A Ba'athist Timeline
Formation of the Kingdom
The defeat of the Ottomans in Syria allowed British troops under Marshal Allenby to enter Damascus in 1918 alongside troops of the Hashemite Prince Faisal and his soldiers of the Great Arab Revolt.
Prince Faisal quickly established the first Arab government in Damascus in October 1918, and selected Alireza Pasha Al-Rikabi as military governor. The new Arab government of Prine Faisal created local governments across the Bilad Al-Sham and especially in major cities. Across S Tyria the Pan-Arab colors were displayed with pride as the promised Arab Nation had finally been formed as the Arabs had been promised by the British. The Arab Kingdom of Syria was only a temporary entity, as all hoped for the fulfillment of the British promise for the Arab Nation to extend from Aleppo to Aden.
However, things soon took a turn for the worse. The betrayal of the Arabs by the British and French with the quick division of the entire region into a British controlled "Palestine" in the south, with a French controlled "Lebanon" encompassing the Syrian coast line, including a primary city, Beirut, and leaving the Arab Nation's administration to the interior of Syria. The popular Hashemite local governments were dissolved almost as quickly as they were formed along the French-controlled coast and in the British occupied south.The British also made no sign of leaving the former Ottoman provinces of Mosul and Basra as well.
Prince Faisal and his administration in turn made several trips to Europe, to some benefit. Prince Faisal and representatives from his father's Kingdom of the Hejaz and leading business men from Palestine, French-controlled Syria, and Faisal's Syria formed the official Arab Delegation to the Dover Conference in September of 1919. Mistaking the entire Arab Delegation as being non-Francophone, the French demanded full implementation of the Sykes-Picot agreement. When it became known the Arabs had found out a scuffle erupted resulting in a dual between an Arab and French diplomat, resulting in the death of the latter and the hands of the Arab. A new agreement was constructed known as the Dover Agreement allowing for the creation and existence of the "Kingdom of Syria and the Hejaz" stretching from inner Syria in the north, to Mecca in the south. Two coastal concessions were made to France, the protectorate republics of French Syria in the north, and The Lebanon in the south, created, officially, in interest of the Arab Christians, and pioneered for and welcomed by a minority of the Syrian coastal delegations' Maronite leaders. British mandates were confirmed in Mesopotamia, and an ill-defined situation in Palestine allowed for the British "lease" on Palestine west of the Jordan under their direct control, and a sphere of influence east of the Jordan, south of Arab Syria, and north of the historic boundary of the Hejaz. The presence of non British, French, or official Arab-Syrian soldiers was effectively banned, which was a way for the three to exert control over the often indepdent-minded tribes. Unspecified at the time was the specific immigration policies in British-leased Palestine, and level of British control in their sphere of influence, which came to be termed as Transjordan. As per the agreement, General Henri Gouraud was disallowed to serve in French administration of any Levantine state, thus severely weakening French aspirations for all of Syria.
Elimination of the French from Syria
In May 1920, elections were held for the first directly elected "Audience-Royal of the Kingdom." 80% of seats went to the Conservative candidates, under the name Hazb al-'Arab, or the Party of the Arabs, commonly called the Conservatives. However, the minority included renowned leftist Arab nationalist figures such as Jamil Mardam-Bey, Shukri Al-Kuwatli, Ahmed Al-Qadri, Ibrahim Hanano, and Riyad Al-Soleh. Unrest erupted in Syria with the organization of nationalist figures into the "Hazb el-Beladi," or the Homeland Party, which published the weaknesses of the Dover Agreement: the lack of Arab control over the center of the nation, the confirmation of British mandates in Mesopotamia and Yemen (which ran contradictory to the Constitution of the Kingdom which stated its borders were those natural to the Arab people: From Syria, to Mesopotamia, to Palestine, to the Hejaz, the Gulf, and Yemen.) They also began to circulate propoganda stating the Hashemites had signed agreements allowing for unlimited number of "foreign colonists," in the heart of the Nation, British-leased Palestine. The term foreign colonists was universally understood to be Zionist European settlers who were allowed to live in the sovereign territory of the Arab Nation, completely under their own laws and sovereign (the King of Great Britain.) Prince Faisal was made to look a traitor to the Arab people by this united left for accepting a compromise with the French Prime Minister Clemenceau (surrendering coastal Syria) and with the Zionist leader Weizman. Anti-Hashemite manifestations broke out, and Muslim inhabitants in the French Protectorates revolted with fear of becoming second-class citizens incorporated into the new, Christian, States of The Lebanon and French Syria.
