Syria and Lebanon are often in the news. Most people are at least vaguely aware that they are troubled countries in a troubled part of the world, but almost no one is aware of how these two countries came into existence.
The process was long, complex, repressive, violent, and full of broken promises and missed opportunities.
The mandate system which was imposed by the victorious Allies of World War I on the people of these two countries, along with the people of the countries which are now Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Palestine, was ostensibly to aid and assist them in making the transition from being almost ready for independence to being independent countries, and do so while taking into account the rights and wishes of the people in the mandated territories.
After almost two years of military occupation following World War I, the territories which are now Lebanon and Syria were placed under the Mandatory administration of the French Government and remained under this administration for more than 24 years.
During this time little was done to fulfill the stated objectives or observe the written terms of the mandate.
Instead the people of Syria and Lebanon were governed according to the whims of the French Government, which showed little interest in their making the transition to full independence.
This is a timeline of how Lebanon and Syria came to be independent but troubled countries under the mandate system.
By better understanding this period I believe that it is easier to better understand what has happened since the mandate era ended and is happening now in Syria, Lebanon and the region.
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The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 is quite long and complex,
so it will be in six installments:
• The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 Part I
- Introduction
- Terms
- Excerpts from Documents Relevant to the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
• The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 Part II
- The Sinai and Palestine Campaign at the End of World War I
- OETA North - From the end of the war to August 10, 1920
- OETA North - August 10, 1920 to January 7, 1922
• The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 Part III
- OETA West - From the end of the war to August 10, 1920
• The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 Part IV
- OETA East - From the end of the war to August 10, 1920
• The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 Part V
- Lebanon - August 10, 1920 to December 31, 1946
• The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 Part VI
- Syria - August 10, 1920 to April 17, 1946
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Please take the time to go over the ‘Terms’ section in Part I.
Understanding the information in it will make it easier to understand the timeline.
• The Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the British during World War I
The Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the British against the Ottoman forces in the Sinai and Palestine began on January 26, 1915.
By the end of 1917 British forces, under the command of General Allenby, with the aid of Arab forces, under the command of Emir Faisal, had captured Jerusalem. The next nine months was a period of relative calm and preparation for the drive to defeat the Ottoman forces in and around Damascus, Beirut, Homs, Hama and Aleppo.
The Ottoman forces in the region, the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group, were under the command of the German General Otto Liman von Sanders.
The defeat of the Ottoman forces in what is now Syria and Lebanon began on September 19, 1918 when British and Arab forces attacked, and over the next week, soundly defeated the Ottoman forces - first in the Haifa-Sea of Galilee area and then in Amman and Dera’a - in the battles which came to be known as the Battle of Megiddo.
Following this major victory British and Arab forces marched on Damascus and on October 1, 1918 occupied it without resistance.
British and Arab forces, and French forces who had begun to arrive in Beirut, then went on to capture Hama, Homs, Beirut and Tripoli during the next three weeks, and on October 26, 1918 they captured Aleppo.
On September 20, 1918 when it was clear that the Battle of Megiddo was lost, the Ottoman Seventh Army, which Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Ataturk) had taken command of on August 26, 1918, was ordered to withdraw to the north by General von Sanders.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha reorganized Ottoman forces as they withdrew northwards, and the reorganized Ottoman Yildirim Army Group, including the Ottoman Seventh Army, took up positions on October 26-27 north of Aleppo.
The Armistice of Moudros was signed on October 30, 1918, ending hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies at noon the next day.
Included in the armistice were articles which stipulated that the tunnels in the Taurus Mountains would be placed under Allied occupation, that all Ottoman railroads would be put under the control of the Allies, that Ottoman forces would be demobilized - except those necessary to preserve order, and that Ottoman forces in Hejaz, Asir, Yemen and Iraq would surrender to the nearest Allied commander. Article Seven of the armistice also gave the Allies ‘the right to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies’.
On October 31, 1918, the day the armistice came into effect, General von Sanders resigned his command and Mustafa Kemal Pasha took command of the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group which was now headquartered in Adana.
