British and French

Decisions

Emerging of
Independent States

Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq

were given their borders by the French and British
They did not care about what the people wanted when
they made the borders, it was just for their personal interests

Turkey was made with an anti-imperialist struggle

Iran (Persia) was made during the coup dtat
Egypt was made in a revolution
Saudi Arabia was made with conquest

World War I

Stopped peace that had been in place since

Napoleonic Wars
Turning point in relations between Europe and the
Middle East

Concert of Europe

European nations worked together to solve global

crises
Ended 1871 with disruption in balance of power
because of Germanys unification
After WWI 2 alliances
Britain, France and Russia (after 1917
USA) were the Entente Powers
Germany, Austria, and the Ottoman
Empire were the Central Powers

Claims on Middle East

As soon as the entente powers realized the war would

be long, each of these powers moved to a position where
they could take resources from the Middle East
Russia wanted the Turkish Straits where 40% of its
goods passed through as well as Palestine due to holiness
(Orthodox Christians)
France wanted present day Syria and Lebanon
because of historic rights mainly though it was for silk
interests
The British wanted to be in charge of Egypt, Palestine,
and the seas leading to India for the British East and West
India Company's trade

Secret Treaties

In the 1915 the entente powers started making secret

treaties to ensure their territorial claims in the Middle East
These treaties were meant to help themselves and
attract Greece and Italy

Constantinople
Agreement

Britain and France recognized Russias claims to the

Turkish Straits and Istanbul, France got their claims
recognized (Syria and Lebanon), and Britain got Persia
Based on principle of compensation

Britains Secret
Agreements

The British made agreements with nationalistic groups

as well
Offered shelter to ibn Saud if he remained out of
trouble
They orchestrated the Arab Revolt

Balfour Declaration

1917 British agreed with Zionism beliefs of making the

holy land (Palestine) a home for Jewish people
It is thought that this agreement was made as an
overestimation by the British of the Jews power
It also helped alliance with America and Russia

Post War Settlement

No one really got the territory in their area, since most

had little hold in the region
Lots of disagreements over territory
Nationalist revolt in Turkey so the Europeans could
not divide it among themselves
The US was another big obstacle since it ended
secret diplomacy

Sykes Picot
Agreement

Very ambiguous and contradictory

Argument over who had rights to different parts of
Palestine
Jerusalem as a result became an international city

Wilsons Fourteen
Points

1. End to secret treaties

5. Interests of the populations concerned must have equal
weight
12. Nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be
assured...an absolutely unmolested at autonomous development
(self-determination)