In June 1920, the Audience-Royal in Damascus, headed by Hashim Al-Atassi, adopted a resolution rejecting the British-lease of Western Palestine and rejected acknowledgement of the "independent" French republics, the State of The Lebanon and State of French-Syria. The Audience declared the irredentist claims of Syria in her natural borders (including full sovereignty over Palestine and the coast), and proclaimed Faisal "King of the Arabs." The Audience also proclaimed political and economic union with neighboring Iraq on July 9, 1920.
On August 25th with the Treaty of Sevres, the supreme inter-allied council granted France mandate over "The Lebanon and Syria," not specifically referring to the pre-existing State of French-Syria. While Westerners claim this was done in ignorance of the severe difference of the wording, the Syrians and Arabs to this day believe this was a direct action by the West, and France in particular, to flex more control over the entire Arab Nation. The treaty also stated Great Britain's lease over Western Palestine as "indefinite, or until a proper, reflective and responsible local government be formed;" as well as granting Britain protectorate powers over the British sphere of Transjordan within the Kingdom of Syria and the Hejaz; and conferred upon the British the powers of mandate over Iraq.
Feeling betrayed and realizing his mistakes, Faisal addressed the Audience in an apologetic matter and signed his name to their previous irredentist declaration, and asked for a "conscripted army of patriots to be formed to protect Syria's current boundaries and to liberate the proper Arab citizens from French tyranny in the 'Protectorates,' and British colonialism in Palestine, and for the freedom and sovereignty of Iraq." The young Youssef Al-Azma stepped forward to request a solemn oath to the Ba'ath or Ressurection, of the Arab Nation, and from the Nationalists and Conservatives alike was born the Hazb ba'ath al-'arabiyya al-ishtarikiyya- the Re-Born Arab Populist Party, commonly called the Baathists. Syrians reacted with the utmost joy and patriotism, voluntarily enlisting in the thousands, men and women of all ages, and the formation of a new government under War Minister, General Youssef Al-Azma happened in April of 1921.
These decisions provoked adverse reactions by the French, as well as denouncement by the Maronite patriarch of Mount Lebanon, stating the Al-Azma government was actually formed by a coup d'état. However The Protectorates' Orthodox Christian population expressed solidarity with the secular and nationalist government of Faisal's Kingdom of Syria & the Hejaz. However Maronites in the Protectorate took the mobilization of French troops to leave The Lebanon and French-Syria to move into Arab Syria as reason to declare themselves "responsible," and oust their French commissioners and declare their union as the "Phoenician Arab Republic of the Levant," secular in relation to struggles between the Maronite Levant and Orthodox throughout, in Baabda on June 29, 1922.
On June 30, the French Command issued an ultimatum to Faisal giving him the choice between submission to French interpretation of the Treaty of Sevres (French mandate over "The Lebanon and Syria," which they viewed as all actions of the Audience-Royal needing both approval by the King and the French High Commissioner) or abdication. Disregarding that the power balance was not in his favor, Faisal and the Arabs chose to resist. Under the command of the Prime Minister General Youssef Al-Azma, the Arab motivated and large Arab forcefaced the French at the Battle of Maisaloon, which was resulted in an Arab victory after five strenuous days of fighting.
