Securing the Levantine Empire

Abstract The chapter traces the struggle of British military authorities to secure their grip over the cities they occupied. New legal measures and security institutions were developed to combat the challenges emanating from the permeable, connected character of the Levantine city. Martial law and military police forces, however, proved insufficient to suppress anti-imperial movements, while their institutionalisation advanced the militarizing, anglicizing tendencies of military rule that further alienated local partners who were relied on for the functioning of this informal empire. The chapter shows how escalating urban and extra-urban violence resulted in the major retrenchment and retreat of British military forces in 1922 and 1923, bringing to an end the distinct Levantine empire that had bound these cities together over the preceding years