Mubarak Al-Sabah anxiety over possible encroachment by the Great Powers, most notably Britain and Russia into the region due to the construction of the Baghdad Railway. They thought that bestowing the title could dissuade any foreign powers from interfering with Kuwait. "See Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement of 1899" The long Ottoman indecisiveness in naming Mubarak kaymakam, as well as feelings of vulnerability helped pave the way for Mubarak to pursue British ties. On January 18, 1899 Mubarak signed a secret agreement with Major M.J. Meade, British political resident in Bushire, that guarded Kuwait against any outside foreign aggression. It also required Mubarak and his
Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire or more other states; a stipulation which became a most favored nation article. Around 1535 a capitulation was made by Suleiman the Magnificent regarding France. France signed its first treaty of "Capitulations" with the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo in 1500, during the rule of Louis XII. After the Turks conquered Egypt in the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), the Ottomans upheld the capitulations to the French and applied them to the entire empire. Capitulations signified that which was arranged under distinct headings; the Ottoman Turkish phrase was "ahid nameh", whereas a "treaty" was "mouahed". The latter did, and the former did not,