Colonial Horse Trading, 1919

[Minchandre]

I'm trying to plan a TL where the British are able to deliver on their promises made in the McMahon-Hussein Correspondences. IOTL, the French took Syria and were unwilling to allow Faisal to rule there, preferring instead to manage directly for a while before installing a republic.

What would it take for the British to convince France to give them control of the area, or to allow Faisal to get it? Let's assume that Lebanon and the rest of the Mediterranean coast get to be under direct French control, as per Sykes-Picot.

The first thought I had was to change the allotment of German colonies, but the Brits need German East Africa for the Cape-to-Cairo railway, and it seems natural to give the Brits German Southwest Africa as well. Even if the Brits let France have all of Kamerun and Togoland, that still doesn't quite seem enough. Similarly, Papua New Guinea falls naturally to British Australia, and all the Pacific islands in the world aren't going to be much of a drop in a bucket compared to prime Syrian land.

Would the British ever consider giving up one of their own colonies, say Gold Coast or something? Maybe a couple Caribbean islands, or British Guiana? Nigeria seems too valuable...what about the majority of Malaya, keeping Singapore and Malacca?

[HJ Tulp]

Malaya was one of the few profitable colonies of the British Empire actually.

[Cook]

The carve up of territory in the colonial era between Britain and France always seemed to result in the British getting rich and French getting deserts.
Britain getting the oil wells of Iraq and France getting the Syrians seems to match that result perfectly.

[stevep]

Minchandre

Possibly the easiest way is that France is more dependent on Britain by the end of the war. [Presuming your not making major changes to the direction of the war itself]. Or that Britain agrees to some French demand in Europe, possibly actual annexation of the Saar region or some other change. Another option might be for the French to get involved in the Anatolian conflict, getting a protectorate there say instead of Syria.

Steve

[Minchandre]

Originally Posted by stevep

Minchandre

Possibly the easiest way is that France is more dependent on Britain by the end of the war. [Presuming your not making major changes to the direction of the war itself]. Or that Britain agrees to some French demand in Europe, possibly actual annexation of the Saar region or some other change. Another option might be for the French to get involved in the Anatolian conflict, getting a protectorate there say instead of Syria.

Steve

The Saar! Excellent point. The British might allow the French to have sole governance of the Saar - though that might almost be too rich. I'll probably go with that, ASB-ish as it is.