Based on comprehensive research in the British National Archives, this book offers an in-depth and critical analysis of Great Britain's policy in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region during the last years of British imperialism in the area, covering the period from the independence of Kuwait in 1961 to the decision of the Wilson Government in January 1968 to withdraw from the Gulf by 1971. Helene von Bismarck explains the motivation and methods of British imperialism in an area which was of great strategic and economic value to Great Britain. The book demonstrates that the British decision-makers in authority regarded Great Britain's role in the Persian Gulf as an interdependent system of military power, formal treaty rights and political influence that included the treaty-bound states Bahrain, Qatar and the seven Trucial States (today's United Arab Emirates), as well as the officially independent states Kuwait and Oman.