War by Revolution. Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I

THEWAR'SEND 229

Furthermore,thenumeroussecretagreementsandovertprom-
isesontheMiddleEastconcludedbyBritainduringthewarwiththe
French,Arabs,andJews,whiletheyhelpedswingthemilitaryout-
comeinBritain'sfavor,containedbasiccontradictions,someofwhich
havenotyetbeenresolved.Thesedecisionsformedthebasisofthe
postwarsettlementsintheMiddleEast, a seriesofactions,signed
agreements,anddocumentsdatingprincipallyfrom 1921 and1922.
ThesettlementsdismantledtheOttomanEmpire.In 1922 aTurkish
nationalassemblyabolishedthesultanateandcaliphateandestab-
lisheda newTurkishnationalstatethatincludedonlytheTurkish-
speakingportionofthedissolvedempire;BritainandFranceparti-
tionedbetweenthemtheremainder.FrancereceivedfromtheLeague
ofNationsamandatetoruleSyriaandLebanon,andBritainto rule
Palestine,includingTransjordan.InthePalestineportionofthe
mandateBritainhadpromisedtheJews a"NationalHome,"withfull
rightsfornon-Jews.BritainalsoestablishedaprotectorateinIraq
(Mesopotamia),acountrytheBritishcreatedanduponwhosethrone
theyplacedtheirownnominee,Faysal.Moreover,a newpoliticalen-
tity,theHijaz,actedas aBritishclient;also,IbnSaudgovernedfar-
thernorthandeastinArabiawithpowerthathadbeenstrengthened
bythewar."
Intheshortterm,then,BritainpreserveditsholdoverEgyptand
IndiaandevenexpandeditsempireintheMiddleEast. FewEnglish-
men,however,realizedatthetimetheseriousproblemsthewarand
thepostwarsettlementshadcreatedforBritainandtheworld.The
announcementofthemandatesysteminflamedArabnationalism:
themandatesdestroyedtheArabdream,encouragedduringthewar
by Anglo-Frenchpromisesandassurances,ofa free Arabconfederacy
headedbyBritain'swartimeally, Faysal.
BritainandFrancepresidedoverthepostwardismembermentof
theOttomanEmpireandthecreationofthemodernMiddleEast,
producingthereby,inthewordsofthejournalistDavidFromkinin
1989,"a peace toendall peace."TheAnglo-Frenchdiplomatswerestill
concludingthesettlementof1921-1922whentheArabsrespondedvio-
lentlyagainstAlliedcontroloftheMiddleEast. FaysalattackedFrench
troopsinLebanon;anArabrebellionthenbrokeoutin Iraq,costing
theBritish£40millionandtwothousandcasualtiesandforcingthem