Throughout the period of Ottoman rule, the Iraqis were accustomed to a lifestyle characterized by the lack of Ottoman intervention in their daily affairs, except in matters related to taxation. Government officials were also lenient when enforcing rules and regulations, which made the Iraqi people feel more at ease in the existing environment. With the British centralization of power in Iraq, people were introduced to a new much stricter system than the one they had experienced for centuries under the Ottomans. The British used to select one Sheikh from each Iraqi region and provide him with funds, weapons and all necessary assistance so that he would report to them. This measure infuriated the tribal leaders who were forced to succumb to the will of a chieftain imposed on them by the British forces. At the political level, pro-British politicians were assigned high-ranking posts while others lost the titles – such as Effendy – they had once enjoyed under Ottoman rule, and found themselves stripped of their sources of livelihood. This, coupled with arbitrary detentions, suppressions of personal freedom, military persecution and illicit taxes imposed on farmers, led to a growing Iraqi resentment towards the British that culminated in the June revolt.

Sheikh Shaalan Aboul Joud, the leader of the Zawalime tribe, having incited the population against the British occupation, was summoned for interrogation to the government Serail in the town of Roumaytha, in the south of Iraq. Upon his arrival, Aboul Joud was greeted with demeaning insults inappropriate to his standing as a leader of the Zawalime tribe, which provoked him into cursing British policy. The prompt British decision to arrest him at the Serail then send him to al-Diwaniyah enraged his loyal tribal warriors who stormed the prison, killed two British soldiers and set their chieftain free, thus signaling the outbreak of the revolt. The revolt soon gained momentum and the hail of rebel gunfire resulted in 20 casualties – injuries and fatalities – among the British forces. A heavy exchange of gun fire erupted between the rivals during the rebels’ attempt to take over a British ship, protected by a Fire Fly warship, carrying troops and supplies; this resulted in 48 deaths and 167 injuries among the British troops. By contrast, rebel casualties were negligible.

Battles were not confined to the town of Roumaytha but extended across several Iraqi regions. The lengthy months of fighting with limited capacities on the Iraqi front tipped the balance in favor of the occupation forces, which were capable of extinguishing the fire of revolution out in the towns of Diala and Fallujah. British airstrikes wreaked havoc on the mid-Euphrates regions forcing the interim government of Karbala into surrender particularly after their water supply had been cut off, in order to avoid the invasion of the city. The occupation forces advanced toward the Hindiya Barrage and conquered the town despite the strong resistance they encountered; they then progressed toward Al-Kafal and reached the periphery of Kufa, dropping a hail of bombs on the city. On October 20, 1920, a delegation from Najaf held negotiations with the British forces to hand over the detained rebels. The latter accepted but later marched toward the city and besieged it, making entry or exit to or from Najaf subject to British permission. This remained the case for months during which 60,000 inhabitants suffered from thirst, famine and illness.

Militarily speaking, it can be said that the British troops won the battle, despite the massive losses they sustained in the face of irregular tribal forces who ran low on weapons and supplies. However, it is also clear that the 1920 Revolution was a triumph because it coerced the British into abandoning their scheduled plans to divide the Iraqi territory and yielded the formation of an Arab government, scrapping the original mandate plan in favor of a British administered semi-independent kingdom.