Three days later the British military notified Mustafa Kemal Pasha that they were going to occupy Alexandretta. He objected because it was against the terms of the armistice.
This event was to be revisited three years and 20 years later.
On November 7, 1918 the Ottoman Yildirim Army Group was demobilized and Mustafa Kemal Pasha was ordered back to the Ministry of War in Istanbul. He left Adana by train for Istanbul three days later.
• OETA North - From the end of the war to August 10, 1920
October 30, 1918 - The Armistice of Moudros was signed, ending hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies at noon on October 31, 1918.
October 31, 1918 - When the armistice came into effect none of OETA North had been occupied. Shortly afterwards British military representatives were sent to Adana to negotiate and oversee the implementation of the armistice.
November 7, 1918 - The Ottoman Yildirim Army Group, which had withdrawn to Adana, was demobilized.
November 9, 1918 - British forces began occupying the southern cities in the Ottoman Province of Adana (also referred to as Cilicia).
December 1, 1918 - British Prime Minister Lloyd George and French Prime Minister Clemenceau reached an informal agreement that the French would give up its claims to Mosul, which was in the French sphere of influence according to the Sykes-Picot Agreement, in exchange for 25% of the oil in Mosul and British assistance for the French in Syria. The French also agreed to move the border of British occupied and administered Palestine (OETA South) farther to the north.
December 6, 1918 - British forces occupied Kilis.
December 11-19, 1918 - French forces occupied Dortyol, Mersin, Tarsus, Ceyhan, Adana, Islahiye, Hassa, and Osmaniye in Cilicia.
Following the armistice with Germany on November 11, 1918 the French Government was able to send more Occupation Forces to OETA West and North.
December 25, 1918 - Colonel Edouard Bremond was appointed by the French Government to administer the French occupation of Cilicia. He was based in Adana and took over officially, on February 1, 1919, from the British who had been administering the area.
December 27, 1918 - French forces occupied Pozanti.
January 15, 1919 - British forces occupied Antep.
January 18, 1919 - The Paris Peace Conference officially opened.
January 30, 1919 - A preliminary decision was made by the delegates at the Paris Peace Conference to implement a system of mandates in the territories of the defeated Central Powers which were outside of Europe.
Progress on the mandates issue went slowly during the conference due to conflicts between the Allies and objections by Arab delegates to the mandates being proposed for the Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire.
The mandates being discussed were based on the Sykes-Picot Agreement (May 16, 1916) and the Balfour Declaration (November 2, 1917), while Arab objections to them were based on the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence (July 14, 1915 - January 30, 1916), the Declaration to the Seven (June 16, 1918) and the Anglo-French Declaration (November 7, 1918).
February 22, 1919 - British forces occupied Maras.
March 7, 1919 - French forces occupied Kozan.
March 24, 1919 - British forces occupied Urfa.
September 15, 1919 - ‘... the British and French agreed on the 15th instant, that the British garrisons in Syria west of the Sykes-Picot line in Cilicia and southern Armenia will be replaced by a French force; that the garrisons at Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo will be replaced by an Arab force; and that after the withdrawal of the British forces neither the British Government nor the British commander-in-chief shall have any responsibility within the zones from which the army has retired. (From a September 22, 1919 U. S. State Department report on the post-World War I peace process)
The Anglo-French Accord of September 15, 1919 was a result of the French Government’s insistence that it be allowed to send its forces into OETA East and the British Government’s desire to withdraw and demobilize its troops from OETA North, OETA West and OETA East. The British had grown tired of having to carry the financial weight of the occupation.
Cilicia was occupied and administered primarily by French Occupation Forces at this time, but there were also British forces in Cilicia supporting the French. However, all of OETA North to the east of Cilicia was under the occupation and administration of British Occupation Forces.
The French would now be solely responsible for occupying and administering all of OETA North.
October - November, 1919 - British Occupation Forces withdrew from Cilicia.
