Raymann
Banned
On the original question about a better Sykes-Picot.
I've also read a bit more about the agreement and frankly it sickened, they were literally drawing lines in the sand about a part of the world they only cared about insofar as the other side didn't get as much as them.
There should not have been any agreement in 1916. Neither the British nor the French had any significant forces in the Ottoman Empire and neither did they plan on introducing any anytime soon.
If they had waited then it would have been obvious that the French did next to nothing to secure their agreement which would have changed everything. First and foremost, the lack of a treaty would not hamstrung the British into taking action in what they knew would be the French zone of influence.
So the first sane thing would have been to wait until the war was over to conclude any agreement. Now the French had to be satisfied so they are assured their zones of control in Lebanon, Syria, and Mosul. Now if the French were smart they would have created a much smaller, Christian dominated, Lebanon with Syria controlling the rest. The only reason Lebanon was made so large in the first place was that the French knew they were getting it but weren't sure they were going to get the British captured Syria so they wanted as much territory as possible. Knowing that Syria was theirs no matter when wouldn't have given them that incentive.
French control of Mosul would have made a Kurdish state in Iraq and Turkey would hardly be in a position to say anything about it.
I've also read a bit more about the agreement and frankly it sickened, they were literally drawing lines in the sand about a part of the world they only cared about insofar as the other side didn't get as much as them.
There should not have been any agreement in 1916. Neither the British nor the French had any significant forces in the Ottoman Empire and neither did they plan on introducing any anytime soon.
If they had waited then it would have been obvious that the French did next to nothing to secure their agreement which would have changed everything. First and foremost, the lack of a treaty would not hamstrung the British into taking action in what they knew would be the French zone of influence.
So the first sane thing would have been to wait until the war was over to conclude any agreement. Now the French had to be satisfied so they are assured their zones of control in Lebanon, Syria, and Mosul. Now if the French were smart they would have created a much smaller, Christian dominated, Lebanon with Syria controlling the rest. The only reason Lebanon was made so large in the first place was that the French knew they were getting it but weren't sure they were going to get the British captured Syria so they wanted as much territory as possible. Knowing that Syria was theirs no matter when wouldn't have given them that incentive.
French control of Mosul would have made a Kurdish state in Iraq and Turkey would hardly be in a position to say anything about it.