1919 Time-line


January - On the 30th Lloyd George and Clemenceau again meet to discuss altering the Sykes-Picot agreement.

February - In early February the French wrote a memorandum giving Mosul and Palestine to the British.  The French understanding is that the issue is now closed.  Mosul and Palestine belong to the British and a shrunken Syria belongs exclusively to the French.  However the British responded with new territorial demands considering the memorandum to contain insufficient concessions.  They now wanted to further diminish the scope of Syria by shifting the border of Palestine north and east, to the Litani River and including the Yarmuk valley,  and that of Mesopotamia west to include Tadmor and Deir-es-Zor.  French public opinion would not allow Clemenceau to submit to such demands.
 

March - On the 20th a group of high profile diplomats, including Lloyd George, Clemenceau, Allenby, Pichon, Balfour and President Wilson, met to discuss the question of Syria.  During this meeting Lloyd George cited the British wartime military efforts in an attempt to manipulate the French into making concessions regarding Syria.  He also brought up up the question of Arab nationalism and said that the French would need to consider the wishes of the native population (a hypocritical statement because Britain had no intention of considering the wishes of the native populations of any area over which it had control).  Pichon responded by stating that all the French asked for was possession of Syria, as was their right according to Sykes-Picot.  The meeting ended with President Wilson suggesting that an American team be commissioned to determine the wishes of the Syrian Arabs regarding who should rule them.  For more information on the King-Crane Commission click here.

April - Long-Berenger oil agreement, including details about rights over Mosul's oil, is negotiated


May - On May 21-22 Clemenceau and Lloyd George met again to continue the discussion concerning Syria.  Clemenceau reminded Lloyd George of the agreement they had made in December of 1918 and states that, as the French had already given up Mosul and Palestine, they would not allow a British railway or land strip to bisect Syria.  The discussion became unpleasant with both statesmen becoming upset.  It ended with Clemenceau insisting that there would be no British line through Syria and Lloyd George threatening that no French troop would be allowed to set foot in Syria until Britain was granted a strip through Syria.   Lloyd George formally canceled the December 1918 agreement and halted the Long-Berenger Oil Agreement, which only needed ratification before it would be put into effect.  This marked the high point of Britain's Syrian ambitions.  In only a few months the British position would change diametrically.


June - Versailles Conference - Great Britain presents maps with Palestine’s borders pushed north & east of original lines in Sykes-Picot – French reject this, surprised by the British claims.


July
August

September - Due to financial problems resulting from the tremendous cost of WWI, Great Britain realized it would need to vastly reduce expenditure.  One way to cut costs was to decrease the British military presence in distant locations.  As a response to this financial reality the British government began to constrict its empire, consolidating its hold on strategic countries and allowing other areas to slip out of British control.  Syria was one such area.  Great Britain was no longer in a position to control added territory were France convinced to concede it, and so the British government proposed withdrawing troops from Syria and Lebanon and leaving the area to French control.


October - Great Britain evacuates troops from Syria, but not to the boundaries detailed in the Sykes-Picot Agreement.  French objected to the lack of border alignment with the Sykes-Picot Agreement.  According to the terms of this Agreement the British were still occupying French land.  Lord Allenby responded by moving further south but not all the way to the line established by Sykes-Picot.  The British justified their lack of compliance with the terms of Sykes-Picot by citing Lloyd George's claim in September 1919 about Palestinian borders, the so called Deauville line, which the French had never agreed to.  Despite the French lack of agreement the Deauville line was the de facto border until border finalized in 1923.


November


December - The English and French corresponded about the Palestinian border/water needs.  The French agreed to minor concessions about water use but these concessions did not satisfy the British and so a meeting was arranged between Philippe Berthelot, the Secretary-General of the French Foreign Ministry, and Lord Curzon.  Berthelot maintained the legitimacy of the border lines established by Sykes-Picot but offered to give Palestine 33% of the water power generated from the Rivers south of Mt. Hermon.  Lord Curzon insisted on the Deauville line and so the two remained at an impasse and the meting ended without an agreement being reached.
*Hughes, 1999, 132-52.
*McTague, 1982, 100-112.