October 2, 1919 - Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States, suffered a serious stroke and the United States was essentially only an observer during the remainder of the post-war peace process.
October 29-30, 1919 - French Occupation Forces replaced the British Occupation Forces in Kilis, Maras and Urfa.
October 31, 1919 - The Sutcu Imam incident, said to have begun with French legionnaires assaulting three local woman and to have ended with the deaths of one legionnaire and at least one local citizen, occurred in Maras. The incident inflamed local resistance to the French occupation.
November 5, 1919 - French Occupation Forces replaced the British Occupation Forces in Antep.
November 21, 1919 - A small force of French Occupation Forces entered Mardin. They left the same day after receiving a hostile reception from local officials and residents who had organized after learning about the French occupation of Urfa and Antep.
November 21, 1919 - General Henri Gouraud became the French High Commissioner in Syria and Armenia. His administration was based in Beirut and he began building the strength of the French Occupation Forces and the administration under his command.
November 28, 1919 - Local resistance, aided by Turkish National Resistance forces, began attacking French supply convoys and communication lines near Maras.
January 9-10, 1920 - The French military delegation sent to Mardin to investigate conditions in the area and to try to convince local residents to accept occupation was received formally by local officials and leaders, and the local population, who made it clear to them that occupation would be resisted. As a result Mardin was not occupied by the French.
January 10, 1920 - The League of Nations officially came into existence.
January 16, 1920 - The Council of the League of Nations met for its first session in Paris.
January 21, 1920 - The Paris Peace Conference officially ended.
January 20, 1920 - Organized local resistance, aided by Turkish National Resistance forces, began an uprising against the French Occupation Forces in Maras.
January 21, 1920 - Guerrilla warfare carried out by local resistance and Turkish National Resistance forces started in Cilicia. The guerrilla warfare was aimed at taking control of the rural northern and central areas of the province, cutting the roads and railway which connected the province to Istanbul, defeating the French Occupation Forces in Pozanti and Kozan, and putting pressure on the southern areas of the province.
February 8, 1920 - Organized local resistance, aided by Turkish National Resistance forces, began an uprising against the French Occupation Forces in Urfa.
February 11, 1920 - After being under attack for three weeks French Occupation Forces withdrew from Maras.
February 12, 1920 - April 10, 1920 - At the Conference of London, which was an extension of the Paris Peace Conference, the Allied Supreme Council met to discuss mandates, the Ottoman Empire, and the completion of the Peace Treaty between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire.
April 1, 1920 - Organized local resistance, aided by Turkish National Resistance forces, began an uprising against the French Occupation Forces in Antep.
April 10-11, 1920 - After being under attack and siege for two months and suffering from serious logistical problems, the French Occupation Forces in Urfa agreed to a cease-fire and withdrew from the city and the area around it.
April 25, 1920 - The French Republic was selected to be the Mandatory for Syria by the Principal Allied Powers during the San Remo Conference.
The San Remo Conference (April 18-26, 1920) was a meeting of the Allied Supreme Council. The conference was a continuation of the Paris Peace Conference and was held to finalize the terms of the peace treaty between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire.
Britain, France, Italy and Japan participated. The United States attended as an observer because the United States had not declared war on the Ottoman Empire and would not be a party to the peace treaty between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire.
The San Remo Conference was also held in response to the increasingly restive situation in OETA West and OETA East and the declarations of independence which had been made by the Administrative Council of Mount Lebanon and the General Syrian Congress.
During the conference the mandates for the Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire were finalized and assigned even though the territories still belonged to the Ottoman Empire and were only under Allied occupation.
Three conditions were placed on the mandate for Syria by the Allied Supreme Council at the San Remo Conference, they were listed in Article (b) paragraph 1 of the resolution.
“The High Contracting Parties agree that Syria and Mesopotamia shall, in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 22, Part I (Covenant of the League of Nations), be provisionally recognized as independent States, subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The boundaries of the said States will be determined, and the selection of the Mandatories made, by the Principal Allied Powers.”
