[3] During periods of peace the command exerted authority over land forces based within Egypt, the Sudan, Palestine, Transjordan, and Cyprus.

[4] However, if war broke out, the Command's area of responsibility would be extended to include British Somaliland, Aden, Iraq and the shores of the Persian Gulf.

[1] As the war progressed, Middle East Command authority was extended over further areas including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Libya and Greece.

[8] Wavell had suggested that due to the complex and uncertain situation in the Middle East region, following the collapse of France, that a committee, under a Cabinet Minister, should be established in the Middle East region to perform duties delegated to it by the Home Office, thus relieving the need to constantly refer to the War Cabinet for instructions.

An alternative suggestion, however, was accepted: a ministerial committee would be established in London with the task of continually keeping the affairs of the Middle East region under review.

[17] At the same time Wavell ordered his subordinate commanders to start planning operations on the assumption that the United Kingdom would soon be at war with Italy.

General William Platt, commanding British forces in the Sudan, was also asked to consider launching an operation against Kufra (southern Libya).

[20] Following October 1939, as the Italians had made no aggressive moves, the 7th Armoured Division and other units were withdrawn from the frontline area, while training and exercises were conducted in the desert.

As the head of Middle East Command held authority only over ground forces the criticism was expressed that the name should have been Army or Land Commander-in-Chief.

When tensions increased in Iraq, Wavell—in agreement with the Commander-in-Chief, India—on 9 March 1941 suggested to the Chiefs of Staff that, if fighting was to occur in the country, it should be conducted "at first under the control of India.

In June 1941, he ordered the invasion and occupation of Syria and Lebanon to prevent further potential support of Iraq by the Germans through these Vichy French-controlled areas.

Disappointed with the military reverses in Egypt and Cyrenaica, he was desperate for some sort of British victory before the planned Anglo-American landings in North Africa (Operation "Torch") scheduled for November 1942.

In August 1942, immediately after the Eighth Army had all but exhausted itself after First Alamein, Churchill flew to Cairo, purportedly for consultations with Auchinleck, but had in fact made up his mind before he left Britain.

He was replaced as C-in-C Middle East by General Sir Harold Alexander and as GOC Eighth Army by Lieutenant-General William Gott, who was killed in Egypt before taking up command.

General Wilson succeeded Alexander as its commander-in-chief and during his tenure it mounted only one significant operation: the unsuccessful Dodecanese Campaign from September to November 1943.

[23] The last act of Middle East Command took place during the Levant Crisis between May and June 1945 when British and Indian troops successfully invaded Syria and escorted French forces back to their barracks.

[28] The Free Officers, led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew King Farouk of Egypt in the Egyptian coup d'état of 1952.

[36] Kipping writes that the actual final date of British troops leaving was 13 June 1956,[37] which may represent logistics units as opposed to infantry.