Publications and Public Lectures
BOOKS
The Baghdad Set: Iraq through the Eyes of British Intelligence, 1941-1945. London/Cham: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature, 2019. ISBN 9783030151829.
This book provides the first ever intelligence history of Iraq from 1941 to 1945, and is the third and final volume of a trilogy on regional intelligence and counterintelligence operations that includes Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran) (2014), and Espionage and Counterintelligence in Occupied Persia (Iran) (2015). This account of covert operations in Iraq during the Second World War is based on archival documents, diaries, and memoirs, interspersed with descriptions of all kinds of clandestine activity, and contextualized with analysis showing the significance of what happened regionally in terms of the greater war. After outlining the circumstances of the rise and fall of the fascist Gaylani regime, I examine the activities of the Allied secret services (CICI, SOE, SIS, and OSS) in Iraq, and the Axis initiatives planned or mounted against them. I emphasize the social nature of human intelligence work and introduce the reader to a number of interesting, talented personalities who performed secret roles in Iraq, including the distinguished author Dame Freya Stark. ‘O’Sullivan has found a completely underexplored but important field and made it entirely his own. With a strong cast and exciting narrative, The Baghdad Set bears all the hallmarks of his well-crafted prose and exhaustive research, with a wonderful awareness of the secondary literature and an unrivalled mastery of the primary material.’ Ashley Jackson (Professor of Imperial and Military History, King’s College London, UK).
Espionage and Counterintelligence in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Success of the Allied Secret Services, 1941-1945. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. ISBN 9781137555564.
Nominated for The 2016 Cundill Prize in Historical Literature. A companion to the pioneering Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran), which told of Germany’s spectacular failure in the region, this carefully researched study of British, American, and Soviet success makes for fascinating reading. Espionage and Counterintelligence in Occupied Persia (Iran) introduces us to Allied and Axis spies, spycatchers, and spymasters and to the highly effective methods employed by regional security forces to safeguard the lines of communication, the Lend-Lease supply route from the Gulf to the Caspian, and the vital oilfields, pipelines, and refineries of Khuzistan from Nazi attack and indigenous sabotage. Of particular interest in this study of neglected operational narratives and key clandestine personalities is its lucid description and analysis of Anglo-American and Anglo-Soviet intelligence relations, as the three Allies moved inexorably towards postwar realignment and the Cold War. ‘Eminently readable. Adrian O’Sullivan is an excellent writer, whose lively and elegant style succeeds in capturing the narrative and the ironies of its twists and turns in a way that is highly entertaining without “dumbing down”.’ Tilman Dedering (University of South Africa)
Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Failure of the German Intelligence Services, 1939-1945. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. ISBN 9781137427892.
The first full-length work to be published about the spectacular failure of the German intelligence services in Persia (Iran) during WWII. Based on my doctoral research, it analyzes a compelling history of Nazi planning, operations, personalities, and intrigues, and follows the protagonists from Hitler’s rise to power into the postwar era. ‘Well worth reading … the ultimate book on German secret-service activity in Persia from 1939 to 1945.’ Martin Moll (University of Graz)
RECENT ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
‘The Diversity and Versatility of British Intelligence in Iraq, 1941–45’. In Shots in the Dark: Experimentation, Success, and Failure in the Second World War. Edited by Jadwiga Biskupska and Sara B. Castro. New York: Fordham University Press, 2025.[With Claire Hubbard-Hall] ‘Landscapes of Intelligence in the Third Reich: Visualising Abwehr Operations and “Covert Space” during the Second World War’. Journal of Intelligence History 21, no. 1 (2022): 88–112.
[With Claire Hubbard-Hall] ‘Wives of Secret Agents: Spyscapes of the Second World War and Female Agency’. International Journal of Military History and Historiography 39 (2019): 181-207.
‘Stand on guard! Putin’s hack(er)s are at it again’. Linkedin (27 November 2019), https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stand-guard-putins-hackers-again-adrian-o-sullivan-frhists/.
‘Neglected Narratives of Nazi Subversion’. Journal of the Iran Society 2, no. 16 (September 2017): 7-19.
‘Joe Spencer’s Ratcatchers: British Security Intelligence in Occupied Persia’. Asian Affairs: Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs 48, no. 2 (July 2017): 296-312.
‘British Security Intelligence in Occupied Persia, 1942-1944’. Global War Studies 12, no. 1 (March 2015): 38-56. [Based on a paper given at RMA Sandhurst].
