Connective Mobility, Contentious Crossings: A History of the Baghdad–Damascus Route, 1923–1939

In the aftermath of the First World War, a new route developed between Damascus and Baghdad through the Syrian Desert, driven by the development of motorised transport services and the increasing movement of people, goods and mail between the two cities. This transdesert route linked regions of the former Ottoman Empire that witnessed the formation of separate territorial states in the interwar period. It also connected the French and British zones of influence in the region. This dissertation explores the interactions between mobility, space and states in the post-Ottoman Middle East by presenting a history of the Baghdad–Damascus route in the 1920s and 1930s. It first explores the development of this route from 1923 onwards, examining pre-existing forms of transdesert mobility, the development of a new transport system and its impact on mobility. In doing so, it shows that the route was shaped by multiple human, technological and environmental factors. The dissertation demonstrates that transdesert mobility accelerated, intensified and diversified, but that these trends did not unfold evenly and consistently. The movement of people, goods and commodities was subject to significant obstacles, dangers and restrictions.

The dissertation then investigates how the development of the Baghdad–Damascus route generated interactions between multiple actors having convergent and divergent interests. It shows that the route became an arena of conflict, compromise and cooperation where local, national, international and imperial actors intersected. Finally, the dissertation examines the impact of transdesert mobility on the spatial and territorial re-organisation of the regions bordering the Syrian Desert. It argues that transdesert mobility played a major role in the formation and consolidation of the states of Iraq and Syria and their border, while contributing to the emergence of a regional space transcending borders, as well as to the integration of this Syrian-Iraqi space into transregional mobility networks.

Ultimately, this dissertation suggests that the development of the Baghdad¬–Damascus route revealed and accentuated a series of tensions: a) between mobility and immobility; b) between non-state actors and post-Ottoman states; and c) between the formation of territorial states and processes of regional and global integration. This dissertation aims to show the multiple effects that the development of the Baghdad–Damascus route has had on mobility, space and states, as well as on the actors involved, generating both concord and conflict, cooperation and competition, integration and division.