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Sheikh Mahmmud Barzanji (1878 - October 9, 1956) was the leader of several Kurdish uprisings against the British Mandate of Iraq. He was Sheikh of a Qadiriyah Sufi family from town of Barzinjah, which is now in Iraq. He proclaimed himself King of an independent Kurdish state and took over the city and area of Sulaimaniya in 1919 and[1]. He was originally chosen by the British authorities to subdue and supervise the Kurds for them in their newly acquired mandate of Iraq. He did subdue and supervise the local Kurds, but not for the British authorities. As a result, he was arrested and sent to exile in India, only to be brought back a year later by the British, who hoped to co-opt him. Instead, he declared the independence of Kurdistan with himself as its King, in 1922 [2] (p.11).

He led the first Kurdish revolt occurred in British controlled Southern Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan) in May 1919. Shortly before being appointed governor of Sulaimaniya, Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji ordered the arrest of all British political and military officials in the region. After seizing control of the region, Barzanji raised a military force from his Iranian tribal followers and proclaimed himself Ruler of all of Kurdistan. Among Mahmud’s many supporters was 16-year-old Mustafa Barzani, the future leader of the Kurdish nationalist cause in Iraqi Kurdistan.

As the British became aware of the Sheikh’s growing political and military power, they were forced to respond militarily. Two British brigades were deployed to defeat Sheikh Mahmoud’s fighters at Darbandi Bazyan near Sulaimaniya in June 1919. Sheikh Mahmoud was eventually arrested and exiled to India in 1921.

Mahmoud's fighters continued to oppose British rule after the his arrest. The success of the Kurdish fighters’ anti-British revolts forced the British to recognize Kurdish autonomy in 1923. Returning to the region in 1922, Sheikh Mahmoud continued to promote raids against British forces, and declared himself the King. On September 14, 1922, the British recognized Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji as the first King of Kurdistan under the British mandate ( see [3], p.14). The Kingdom of Kurdistan lasted from 1922 to 1924. After the British government finally defeated Sheikh Mamoud, they signed Iraq over to King Faisal I of Iraq and a new Arab-led government. Sheikh Mahmoud had to retreat into the mountains, then he signed a peace accord with the Iraqi government and settled in the new Iraq in 1932.[4]

• Kingdom of Kurdistan

• Ethnic Cleansing and the Kurds
• Kurds and the Formation of the State of Iraq 1917-1932, by M.R. Izady
• The Kurdish Warrior Tradition and the Importance of the Peshmerga, by Michael G. Lortz.
• The Kurdish National Movement, By Jaafar Hussein Khidir, Kurdistan Studies Journal, No.11, March 2004.