The French forces retreated into the Protectorates, arriving in the heavily Maronite Lebanon as liberators by the Maronites from the secular "Phoenician Arab Republic," but as they were entering the state of French-Syria they were faced with a strong resistance. It took France five years from 1922 to 1927 to hold full control over French-Syria and to quell all the insurgencies that broke out, notably in the Alaouite territories and Aleppo, which they held to the grimace of the Kingdom of Syria & the Hejaz, which was formed on the basis of a pan-Arab state stretching from "Aleppo to Aden."
Following the Alexandria Conference in 1923, the defeat of the French in Arab Syria, and the overall quelling of anti-French Christian Arab revolts in French-Syria, the French sent General Gourard (in direct violation of the Dover Agreement, which Syria-Hejaz had long ago disregarded) to Beirut. Under his rule, the Phoenician Arab Republic was declared illegitimate, as well as declaring the dissolution of the Protectorates. In their place was the subdivided Federation of the Levant, who's executive branch was to be the French Parliament, to the outcry of its citizens, as well as the Arab Syrians who were still of the opinion that 'the Protectorates,' were indisputable sovereign territory of the Arab Nation. The states of Aleppo, Alaouites (Alawites), Alexandretta, the Lebanon (Maronites), and South Lebanon (Muslims) were formed for better use of French divide-and-conquer tactics in their Levantine Federation.
Troops free and trained, the second test for Syrian independence came from the Bedouin raiders of Abdulaziz ibn Saud of the Najd, who had conquered the Hay'eel Emirate earlier on. His 1924 Invasion of Mecca and repulsion by Syrian forces, tribal and Syrian alike, under the command of General Al-Azma was a source of great pride for many Syrians, and significantly depopularized the tribal culture in the Kingdom, especially with the few tribes in the Hejaz. In reward for his victory, King Faisal named General Al-Azma as Viceroy of the Hejaz, holding military powers over the region to keep it defended from the Bedouin raiders, and fulfill the powers of King Faisal's Royal Government in Damascus.
In July 1925, France allowed for the Independence of The Lebanon and South Lebanon from the Federation, as an independent French mandate in its own right as a more centralized personal union between the increasingly anti-French Maronites (who were dismayed by their lack of special treatment by their Catholic French overlords, often being thrown into the same treatment category as their Muslim compatriots) as the "Lebanese Federation" (Fédération libonais.) The rest of the states were re-organized into a loose confederation between the states: Aleppo, Alexandretta, and Alaouites, under the name as the Upper Syrian Confederation (Confédération haute-syrienne.) On December 1, 1925 the Alaouite state seceded from the cofederation when the states of Aleppo and Alexandretta were united into the State of Syria.
In 1926, a revolt in the Lebanese Federation led by Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash spread to their northern brethren in the the State of Syria and the Alaoutie Republic and became a general rebellion in the French-controlled territories of the Middle East, France tried to retaliate by having the parliament of Aleppo declare secession from the entire Confederation but the voting was foiled by Syrian patriots (including increasingly active Arab Syrian spies and agents in the chaotic French territories.)
On May 14, 1928 the State of Syria, the Alaouite Republic, and the Lebanese Federation declared the establishment of the Republic of Syria and a new constitution was drafted. Two years later, in 1930, a new flag for the republic was adopted. The flag carried five red stars that represented the five districts of the republic (Aleppo, Alexandretta, Alaouite, The Lebanon and South Lebanon.)
In 1934, the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence was signed, a treaty that would not be ratified by the French legislature. However, the treaty allowed the Aleppo, Alexandretta, Alaouite, and South Lebanon to be incorporated into the Kingdom of Syria & the Hejaz within the following two years. The Lebanon (now the Lebanese Republic) was the only state that did not wish to be incorporated into Arab Syria, despite popular desire for it to be. The presidents of the four French-Syrian states with a symbolic kissing of King Faisal's hand, surrendered their sovereignty to the Kingdom, and devoted their lives and the actions of their governments to the Irredenist policy of the Kingdom of Syria and the Hejaz. At the height of his popularity, Prime Minister General Al-Azma resigned to focus on developing the armed forces further to continue the Irredenist Policy, commonly referred to as Al-Wattaniyya or the Homeland Policy. Hashim Al-Attasi, who was Prime Minister under King Faisal's initial reign, was selected by the Ba'ath Coalition to be Prime Minister of the the Kingdom, which by a special act symbolizing Arab victory in the incorporation of the 'Protectorates,' was renamed the Kingdom of the Arabs.
