nov. 1915.

¹⁰⁷[12], TNA, FO 371/2436/171641/144847/W34, FO to Teheran, tel. 378, 13 Nov. 1915, FO to Petrograd, tel. 2666, 13 Nov. 1915.

¹⁰⁸[25], BL, IOR/L/PS/8/71, Hirtzel min. 15 Nov. 1915 and SofS to Viceroy, 16 Nov. 1915.

¹⁰⁹[10], TNA, FO 248/1095, FO to Marling, tel. 384, 14 Nov. 1915; copy of this message, dated 8 Nov. 1915 on TNA, ADM 137/990. This “intercepted message” was sent by the Chief Censor, Admiralty to the First Sea Lord and the D. I. D., Hall.

¹¹⁰[1], TNA, ADM 137/990, ADM to SNO, Persian Gulf, 20 Nov. 1915.

¹¹¹[1], TNA, ADM 137/991, SNO, PG, to ADM, tel. 42, 20 Feb. 1915.

¹¹²[1], TNA, ADM 137/991, SNO, PG, to ADM, 25 Feb. 1916 and ADM to SNO, 6 May 1915.

¹¹³[27], BL, IOR/L/PS/11/91, P 1581/1915, Indian For. Sec.'s letters no. 65 m, 10 Dec, and no. 67 m of 17 Dec. 1915, and no. 10 m of 4 Feb. 1916, with encls.

¹¹⁴[19], TNA, HW 3/183, Marling to Cox, tel. 60, 21 Feb. 1915.

¹¹⁵[2], TNA, ADM 223/773, George Young, “Political Branch” of Room 40, pp. 3–5.

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Saul Kelly

Dr. Saul Kelly is Reader in International History in the Defence Studies Department, King's College, London, located at the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham, England. He specialises in the history of Britain in the Middle East. His latest books are War and Politics in the Desert: Britain and Libya during the Second World War (2010) and, with Jeff Macris, Imperial Crossroads: The Great Powers and the Persian Gulf.