Sykes-Picot Agreement Betrays Arab Nation

Empires plot in secret

On 16 May, 1916, an agreement was concluded between Francois Georges-Picot (representing France) and Sir Mark Sykes (representing Great Britain) concerning the fate of the Ottoman Empire, should the Allies succeed in defeating Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottomans in the First World War. It was decided that the territories belonging to modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel-Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait would be divided up between Britain and France, with France getting control of Syria and Lebanon, and Britain obtaining the rest.

The Arabs revolt

At the instigation of the British, the Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula, under Sharif Hussein, revolted and declared their independence from the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the are for hundreds of years. In the name of the British government, Sir Henry McMahon (the British High Commissioner in Egypt) promised Sharif Hussein that, if the Arabs helped the British during the war, Great Britain would ensure the creation of an independent Arab state from Damascus to the Arabian Sea. With the help of Hussein and the Arabs, the British forces in Egypt were able to push the Ottomans back to the borders of modern Turkey, leaving the regions divided up under the Sykes-Picot Agreement in Allied hands.

Post-war aftermath: self-determination, or colonialism?


The British were now in a quandry as to whether they should honor their pledges to Sharif Hussein or to their ally, France. At the time, Woodrow Wilson (the American President during the talks that decided the fate of the Middle East) was actively promoting the '14 points,' one of which was the right of all peoples to self-determination. The British and French had to decide between honoring the principle of democracy and self-determination - as well as Britain's pledge to the Arabs to do so - or to pursue a policy of imperialism in the Middle East. Judging by a joint Anglo-French declaration issued on November 7, 1918, the two powers appeared committed to the former course of action:

     The objective aimed at by France and Great Britain in prosecuting in the East the War let loose by the ambition of Germany is the complete and definite emancipation of the peoples so long oppressed by the Turks and the establishment of national governments and administrations deriving their authority from the initiative and free choice of the indigenous populations.

Betrayal and its legacy


On March 8, 1920, a congress of Arabs at Damascus proclaimed an independent Arab state, with King Faisal (Hussein's son) as head of state. The French insisted that this territory had been granted to them under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, and moved an army in to take control of the region. In August, the French force defeated the Arabs at the Battle of Maysalun and deposed King Faisal. They administered the whole of modern-day Syria and Lebanon directly until World War II.


For their part, the British took direct control over Palestine, Jordan and Iraq. The whole of the territory promised to the Arabs for their help in defeating the Ottomans was now under British or French colonial rule. The boundaries of the modern Middle East were drawn (often arbitrarily) at this time by British and French negotiators, and hope of a united, independent Arab state was destroyed.

For more information, check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Points
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein-McMahon_Correspondence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Revolt
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_ww1_british_promises_arabs.php