The Campaign for Iraq
Three important anticolonial secret societies had been formed in Iraq during 1918 and 1919. In Najaf there was (1)The League of the Islamic Awakening was organized. (2)The Muslim National League formed to oppose all colonialist invaders. In February 1919, in Baghadad, diverse group formed the (3) Guardiansof Indepdence, which operated multiple offices throughout the territory.
The Imam Shirathi of Karbala and his son, Mirtha Muhammad Ritha, began to organize the insurgent effort. He issued a fatwa, reminding the inhabitants that it was un-Islamic to be ruled by a foreign power, and called for the removal of the British kafir foreigners. By June of 1920, the entire southern half of the territory was rebelling against the British, the largest areas of which were along the Euphrates. Acting indepdent of the organized groups were the tribes, especially in the south, who knew their traditional autonomy was at the stake. Emissaries from a fellow tribal chief who had been crowned King of a real State, Faisal from neighboring Syria, persuaded the tribes to cooperate effectively with the organizations in the cities and soon the entire of Mesopotamia was in a state of anarchy; Churchill threatened use of Indian reinforcements, only to be reminded by Faisal from Syria-Hejaz that the Dover Agreement strictly forbade the use of non-British, French, or Arab-Syrian troops in the region.
The Great Uprising of Iraq was a watershed event in modern Arab history. For the first time, Sunnis and Shi'eh, tribes and cities, were brought together in a common effort. , which had not existed in millenia, but could be achieved, under the right leadership and guidance.
In March of 1921, the British, Arab Syrians, and Iraqis met at the Cairo Conference to form a government. The demand by the British for a monarch to be chosen "from your own kind," was complimented by the suggestion of the Syrians for the brother of their King Faisal, Prince Zaid bin Hussein- also a son of the Sharif of Mecca. An army was also established, which was to be trained by the British. To confirm Zaid as Iraq's first monarch, a vote was carefully arranged that had a return of 96 percent in his favor. The British skeptically allowed for Zaid to take the Iraqi throne, viewing him as the brother of the Syrian king Faisal, who had, until that point in time, balanced nationalism with respect for Western intents, but also being from the tribes, possesed an Islamic attraction not necessarily needed in Syria, but which definitely played a factor in the process of unifying Iraq into a state. King Zaid and King Faisal were sharifs, descendents of The Prophet (PBUH.) The British believed these credentials would satisfy traditional Arab standards of political legitimacy; moreover, the British thought Zaid would be accepted by the growing Iraqi nationalist movement because of his brother's role in the 1916 Arab Revolt against the Turks, his family's achievements as leaders of the Arab emancipation movement, and also upon the reccomendation of Colonel Lawrence who had spent much time years before with the family in the Hejaz. Zaid was crowned King of Iraq after the Naquib of Baghdad was disqualified as being too old (80 yrs) and Sayid Talib (a prominent Iraqi from the province of Basra) was deported on trumped up charges by the British, with support of the Arab Syrians. Thus, although with a little doctoring from the British and the Arab Syrians, who played both sides to their advantage, was "elected" as the new King with 96% of the vote. Nevertheless, Zaid would turn out to be beloved by the inhabitants of the territory as he embodied the perfect balance of tribal, city, religious, and modern life.
