In 1921, the British put three provinces together and created Iraq. It was from this new state that Arab nationalism really emerged against the British Mandate government. It was modeled after the ethno-linguistic nationalism of Europe – the focus was on shared history, language (Arabic), and ethnicity (Arabic) and the nation was held up as pre-determined and eternal. This should all sound pretty familiar.

Arab nationalists sought to connect the struggles against European colonization and imperialism in Syria (against the French Mandate government) and in Palestine (against the British Mandate government and Jewish immigration) to the vision of a united Arab state. This process was slow. At the time, political identity and activity were extremely localized, and the Arab nationalist movement competed with regional particularism, religious identity, and sectarianism. The mandate governments knew this – and encouraged sectarianism and regionalism in the new states by dividing them up into smaller political districts. Even so, the people's resistance against the new colonial governments created political momentum that came to take two forms: state sovereignty (independence from European colonial rule) and Arab nationalism (the vision of one unified Arab state). At various times over the rest of the century, these movements conflicted and reinforced each other . . .