3. Birth of a Turkish State
• World War One did not go with
for the Ottomans:
– Invaded by European powers and
revolted against by the Arabs, the
Ottoman Empire essentially
ceased to exist by the time the war
was over in 1918.
– An ultra-nationalist Turkish
leader, Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk, took power in what was
now known as Turkey, and
declared it a purely Turkish state.
4. Arab Lands
• The British and French had simultaneously
decided to divide up the Arab world between
Britain and France. Arbitrary lines were drawn
on the map to divide up the Arab world into new
states called Transjordan, Syria, Iraq
(Mesopotamia), Lebanon, and Palestine.
• Zionist Jews were encouraged to settle in
Palestine, creating a new Jewish state – Israel.
• Egypt continued under British domination to
become its own nation, separate from the rest of
the Arab world.
5. French Mandates
• Syria and Lebanon became a French
protectorate (an autonomous
territory that is protected
diplomatically or militarily against
third parties by a stronger state or
entity) under the Treaty of Sèvres.
– The French mandate of Syria lasted until
1943, when two independent countries
emerged from the mandate period, Syria
and Lebanon.
6. British Mandate
• The British were awarded three mandated
territories:
– Mesopotamia: Faisal was installed as King of Iraq and
Transjordan.
– Mandatory Palestine was placed under direct British
administration, and the Jewish population was allowed
to increase, initially under British protection (Sykes–
Picot Agreement).
• It conflicted with T.E. Lawrence’s promise of an Arab
state during WWI.
– Most of the Arabian peninsula fell to another British
ally, Ibn Saud, who created the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia in 1932.
7. Mandate System Countries
French Mandate
English Mandate
• Syria
• Iraq (Mesopotamia)
• Lebanon
• Palestine/Israel
• Saudi Arabia
8. Middle East
after the
Ottomans
The map to the right is how
the Middle East was
reshaped after new
countries were carved out of
the Ottoman Empire.
9.
10. Mandate problems
• During the 1920s and '30s Iraq, Syria and
Egypt moved towards
independence, although the British and
French did not formally depart the region
until after World War II.
• But in Palestine, the conflicting forces of
Arab nationalism and Zionism created a
situation which the British could neither
resolve nor extricate themselves from.
– The rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany
created a new urgency in the Zionist quest to
create a Jewish state in Palestine (Balfour
Declaration).