The final major decision taken at the Cairo Conference related to the new Anglo-Arab of 1922. Zaid was under pressure from the nationalists, and secretly from his brother King Faisal in Syria, and the anti-British religious scholars and leaders of Najaf and Karbala to limit both British influence in Iraq and the duration of the treaty. Realizing that a single government control over the region was at best shaky, and that his familys eventual goals involved the eventual incorporation of his new kingdom into that of his brothers, and to do that required financial and military support of the British (prooving them to be a common enemy and ally,) King Zaid took a moderate approach, and adopted the policies of his brother, being pro-British when necessary, and anti-British around the right people. The treaty which had been originally set as a thirty year engament but later reduced to five years, was ratified in June 1924, stated that the king would heed British advice on all matters affecting British interests, and that British officials would be appointed to specified posts in the King's personal council. A subsequent financial agreement, which only slightly increased the financial burden on Iraq, required Iraq to pay a quarter of the cost of supporting British resident officials, among other expenses. British obligations under the new treaty included providing various kinds of aid, notably military assistance, and British uninvolvement (unless supportive) in any matters "between the Royal Al Hashemi Family and other European powers," which was obviously directed towards the actions of his brother Faisal to first incorporate French-Syria before incorporating Iraq. Provisions were also made giving the King the option between League of Nations membership or political union with another State, when the British deemed the mandate expired, or when this was effectively demonstrated to them. In effect, the treaty ensured mutual benefits for both under the mandate, and allowed King Zaid and his family to effectively use the nation as they saw fit after the mandate's expiration, so long as all situations "remembered the good-will shown by the British to the advancement and emmancipation of the Arabs." Iraq would remain politically and economically tied to Arab Syria, which was politically a wise move which would be useful in promoting incorporation later on.
On October 1, 1922 the Royal Air Force in Iraq was reorganized as the Royal Air Force Iraq Command, and was given control of all British forces in the kingdom.
Before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the British-controlled the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) which had held the rights to the Mosol province.Under the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement — an agreement in 1916 between Britain and France for future control of the Middle East — the area would have fallen under French influence. The Dover Agreement, however, changed all this, and the area had been succesfully negotiated as a British mandate with the Arab Syrians, who drew their initial borders further west of the province. The Dover Agreement, however, did grant the Arab Syrians a 25 percent share in the TPC as compensation.
Soon the British and Iraqis were debating over the oil. The major obstacle was Iraq's insistence on a 20 percent equity participation in the company; this figure had been included in the original TPC concession to the Turks and had been assumed, King Zaid claim, now by the Iraqis. In the strong nationalist sentiments against the concession agreement, and belief that agreements between the Arab Syrians and British were strong enough, King Zaid, on his brothers advice, refused to budge on the agreement. And received what he asked for. And when time came for the League of Nations to vote on the disposition of Mosul, all fears that Mosul might be returned to Turkey (if King Zaid didn't surrender his claims) were proved false: the Kingdom of Iraq assumed their concession in the oil production, and was confirmed sovereignty perpetually over the "clearly Arab region of Mosul," and nationalistic pride and cheers for the new monarch were commonplace. King Zaid's success in securing Iraqi rights to concessions of TPC, renamed, the Iraqi Arab Petroleum Company (IAPC), and in securing Mosul cemented the positive image of King Zaid as well as the entire Hashemi family.
With the signing of the Anglo-Arab Treaty and the settling of the Mosul question, Iraqi politics took on a new route. The emerging class of Sunni and Shia landowning tribal sheikhs vied for positions of power with wealthy and prestigious urban-based Sunni families and with Ottoman-trained army officers and bureaucrats. Because Iraq's newly established political institutions were the creation of her native government under a wildly popular monarch (despite obvious influence from Great Britain), and because the concept of democratic government had proven succesful in neighboring Syria, the politicians in Baghdad emerged legitimate and developed deeply rooted constituencies. Thus, with a constitution and a similarly elected assembly, the Audience of Iraq, Iraqi politics was a traditional combination of scholarly minds vying for the position or opportunity to present their ideas for the furtherment of the new nation to the King, who enjoyed more direct control over Iraq's government than Faisal exercised in Syria. Sunni, Shi'eh, Tribal, city differences were put aside, and Nationalistic tendencies soared. The introduction of Syrian pan-Arab propaganda, with King Zaid's open support, was receieved warmfully by the Iraqi people, who began to view themselves more and more primarily as Arab than anything else.
