The Role of Kuwait in Supporting the Allied Powers during the Second World War (1939 – 1945) and the Popular Division over Sheikh Ahmad al-Jaber’s Attitude toward that Case.

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At the outbreak of the World War II in the late 1930s between the Allied powers (Britain, France, America and the Soviet Union) and the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan), the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmad al-Jabir, took a pro-Allied stance as his grandfather Sheikh Mubarak al-Sabah had done in the World War I. This paper examines the kinds of support Kuwait provided to the Allied powers, particularly to the British government due to their relationship and common interests. It argues that the ruler of Kuwait Sheikh Ahmad al-Jabir supported the Allied powers but the Kuwaitis were not unanimous in this support. Some members of the ruling family, particularly Sheikh Abdulla al-Salim and his brothers, and certain social groups, including some nationalists, merchants and intellectuals, sympathized with Germany. My hypothesis is that this division in Kuwait’s involvement in the war was a reflection of its internal political rivalries between the two Kuwaitis Sheikhs (i.e. Ahmad al-Jabir and Abdulla al-Salim) since the ascended of the former to the power, as well as was to regional Arab issues and considerations that contributed in affecting the orientation of the public opinion in Kuwait. Yet, it contributed to raising concerns for Sheikh Ahmad and the British due to the prevalence of Nazi propaganda in Kuwait and the way to eliminate such a movement.

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