1920 war in the Middle East
The
Franco-Syrian War
took place during 1920 between the
Hashemite
rulers of the newly established
Arab Kingdom of Syria
and
France
. During a series of engagements, which climaxed in the
Battle of Maysalun
, French forces defeated the forces of the Hashemite
monarch
King Faisal
, and his supporters, entering
Damascus
on July 24, 1920. A new pro-French government was declared in Syria on July 25, headed by 'Alaa al-Din al-Darubi
[7]
and the region of
Syria
was eventually divided into several
client states
under the
Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
. The
British government
, concerned for their position in the new mandate in
Iraq
, agreed to declare the fugitive Faisal as the new king of Iraq.
Background
[
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]
Near the end of
World War I
, the Egyptian Expeditionary forces of
Edmund Allenby
captured Damascus
on September 30, 1918, and shortly thereafter on October 3, 1918, Hashemite ruler Faisal entered Damascus as well, in the final stages of the
Arab Revolt
against the Ottomans. On October 5, 1918, with the permission of General Allenby, Faisal announced the establishment of an Arab constitutional government in
Damascus
.
Following the implementation of the initially secretive 1916
Sykes-Picot Agreement
, which divided the occupied remnants of the Ottoman Empire between France and Britain, French military administration was established in the Levant.
General Henri Gouraud
was appointed as representative of the French government in the Middle East and commander of the
French
Army of the Levant
, centered in Syria.
While events transpired in Europe that would eventually render the
Arab Kingdom of Syria
into a French mandate, it would also catalyze Syrian nationalist societies like
al-Fatat
(the Young Arab Society) to make preparations for a national congress. These Syrian nationalist societies advocated complete independence for an Arab Kingdom, uniting the Arab world under the Hashemite ruler Faisal. The first official session of the Syrian Congress was held on June 3, 1919, and al-Fatat member
Hashim al-Atassi
was elected its president.
[8]
On June 25, the King-Crane Commission arrived in Damascus to a flurry of leaflets which said “Independence or Death”. On July 2, 1919, the Syrian Congress passed a number of resolutions pertaining to the formation of Syria as a completely independent constitutional monarchy with Faisal as king, asking for assistance from the United States, and the refusal of any rights claimed by the French.
[8]
The hopes of Faisal that either the British or Americans would come to his aid and intervene against the French quickly faded with what many consider the defining catalyst for the creation and destruction of the Arab Kingdom of Syria: the Anglo-French Agreement, which provided for the withdrawal of British troops from Syria starting on 1 November, rendering
OETA East
a sole Arab administration on 26 November 1919, thus having the French only answer to themselves in the upholding of the
Anglo-French Declaration
. It was signed on 15 September 1919 by Lloyd George and Clemenceau.
[9]
Eventually, Faisal would be forced into negotiations with Clemenceau in January 1920 which stipulated that the French would uphold the existence of the Syrian state and would not station troops in Syria as long as the French government remained the only government supplying advisers, counselors and technical experts.
[10]
News of this compromise did not bode well with Faisal’s vehemently anti-French and independence minded supporters who immediately pressured Faisal to reverse his commitment to France, which he did.
Warfare chronology
[
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]
Countrywide revolts
[
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]
In the aftermath of the Clemenceau negotiations in January 1920, violent attacks against French forces occurred sporadically across Syria and effectively the Syrian Congress assembled in March 1920 to declare Faisal the king of Syria, as well as to officially set up the Arab Kingdom of Syria with Hashim al-Atassi as Prime Minister. An independent
Arab Kingdom of Syria
was proclaimed in Damascus on March 8, 1920, in an apparent dispute with the French over the nature of its rule.
This action was immediately repudiated by the British and French and the
San Remo Conference
was called together by the
League of Nations
in April 1920 to explicitly establish the
mandate of the French
over Syria. Shortly, the war of Syrian Arab nationalists with the French became a devastating campaign for the new proclaimed
Arab Kingdom of Syria
. Several violent incidents in the region initiated by Arab militias, like the
Battle of Tel Hai
and the
raid on Samakh
, led to further international support of the French.
The League of Nations having given the French Mandate of Syria as planned, the French General Gouraud issued an ultimatum to the Syrian Arab government to disband its troops and submit to French control. Worried about the results of a long bloody fight with the French, King Faisal himself surrendered on July 14, 1920,
[8]
but his message would not reach the General and King Faisal’s defense minister
Yusuf al-'Azma
, who ignoring the King, led an army to Maysalun to defend Syrian Arab Kingdom from French advance. The Hashemite government of Damascus submitted reluctantly to the French ultimatum and disbanded its troops.
Battle of Maysalun
[
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]
In spite of King Faisal's acceptance of France's ultimatum,
Yusuf al-'Azma
refused to give in. He raised a small body of disbanded troops and civilians, poorly armed relative to the modern, well-equipped professional French Army, and led them to Maysalun. Although he had no illusions about the outcome of the battle, al-'Azma wanted to make it clear that Arab Syria would not surrender without fighting, in order to deny the French occupation any legitimacy. The
Battle of Maysalun
on July 24 resulted in a crushing Syrian defeat. The French forces under the command of General
Mariano Goybet
easily defeated the Syrian forces. Yusuf al-'Azma himself was killed in the battle.
Final stages
[
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]
The final stage of the war took place on July 24, 1920, when the French forces
entered
Damascus without any resistance. The next day, the
Arab Kingdom of Syria
was abolished, and French rule officially reinstalled.
Aftermath
[
edit
]
Following the San Remo conference and the defeat of King Faisal's short-lived monarchy in Syria at the Battle of Maysalun, the French general Henri Gouraud established civil administration in the territory. The mandate region was subdivided into six states. They were the
State of Damascus
(1920),
State of Aleppo
(1920),
Alawite State
(1920),
Jabal Druze
(1921), the autonomous
Sanjak of Alexandretta
(1921) (modern-day
Hatay
in
Turkey
) and the
State of Greater Lebanon
(1920), which became later the modern country of
Lebanon
.
See also
[
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]
Bibliography
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Caroline Camille Attie:
Struggle in the Levant: Lebanon in the 1950s
, I.B.Tauris, 2004,
ISBN
1860644678
,
page 15-16
- ^
Sarkees, Meredith Reid; Wayman, Frank Whelon (1 July 2010).
Resort to war: a data guide to inter-state, extra-state, intra-state, and non-state wars, 1816-2007
. CQ Press.
ISBN
9780872894341
– via Google Books.
- ^
Peretz, Don (3 September 1994).
The Middle East Today
. Greenwood Publishing Group.
ISBN
9780275945756
– via Google Books.
- ^
Benny Morris.
Victims
. the date of the first attack of Arabs against French interest on March, 1st.
- ^
Tom Segev in
One Palestine. Complete
. the date of the first attack of Arabs against French interest on March, 1st.
- ^
a
b
Tauber E.
The Formation of Modern Syria and Iraq
. p.22
- ^
Eliezer Tauber
The Formation of Modern Syria and Iraq
. p.37
- ^
a
b
c
Eliezer Tauber. The Formation of Modern Syria and Iraq. Frank Cass and Co. Ltd. Portland, Oregon. 1995.
- ^
Paris, Timothy J. (23 November 2004).
Britain, the Hashemites and Arab Rule: The Sherifian Solution
. Routledge. p. 59.
ISBN
978-1-135-77191-1
.
- ^
Elie Kedourie. England and the Middle East: The Destruction of the Ottoman Empire 1914-1921. Mansell Publishing Limited. London, England. 1987.
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