‘A Story of Nazi Failure and Allied Success’. Interview with Mohammad Memarian. Iran Daily, no. 6919 (22 December 2021).
CURRENT PROJECTS
Book. [With Claire Hubbard-Hall] ‘The Secret Agent’s Wardrobe: Dress, Disguise, and Deception in the Second World War’. To be published in 2026–7.
Book. ‘Secret Intelligence and Security Operations behind the Veil of Turkish Neutrality, 1939–45’. To be published in 2026.
Book chapter. ‘Parachutes over Persia: The Qashqai Brothers and the Nazi Secret Services’. In ‘Iran in the Second World War’. Edited by Rudi Matthee and Elena Andreeva. To be published in 2026 by Bloomsbury (IB Tauris).
BOOK REVIEWS
‘The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler’s Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation, by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, reviewed by Adrian O’Sullivan’, H-Diplo Review Essay 334 (16 April 2021).
‘Blood, Oil, and the Axis: The Allied Resistance against a Fascist State in Iraq and the Levant, 1941, by John Broich, reviewed by Adrian O’Sullivan’, Journal of Military History 84, no. 2 (April 2020): 625-26.
WORKS REVIEWED
Clark, J. Ransom. ‘"Guarding the Door to the Persian Gulf": Review of Espionage and Counterintelligence in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Success of the Allied Intelligence Services, 1941-45 by Adrian O’Sullivan'. International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 30, no. 2: 425-29.
Lemke, Bernd. ‘Rezension von Adrian O’Sullivan, The Baghdad Set: Iraq through the Eyes of British Intelligence 1941-45, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2019', in: sehepunkte 20 (2020), Nr. 3 [15.03.2020], URL: https://www.sehepunkte.de
/2020/03/33550.html.
Macris, Jeffrey. ‘Review of Espionage and Counterintelligence in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Success of the Allied Intelligence Services, 1941-45 by Adrian O’Sullivan’. Journal of Military History 81, no. 1 (January 2017): 267-69.
Martin, Venessa. ‘Review of Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Failure of the German Intelligence Services, 1939-45 and Espionage and Counterintelligence in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Success of the Allied Intelligence Services, 1941-45 by Adrian O’Sullivan’. Journal of The Iran Society 2, no. 15 (2016): 49-53.
Moll, Martin. ‘Review of Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Failure of the German Intelligence Services, 1939-45 by Adrian O’Sullivan’. Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies 8, no. 2 (2014): 153-55.
Paehler, Katrin. ‘Review of Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Failure of the German Intelligence Services, 1939-45 by Adrian O’Sullivan’. Journal of Military History 80, no. 1 (2016): 273-74.
Pasqualini, Maria Gabriella. ‘I servizi d’intelligence tedeschi in Persia dal 1939 al 1941’. [Review of Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Failure of the German Intelligence Services, 1939-45 by Adrian O’Sullivan]. Osservatorio Analitico (2 March 2016).
Pasqualini, Maria Gabriella. ‘Spionaggio e contraspionaggio in Persia durante la seconda guerra mondiale. 1941-1945’. [Review of Espionage and Counterintelligence in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Success of the Allied Intelligence Services, 1941-45 by Adrian O’Sullivan]. Osservatorio Analitico (3 March 2016).
Wynn, Antony. ‘Review of Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Failure of the German Intelligence Services, 1939-45 and Espionage and Counterintelligence in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Success of the Allied Intelligence Services, 1941-45 by Adrian O’Sullivan’. Asian Affairs: Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs 47, no. 2 (May 2016): 306-8.
PUBLIC LECTURES
‘The Baghdad Set: Iraq through the Eyes of British Intelligence, 1941–45’, Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln, 9 May 2019.
‘The Baghdad Set: Iraq through the Eyes of British Intelligence’, Cryptos Group, The Reform Club, London, 29 April 2019.
‘Occupied Iran II: Espionage and Counterintelligence’, Royal Society for Asian Affairs, Army & Navy Club, London, 15 November 2016.
‘Occupied Iran I: Nazi Secret Warfare, The Iran Society, Army & Navy Club, London, 9 November 2016.
‘Neglected Narratives: The Failure of Nazi Espionage, Subversion, and Sabotage in the Middle East’, Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln, 2 November 2016.
DOCTORAL THESIS
‘German Covert Initiatives and British Intelligence in Persia (Iran), 1939-1945’. DLitt et Phil diss., UNISA, 2012.
Available as a PDF download from Academia.edu.