The Great War, Arab Revolt, and Post-War Settlements

#1. Significance
the countries we have today are from the dismembering of World War 1
the new countries in the Middle East are created by the French and the British
#1. World War 1 alliances and interests
Triple Entene
o Britain, France, Russia
o British want the oil so they want Iraq to have a land corridor to Iran or just create pipelines
o French want silk that is grown in Lebanon, Levant, and to protect the Marinates (Roman
Catholic)
o Russia wants water (40% of trade goes through Turkish Straits)
Central Powers
o Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire
why join with the losing side?
o a lot of members in the government that were very pro German
o they hated Russia
#2. Key Agreements
Husayn-McMahon Correspondence (July 1915-March 1916)
o issues
territory, independence of Arabs, British interests, British allies (the French)
o Sharif Husayn (prince of Mecca and Medina and descendant of the Prophet)
two sons: Faysal (eventually becomes king of Iraq) and Abdullah (eventually
becomes the king of Jordan)
o the British ask Sharif Hasyan for help to defeat the Turks in Damascus
o McMahon: high British official stationed in Egypt
o Sharif Husayn and McMahon correspondence, and the Arab agrees to fight (create Arab
revolt) for in exchange for an independent Arab state
McMahon promise everything except for the lands except for the land west of Aleppo,
Hama, Hams, and Damascus (France wanted it and "it was not purely Arab")
Sharif Husayn wanted Palestine which was well south of the above area

Sykes-Picot Agreement (May 1916)

o secret agreement between the French, British, and Russians (however, later the Russians pull
out of the war)
o Sykes (British) & Picot (French)
o the British wanted absolutely control over south west of Iraq and the French wanted absolute
control over the west coast
o the French and British decided to split up the Arab States
o contradiction
there will be no Arab state
Palestine will be an international zone and will not go to the Arabs
because Jerusalem is there
o ISIS
produces videos from Alhayat (ISIS media company): one of them being the End of
Sykes-Picot
in Syria and Iraq, and want an Islamic state without borders
they want to get rid of Sykes-Picot because they were artificially created
because of the secret agreement between Britain and France
they are very upset because of the betrayal of the Europeans

Balfour Declaration (November 1917)

o beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
o Balfour (foreign minister of England) promises Palestine to the Jews
Jews will always need Britain, so the British will have a strong foothold in the Middle
East
the British miscalculated the Jewish lobbies in Germany, US, and Russia
the British were hoping the Jews in the US to lobby the US to enter the war
they wanted the Russian Jews to lobby the Russian government to stay in the
war
this contradicts the Husayn-McMahon Correspondence and Sykes-Picot
why say national home and not a state?
saying State was too excessive, and national home was vague enough to open
up to interpretation, but the Jews interpreted it as a state, and demand their
state
Arabs in Palestine are pissed because Arabs have lived in Palestine for centuries but
get referred to as "existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine"
#4. Arab Revolt
manage to defeat the Turks, and now they are in Damascus
#5. The Peace Settlement
Paris Peace Conference (1919)
o they realize they can't give an Arab state to Faysal
o Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
pushing for the people's right to create their own government - self-determination
people all over the world who governs them <- Arab's main reason
o League of Nations and the Mandate System
Wilson's League of Nations: precursor to the United Nations because Wilson wanted
no more wars, especially like World Wars
after World War 2 it becomes the United Nations
Mandate System
talking about the Arab lands of the former Ottoman Empire
eventually they will become their own power, but for the time being, they need
assistance and advice until they are able to stand alone
mandates are supposed to be new colonies, but aren't called colonies because
of its negative connotation
the Arabs should decide who gets to be the Mandate power
the lines are artificial, the desert between Syria and Iraq
split between Iraq and Kuwait
one day Iraq will be independent, but we don't want them to be too strong and
have access to ports, but the British will have allies in Kuwait
Kuwait is full of oil
Saddam Hussein will start a gulf war to take back what was theirs
#6. Partition of the Ottoman Empire
the Turks went from a great area to a small piece of land
San Remo Conference (1920)