1941
May 2:Britain intervenes in Iraq to overthrow a new government that had aligned
itself with Nazi Germany. British forces will gain control of Baghdad by the end of
May and of Mosul province by early June.
June 8:British and Free French forces invade Syria to quell a nationalist uprising.
September 16:Reza Shah is forced to abdicate following an invasion of Iran by armed
forces from Britain and the Soviet Union. He is succeeded by his son, Mohammad
Reza Pahlavi.
1942
January:Britain and the Soviet Union pledge to respect the sovereignty of Iran and
withdraw their forces after the end of World War II.
May 11:American Zionists, meeting at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City, adopt
a program calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine and rejecting
Britain’s policy of limiting Jewish immigration into Palestine.
1943
November 22:Under British and U.S. pressure, France releases imprisoned Lebanese
leaders. (This date is celebrated in Lebanon as independence day.) Later in the
month, Lebanese leaders agree on an unwritten National Pact dividing political
power among the communities of Christians and Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
1945
March 22:The founding charter of the League of Arab States is adopted in Cairo.
1946
March 22:Britain signs a treaty ending its mandate over Transjordan and acknowl-
edging the independence of that country.
April 15:Britain and France withdraw their remaining troops from Syria.
May 6:Under U.S. pressure, the Soviet Union withdraws its forces from Iran. The
Kremlin previously had refused to honor a 1941 agreement under which Britain
and the Soviet Union were both to withdraw from Iran following the end of World
War II.
October 4:The White House publishes a letter from President Harry Truman to the
British government supporting the creation of a “viable Jewish state” in Palestine.
1947
February 14:Following the failure of a conference in London on the future of Pales-
tine, the British government says it will refer the question of Palestine to the United
Nations.
August 31: A special committee of the United Nations issues a report recom-
mending the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states by September
- The recommendation is later endorsed by Britain, the United States, and
the Soviet Union, but a group of Arab leaders known as the Arab Higher Com-
mittee rejects it.
November 29:The UN General Assembly adopts Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine
into Arab and Jewish sectors. Representatives of Arab nations denounce the action.
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