The Hashemite Kingdom of Syria

http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Syria_1948.htm

Long quotes ahead, scroll down to the last paragraph for the AH part.

After becoming the ruler of Transjordan, King Abdullah made no secret of his ambition to unite the central Arab lands of Greater Syria, which included Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. The ultimate object of his desire was a throne in Damascus. His brother, Faysal bin Husayn, had been elected King of (greater) Syria by the Arab Grand Committee at Damascus on 8 th March 1920, having taken the city during the Great Arab Revolt of WWI. Only months later, the French crushed the emerging Syrian state at the Battle of Maysalun on 23 July and redrew its borders. Driven from Syria, the Hashemites, supported by many Syrians, continued to champion the legitimacy of Greater Syria. Abdullah assumed leadership of the cause when his brother Faysal, having become King of Iraq, died in 1933. No sooner did Syria and Jordan gain independence in 1946, than Abdullah called for the immediate unification of Syria under his crown, believing he could win not only British support for his plan, but also the broad masses of Arabs who were calling for unity. Shukri al-Quwwatli had good reason to fear Abdullah’s Greater Syria Plan. His own army was small, badly trained, and unreliable. To make matters worse, the president suspected that many of his top officers had either been in contact with King Abdullah himself or his agents in Syria. The Jabal Druze, positioned on the Syrian-Jordanian border, was in full revolt against Damascus by the fall of 1947, having defied Quwwatli following his annulment of the summer parliamentary elections in the province. Its Atrash leaders, renowned for their military prowess, were threatening to secede to Jordan and had positioned themselves to act as the bridgehead for a Jordanian strike on Damascus. King Abdullah sounded out the Druze in both Syria and Lebanon about unifying their regions and giving them a large measure of autonomy within a Greater Syria in exchange for their support in helping to create it. [FONT=&quot][13][/FONT]
A border incident could easily give Abdullah the pretext he needed for a move on Damascus . In contrast to Syria, Jordan was a stable state. Its army, the Arab Legion commanded by British officers, was by all accounts the best trained and “by far the most loyal and efficient” fighting force among the Arab League states. Its commander, General John B. Glubb, or Glubb Pasha as he was known, always favored the notion of a Greater Syria acting as the centerpiece of British policy in the Middle East. As he explained to the British government: “It is not fanciful to imagine the Arab Legion as the nucleus of the Army of Greater Syria in the future.” [FONT=&quot][14][/FONT] The Prime Minister of Egypt, Nuqrashi Pasha, also acknowledged that the Jordanian army was superior to either the Egyptian or Syrian armies when he proposed to the Arab League in October 1947 that they pay for the Jordanian army to serve as the guardian of Palestine. [FONT=&quot][15][/FONT]
From President Quwwatli’s perspective, the war in Palestine offered Abdullah the ideal opportunity to bring down Syria’s republican regime and to push forward his ambition to reestablish Hashemite rule in Damascus. Each stage of Syrian planning for the war in Palestine makes sense when seen through the lens of President Quwwatli’s fear of Abdullah and the possibility that the Jordanian monarch would win British support for his Greater Syria plan.


To make maters worse, Jordan encircled Syria with a series of alliances during the lead up to the war. Abdullah signed treaties with both Turkey and Iraq in 1947. From Turkey, Abdullah sought support for his Greater Syria plan in exchange for Syria renouncing all Arab claims to the province of Alexandretta, which Turkey had annexed from Syria in 1938. In April 1947, Abdullah announced a treaty of “Brotherhood and Alliance” with Iraq. The two Hashemite kingdoms had long sought to form a federation. Abdullah was determined to pursue close cooperation between the Hashemite monarchies to ensure the success of his Greater Syria plan. He could not allow for intra-Hashemite competition to scuttle his plan. As one American official explained, King Abdullah’s “vision and goal was a reunited Syria in federation with Iraq.” It would be built “on the unity of the Hashemite House and the strong fundamental oneness of national aspirations.”[FONT=&quot][18][/FONT]http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Syria_1948.htm#_edn18
Shortly after Jordan and Iraq signed the Brotherhood Alliance, Iraq likewise signed a treaty with Turkey, which meant that Syria was surrounded on four of its borders by enemies, agreed on Jordan’s plan.


This assessment on the part of Quwwatli was not fanciful or far-fetched. After all in February 1948, Britain signed on to Abdullah’s plan to divide Palestine with the Zionists, thereby agreeing to the first step of Abdullah’s Greater Syria plan. This was in direct defiance of the United Nations partition proposal, which called for two states in Palestine.[FONT=&quot][21][/FONT] Although the British did seek to curb Abdullah’s Greater Syria rhetoric during the fall of 1947, London’s efforts were too little, too late.http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Syria_1948.htm#_edn22[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

To counter Abdullah’s provocations and threats, Quwwatli decided he must construct a defensive pact tying together Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria in a formal military alliance against his Hashemite foe and to protect Syria’s independence.

Summary: Emir (later King) Abdullah of Transjordan (later Jordan) desired to unite Greater Syria (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Transjordan) under his rule and then unite or form a federation with the fellow Hashemite monarchy of Iraq. He had the Arab Legion under Glubb Pasha (possibly the best military of any Arab state), sympathizers in the Syrian government and military, possible allies among the Druzes (to whom he proposed an autonomous region joining the Druze areas of Syria and Lebanon), friendly relations with Britain, alliances with Turkey (to which he promised to renounce the Syrian claim to Hatay) and Iraq, and possibly some sort of agreement with the Zionists to divide Palestine. The Syrian president had a weak army he distrusted and rebellious Druzes. He had come to view the Hashemites as a greater threat than the Zionists. He unsuccessfully proposed an anti-Hashemite alliance to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The resulting inter-Arab rivalries were an important factor in the Jewish victory in the war.

