This chapter focuses on the intersection between Bahrain, Iran, and the British during the interwar years and the influence that contacts with Iran and Iranians had on the process of nation and state building in Bahrain. It analyzes the role of Iran and the role of the Iranian immigrant communities in the evolution of the Bahrain administration and the emergence of Arab nationalist sentiments in Bahrain. It depicts how different elements of the Iranian communities viewed Iran, the Al Khalifa ruling family, and the British. And it explores how the Al Khalifa and different segments of Bahraini society regarded Bahrain residents of Iranian origin and nationality. The analysis is preceded with a background on politics and society in Bahrain with special attention to the growth and characteristics of the Iranian immigrant communities.

This chapter highlights the primary features of politics and society in the Persian Gulf from the rise of civilization to World War I. It provides a survey of state-tribe relations in the Gulf from antiquity until the introduction of European powers. It will then turns to a consideration of the triangular relationship between states, tribes, and foreign powers in the Gulf, with an emphasis on the period of British supremacy. It identifies the appropriate theoretical tools pertaining to tribes and tribal politics in the Arabian Peninsula, which can be used to better understand how British intervention was viewed by the tribally organized societies situated around the Gulf's perimeter. The advent of nationalism in Iran and the consolidation of Iran's frontiers beginning in the late Qajar period are discussed as well as the waves of Iranian immigration that laid the foundations of politics and society in the Gulf Arab shaykhdoms. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the profound changes that were beginning to take shape in the regional system on the eve of World War I.

This chapter discusses British policy in the Persian Gulf during the interwar period. A focus is placed on the way in which the British government coped with the challenges to its dominant position during key junctures of the interwar years. First it provides an analysis of how British policy evolved in relation to the emerging challenges in the region, namely the coming to the fore of Reza Khan and the consolidation of power by Ibn Sa‘ud. Then it provides an analysis of Britain’s negotiations with Iran toward the conclusion of a comprehensive treaty between the two countries. An analysis of these negotiations, which ultimately failed to produce an agreement, provides valuable insights into the positions of both governments on issues in the Persian Gulf during the interwar years. The last section sheds light on how local actors perceived Britain's role in the Gulf, an inquiry that forms a vital precursor to the topic of Arab-Iranian relations in the Persian Gulf during the interwar period.

Chapter 3 is devoted to the demographic impact of the famine in terms of mortality, fertility, and its long-term biological effects. It shows that in the entire crisis period of September 1944-July 1945, the estimated war-related excess deaths among civilians was 35,000 in the three famine-exposed western provinces. Deaths in the large conurbations began to rise sharply after December 1944 and reached a peak in March 1945. It took until the summer of that year before mortality reached normal patterns again. Fertility followed similar patterns, with birth rates in the urban west two to three times lower in the famine’s wake. The long-term effects of the famine are present even today, in adults who were conceived or born during the famine.

Chapter 8 investigates the evacuation of approximately 40,000 Dutch children out of the famine-affected areas. In the 1940s, the Netherlands enjoyed an extensive health- and family care system and had a strong civil society. Many networks were therefore in place to efficiently organise relief. These child evacuations were only one aspect of relief efforts but, similar to the child-feeding initiatives, they highlight the active role of ordinary people and grassroots initiatives in taking emergency measures. Shared ideas on the importance of the continuation of family life, even under extreme circumstances, and protecting the future of Dutch society were key to this communal response to the famine conditions.

The Dutch famine of 1944–1945, popularly known in the Netherlands as the ‘Hunger Winter’, is one of the major European World War II famines and has been central to the Dutch collective memory of the German occupation since the country’s liberation in May 1945.1 The food crisis took place in the urbanised western Netherlands during the final months of the German occupation when the Allies had already liberated the southern part of the country. After November 1944, official daily rations for the once well-nourished Dutch dropped below an already meagre 750 calories per capita, decreasing to less than 370 calories just before the German surrender in May 1945. While the Dutch had also experienced problems with the food supply during the First World War, widespread hunger and famine-related mortality had not reoccurred since the European Potato Failure in the mid-nineteenth century.2 On the contrary, in the 1940s the Netherlands enjoyed a highly developed economy, modern health care system, and strong civil society: as Stephen Devereux has stated, ‘those who suffered during the famine were probably the wealthiest, best educated and most mobile victims of any famine in history’.3