Even though the fourth paragraph of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations stated that “The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory.” and essentially nothing had been done to determine the wishes of the communities in the mandated territories of Syria, France was chosen to be the mandatory for Syria at the San Remo Conference as was stated in Article (c) of the resolution.
"(c) [Translation] The mandatories chosen by the Principal Allied Powers are: France for Syria, and Great Britain for Mesopotamia and Palestine.”
The borders of Mandatory Syria were not defined at the San Remo Conference, but the Principal Allied Powers were given the authority to determine them.
May 30, 1920 - A ceasefire which had been requested by the French and was signed by the French Government and the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Ankara went into effect.
The French had not been able to occupy Mardin, had lost Urfa and Maras, had lost control of northern and central Cilicia, had essentially lost Pozanti, and were in danger of losing Kozan, which had been surrounded and cut off.
The battle for Antep was at a stalemate and the city was being heavily damaged by constant French artillery fire.
The ceasefire called for French Occupation Forces in Pozanti and Kozan to withdraw to the southern cities of Cilicia, which were still under French control, and for French forces to withdraw from Antep.
May 30, 1920 - June 2, 1920 - The French Occupation Forces in Pozanti and Kozan withdrew to the southern cities of Cilicia. French forces also withdrew from Antep but remained stationed near the city.
June 19, 1920 - Mustafa Kemal Pasha ordered his forces to resume fighting after French forces occupied Zonguldak and Eregli on the Black Sea coast in violation of the ceasefire.
August 10, 1920 - The Treaty of Sevres was signed by the Allies and the Ottoman Empire.
In the treaty the Ottoman Empire gave up all rights to its Arab territories, agreed to the creation of the mandates of Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine, and agreed that the Principal Allied Powers would select their mandatories and determine their borders.
The terms of the treaty also called for the Ottoman Empire to give up its northeastern territories to Armenia and its southeastern territories for the anticipated creation of Kurdistan.
According to the terms of the treaty a strip of land in OETA North about 20 km wide on the west coast of the Gulf of Alexandretta and a strip of land about 30 to 50 km wide along the Turkish side of what is now the border between Turkey and Syria were included in Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon.
Osmaniye, Ceyhan, Dortyol, Hassa, Antep, Kilis, Urfa, and Mardin, along with about two thirds of the Konya-Nusaybin section of the Baghdad Railway were included in these strips of land and therefore in Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon according to the terms of the treaty, while the remainder of OETA North - Mersin, Tarsus, Adana, Pozanti and Kozan - were not.
The Treaty of Sevres acknowledged the end of the concept of Greater Armenia which had been discussed by the Allies during and after World War I. Greater Armenia was to include Eastern (or Caucasian) Armenia, Western (or Ottoman) Armenia - which was envisioned to be the eastern 40%, approximately, of what is now the Republic of Turkey, and Southern Armenia - which was essentially OETA North.
In the treaty Western Armenia was greatly reduced in size to be the northeastern 15%, approximately, of what is now the Republic of Turkey. Most of the southern part of Western Armenia was set aside for the Kurdish State anticipated in the treaty, and much of the western areas of Western Armenia remained in the Ottoman Empire.
Also in the treaty the eastern half of Southern Armenia was included in Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon, and the western half, Cilicia, of Southern Armenia remained in the Ottoman Empire.
The Allies also retained, in the treaty, the right to occupy the tunnels in the Taurus Mountains and any areas of what remained of the Ottoman Empire they wished to, as had been originally agreed to in the Armistice of Moudros of 1918.
However, the treaty was never ratified by the Ottoman Parliament and never came into effect.
The Ottoman Parliament had become dominated by Members who sided with or participated in the resistance to the Allied occupation of Istanbul and large areas of Anatolia. Parliament was dismissed by Sultan Mehmet VI on April 5, 1920, and the growing resistance to the occupation made it impossible for a new parliament to be elected.
The Treaty of Sevres was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923.