So WI the plan had been successful? I can't think of a particular POD, but let's say that Abdullah manages to exploit the Druze revolt to take over Syria and gains more territory in Palestine (West Jerusalem, a larger West Bank and most of the Negev).
 
Color me interested. Could make some interesting AH. Maybe you'd have two main power blocs in the Middle East; the Hashemite Federation of Greater Syria and Iraq facing off against some Arab Nationalist alliance of Egypt, Saudi Arabia (obviously SA would have to be a bit different ITTL), and possibly the Gulf States. As OTL, they'd probably both try to distance themselves from both sides of the Cold War.

As with OTL, though, the devil seems to be figuring out the question of what to do with Palestine... If it wasn't owned by the British, I highly doubt a native Arab government would give it away. But by the time we're talking about, there are already a lot of Zionist Jews there, and more that want to come... Now, I understand there are multiple kinds of Zionism, and the Israeli government's is merely a particularly extreme brand. So perhaps the more moderate Zionists get in power in the *Jewish community in *Palestine, and a diplomatic solution can be reached?

If the returned Jewish diaspora was peacefully integrated into a "Greater Syria" Federation that could end up being very beneficial to that state's own government; after all, look at how much it helped Israel. ;) Having a lot of highly educated people could never really hurt, even if they're from a different ethnic group.

Of course, neither Turkey nor Iran is going to stay neutral with all of these Arab affairs going on on their borders. And there's North Africa to consider as well. Not to mention everything else that's going on in the world during the period we're talking about! But I like this idea.
 
(obviously SA would have to be a bit different ITTL)

I don't see why. An Egyptian-Saudi alliance is only made difficult by Nasser. The Egyptian Revolution might not happen, Nasser might not rise to be the country's leader or the Muslim Brotherhood might be successful in killing him.

As with OTL, though, the devil seems to be figuring out the question of what to do with Palestine... If it wasn't owned by the British, I highly doubt a native Arab government would give it away.

I'm assuming the Jewish state comprises the area that the Hashemites didn't take: Galilee, the Mediterranean coastline and part of the Negev. In addition, maybe the Egyptians take Gaza and establish a Palestinian state there claiming all the former mandate and not recognized by Greater Syria (who would, in turn, claim the remainder of Palestine). That would be a fine mess.

This TL could see an earlier Lebanese Civil War, pitting the Maronites (trying to maintain their identity in all the pan-Arab euphoria) and Palestinian refugees (enraged that the Hashemites robbed them of their statehood), supported by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and France, against the Druzes (eager to join their brothers in Greater Syria), Sunnis (identifying with the Hashemites both religiously and ethnically) and Shiites (pissed off at how the Palestinians think they're running southern Lebanon, as they were in OTL), supported by the Hashemites and Israel.
 
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I'm assuming the Jewish state comprises the area that the Hashemites didn't take: Galilee, the Mediterranean coastline and part of the Negev. In addition, maybe the Egyptians take Gaza and establish a Palestinian state there claiming all the former mandate and not recognized by Greater Syria (who would, in turn, claim the remainder of Palestine). That would be a fine mess.

I like that. :D The Palestine situation is just as bad, but with even more sides involved!
 
I'm thinking that once he conquers Syria Abdullah establishes a Druze autonomous region made up of the Golan and the Jebel Druze. Then he forms an Arab Confederation with Iraq and makes an alliance with Yemen (whose king had territorial ambitions in Saudi Arabia). His assassination is butterflied away. A republican Syrian government-in-exile is established in Beirut, recognized by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and maybe France, the communist states and some others. This and everything mentioned before (except the Lebanese Civil War) happens in 1946-1951.

Any other ideas?
 
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If you have a united Syrian-Jordanian kingdom emerge out of the '47 Druze revolt, then I think the Hashemites may be able to position themselves as champions of Arab nationalism, pre-empting the rise of Nasser's brand of pan-Arab nationalism. The Hashemites would be ruling from the two ancient Arab capitals (Damascus and Baghdad), and Abdullah had taken the first substantive step toward de jure Arab unification. A Greater Syria, in a federation with Iraq, is a potentially powerful combination.

The emergence of Israel in 1948-9 was a watershed event in OTL, and would be in this TL as well. I don't see things going significantly differently with a united Syria-Jordan. The change would come in the 1950's, when the Hashemite Federation would be able to provide a counter-weight to Nasser's Egypt (which presumably would still emerge), and maybe form the nucleaus of a more effective Baghdad Pact. The question is whether a Syria-Jordan could prevent a coup in Iraq, and whether the expanded Syria-Jordan is in danger of a coup.
 
Could the Israelis ally with the Saudis in this scenario?

The al-Sauds would likely fear a possible Hashemite reconquista of the Hejaz, while the Israelis would fear a unified Arab horde to drive them into the sea.
 
Could the Israelis ally with the Saudis in this scenario?

The al-Sauds would likely fear a possible Hashemite reconquista of the Hejaz, while the Israelis would fear a unified Arab horde to drive them into the sea.
No, but they might work together as the Iranians did with the Israelis vis Saddam Hussain and the Iran-Iraq war. Of course if the Israelis returned Jerusalem to Islamic rule.........

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The enemy of my enemy is not my friend. They are just the enemy of my enemy.
 
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