Called by Winston Churchill in 1921, the Cairo Conference set out to redraw the map of the Middle East in the wake of the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The summit established the states of Iraq and Jordan as part of the Sherifian Solution and confirmed the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine the future state of Israel. No other conference had such an enduring impact on the region. C. Brad Faught demonstrates how the conference, although dominated by the British with limited local participation, was an ambitious if ultimately unsuccessful attempt to move the Middle East into the world of modern nationalism. Faught reveals that many officials, including T. E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell, were driven by the determination for state building in the area to succeed. Their prejudices, combined with their abilities, would profoundly alter the Middle East for decades to come.

The First World War in the Middle East --"What a difficult world the war has bequeathed to us!" Middle East Diplomacy after 1918 -- Churchill at the Colonial Office : Towards the Cairo Conference -- "Everybody Middle East is here" : Ten Days in Cairo, Act I -- "We have done a lot of work" : Ten Days in Cairo, Act II -- Not Quite Finished at Cairo : On to Jerusalem -- Cairo in Action : Implementing the Sherifian Solution -- Conclusion: The Cairo Conference in Historical Retrospect.