• OETA North - August 10, 1920 to January 7, 1922
August 10, 1920 - The Treaty of Sevres was signed by the Allies and the Ottoman Empire. The treaty was never ratified by the Ottoman Parliament and never came into effect. It was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923.
August 11, 1920 - French forces in OETA North surrounded Antep and demanded its surrender. The city’s residents refused and the French forces began a siege of the city.
September 4, 1920 - Colonel Bremond was removed from his position and General Julien Dufieux was appointed in his place to administer, from Adana, the French occupation of OETA North.
December 1, 1920 - The Council of the League of Nations created the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations.
December 1, 1920 - The French Government submitted its draft of the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon to the Secretariat-General of the League of Nations for the approval of the Council of the League of Nations.
February 9, 1921 - After six months of siege and French artillery bombardment, which destroyed 80% of the city, Antep surrendered to the French forces in OETA North.
September 21, 1921 - Henry Franklin-Bouillon, Chairman of the French National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, arrived in Ankara for peace talks with the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Ankara.
By this time the French had lost control of most of OETA North along with the cities they had occupied on the Black Sea coast. Greek forces had been defeated at the Battle of Sakarya by Turkish forces a month earlier, and Greek forces were in retreat, and Italian Occupation Forces had completed their withdrawal from southwest Anatolia two months earlier.
October 20, 1921 - The Treaty of Ankara (Franco-Turkish Agreement of Ankara) was signed by the French Government and the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Ankara. The treaty stated that ‘the state of war between them shall cease’ and established the border between Mandatory Syria and Turkey.
This border established in the treaty is essentially the border which exists today except for the district of Alexandretta which remained in Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon.
About two thirds of the border followed the railroad track from Çobanbey to Nusaybin. The border was set on the south side of the track, which left the track only a few meters inside Turkey. This section of track was most of the Aleppo-Nusaybin section of the Baghdad Railway. Only the Aleppo-Çobanbey section of the Aleppo-Nusaybin line remained in Mandatory Syria and the Lebanon.
The treaty also stated the French would establish a special administrative regime in the Alexandretta District, and that the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Ankara would transfer, to a French group nominated by the French Government, the concession on the sections of the Baghdad Railway in southern Turkey between Pozanti to Nusaybin, including the branch lines which had been constructed in the Province of Adana.
November 13, 1921 - January 4, 1922 - French Occupation Forces withdrew from Islahiye, Hassa, Kilis, Gaziantep, Tarsus, Mersin, Dortyol, Ceyhan and Adana in OETA North.
January 5, 1922 - Turkish forces entered Adana, the capital of the Province of Adana.
January 7, 1922 - The French withdrawal from OETA North was completed when French Occupation Forces withdrew from Osmaniye.
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• The Series
The Arabian Peninsula during and after World War I
The Mandate for Mesopotamia Timeline 1916 - 1932 Part I
The Mandate for Mesopotamia Timeline 1916 - 1932 Part II
The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 Part I
• Treaties, Resolutions, Etc.
The Sykes Picot Agreement - May 16, 1916
The Proclamation of Baghdad - March 19, 1917
The Declaration to the Seven - June 16, 1918
The Anglo-French Declaration - November 7, 1918
Memorandums by the Emir Feisal - January 1 and 29, 1919
The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement - January 3, 1919
Draft Resolutions in Reference to Mandatories - January 30, 1919
Council of Ten Meeting with Emir Faisal - February 6, 1919
The Covenant of the League of Nations - April 28, 1919
The King-Crane Commission Report - Syrian Congress - August 28, 1919
The Anglo-French Accord - September 15, 1919
Memorandum of Agreement at San Remo - April 24, 1920
The San Remo Resolution - April 25, 1920
The Draft of the Mandate for Mesopotamia - December 7, 1920
The Treaty of Ankara of 1921 - October 20, 1921
The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon - July 24, 1922
The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1922 - October 10, 1922
Council of the LoN Meeting Minutes - September 29, 1923
• Notes
I used many sources to collect this information and there is no way I can list all of them.
I have tried to present the information so that anyone who wants to look for more information can do searches easily.
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