Kuwait's long-standing territorial dispute with Iraq, culminating in the 1991 Gulf War, should properly be viewed within an extended historical context dating back to the Ottoman period. Tracing the origins of this dispute through a detailed chronological account of events, Dr Rahman describes how Anglo-Ottoman manoeuvres in the 1890s were to have repercussions on Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations for generations to come. He considers the effect of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent redefinition of many of the boundaries of the Empire's former provinces in the Middle East. Mesopotamia, now Iraq, became a kingdom under British mandate, and in 1932 it attained independence.