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1904 - Anglo-French Entante Cordiale resolved the tension between Britain and France over Egypt 1905 1906 - Aqaba Incident 1907 1908 1909 - Anglo-French railway agreements over Syria 1910 1911 1912 - Grey assures Pioncare that Entante still stands 1913 1914 - Ottoman Empire joined WWI as an ally of Germany; French
influence in Syria declining 1915-18 - Four Allied campaigns against the Turks take place,
with the British spearheading the effort 1916 - Sykes-Picot Agreement LANDMARK EVENT 1917 1918 - British seek to
alter the terms set in place by the Sykes-Picot Agreement and so enter
into negotiations with the French concerning British rights in Syria,
Mosul and Palestine 1919 - WWI ends; Anglo-French
relations are strained by disagreements over Syria 1920 - Anglo-French
negotiations take place concerning the borders of Palestine & the
San Remo Conference establishes the mandate system for dividing the
territory of the Ottoman Empire |
Britain, France and the Middle East 1900-1920
A multimedia
examination of the events leading to and following from the Sykes-Picot
Agreement 1916
MUSIC - Theme from Lawrence of Arabia
click on map to
see enlarged version
Events Surrounding the Sykes-Picot Agreement
The Anglo-French discourse concerning
the fate of the various people and lands of the Middle East began with
the 1904 Anglo-French Entante Cordiale, continued in the 1909-1910
railway agreements concerning Syria and with the weakening of the
Ottoman Empire, and appeared to conclude with the Sykes-Picot Agreement
of 1916. In reality, however, this agreement was only the
beginning, and diplomatic negotiations continued until 1920.
During the course of these negotiations the boundary lines between
Syria-Lebanon and Palestine were redrawn numerous times as Britain
attempted to gain as many territorial concessions as possible and
France vainly held to the original terms of the Sykes-Picot
agreement. Access to water for irrigation and power, as well as
control of oil-rich areas were the key strategic goals of Great Britain
and these geologic factors drove the prolonged negotiations.
Aside from minor concessions to Syrian nationalism, no regard was given
to the desires of the Arab populations of the Middle East and they were
never consulted about what should become of their lives and land.
Therefore the existing Arab divisions of culture and identity played no
part in the drawing up of new national boundaries.