A Brief History of Modern Syria Guided Notes

Mr. Goodall
Syria Unit - Day 1: Social Studies

Instructions:​ Fill in the blanks as we go through the notes and the lessons. Turn in at the end
of the lesson and keep these for your final project.

1. The __________________ ended World War I and broke up the Ottoman Empire into
several nations.

2. The __________________ rose to power in Turkey and ejected Assyrians and

Armenians out of the country, leading to genocides and mass deportations.

3. In 1916, Britain and France signed the _______________ which split up the Middle
Eastern region between them, but _________________ in Damascus led to the
_______________ drawing the borders of Syria in 1920. This has not been changed.

4. The Syrian Kingdom was shortlived as the ______________ pushed the League of
Nations to turn control over to the French. This led to a series of Syrian
_______________ against the French.

5. In 1940, the ________________, who were French allies to Hitler, took control until
1941 when English and French forces occupied Syria during World War II. In 1946,
_____________ forced England and France to recognize the 1936 treaty and the
______________ was established.
6. After World War II, the Syrian Republic opposed the nation of ___________.

7. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Syria underwent several _______________.

8. 1958, Syria and Egypt attempted to create the ___________________________.

9. In 1963, the __________________ took control, focusing on the ideas of
_________________, ____________________, _________________, and
__________________. However, the Ba’ath party later split over __________________
vs. ____________________.

10. During the 1970s, Syria waged a number of small-scale wars against ______________.

11. In 1976, Syria began an occupation of ______________________.

12. In the 1970s, the ________________, a _______________ group, attempted overthrow

the government due to their secularism. Since then, radical Islamism has continued to be
a recurring problem in Syria.
13. Syria shifted their support by helping the U.S. in the ___________ against Ba’athist
leader __________________________.

14. Syria also participated in the _______________________ with Israel but these
negotations failed.

15. In 2000, after his father’s death ______________________ became president of Syria.
He promised reform, but failed to deliver leading to the __________________ which was
repressed by the Syrian military. Afterwards, reforms were limited to slight market
reforms.

16. As a result of the __________________, many Syrians began to protest al-Assad.

Allegedly, Assad cracked down on these protests which led to violent fighting between
opposition groups and the Syrian military. The oppositions groups united to form the
________________________, which led to _______________________________.

17. The instability caused by the civil war allowed ______________ to establish themselves
as a global terrorist organization.

18. In ________________, the minority Kurds used stability to further their own goals
towards a separate country.

19. The violence in Syria led to the ________________________________. Which we will

discuss further in this unit.