The new Tripartitie Anglo-Arab Treaty was signed in June 1931 between Great Britain, the Kingdom of Syria-Hejaz, and the Kingdom of Iraq. It provided for a "close alliance," for "full and frank consultations between the His Iraqi Majesty with His Majesty the King of Great Britain and for brotherly, spiritual, and temporal advice from His Majesty the King of Syria and the Hejaz and of the Arabs," and for mutual assistance in case of war. Thus Syria-Hejaz was guaranteed British support indirectly, while being able to be anti-British in attempts to raise nationalistic tendencies at home to drive out the French. Iraq granted the British the use of air bases near Basra and the right to move troops across the country (and should Iraq join Syria-Hejaz, this was subject to later approval by His Syrian Majesty King Faisal.) It also imposed the first limit on immigration into British-leased Palestine to no more than 25,000 persons a year, had the British by their own law and force and cost relocate any colonists from Transjordan to their leased territory, and relinquished Transjordan completely to the Royal Arab Government, which inturn promised to allow British troops to be in Iraqi territory should it be united with Syria (which was obviously to come.) The treaty, of twenty-five years' duration, was to come into force upon Iraq's expiration of mandate. This occurred on October 4, 1932. On October 7, an Act of Union was simultaeneously passed by the Audiences of the Kingdom of the Arabs and the Kingdom of Iraq, uniting the two nations under the sovereignty, name, and king of the former in "full equality and with utmost respect to Arab tradition and family ties." King Zaid was named Crown Prince, also in accordance with Arab tradition, and entitled to the usage of the unique title "His Royal Highness King Zaid, Crown Prince of the Arabs." Zaid was named Governor of Basra by his brother King Faisal.
Formation of the Kingdom
The defeat of the Ottomans in Syria allowed British troops under Marshal Allenby to enter Damascus in 1918 alongside troops of the Hashemite Prince Faisal and his soldiers of the Great Arab Revolt.
Prince Faisal quickly established the first Arab government in Damascus in October 1918, and selected Alireza Pasha Al-Rikabi as military governor. The new Arab government of Prine Faisal created local governments across the Bilad Al-Sham and especially in major cities. Across S Tyria the Pan-Arab colors were displayed with pride as the promised Arab Nation had finally been formed as the Arabs had been promised by the British. The Arab Kingdom of Syria was only a temporary entity, as all hoped for the fulfillment of the British promise for the Arab Nation to extend from Aleppo to Aden.
However, things soon took a turn for the worse. The betrayal of the Arabs by the British and French with the quick division of the entire region into a British controlled "Palestine" in the south, with a French controlled "Lebanon" encompassing the Syrian coast line, including a primary city, Beirut, and leaving the Arab Nation's administration to the interior of Syria. The popular Hashemite local governments were dissolved almost as quickly as they were formed along the French-controlled coast and in the British occupied south.The British also made no sign of leaving the former Ottoman provinces of Mosul and Basra as well.
Prince Faisal and his administration in turn made several trips to Europe, to some benefit. Prince Faisal and representatives from his father's Kingdom of the Hejaz and leading business men from Palestine, French-controlled Syria, and Faisal's Syria formed the official Arab Delegation to the Dover Conference in September of 1919. Mistaking the entire Arab Delegation as being non-Francophone, the French demanded full implementation of the Sykes-Picot agreement. When it became known the Arabs had found out a scuffle erupted resulting in a dual between an Arab and French diplomat, resulting in the death of the latter and the hands of the Arab. A new agreement was constructed known as the Dover Agreement allowing for the creation and existence of the "Kingdom of Syria and the Hejaz" stretching from inner Syria in the north, to Mecca in the south. Two coastal concessions were made to France, the protectorate republics of French Syria in the north, and The Lebanon in the south, created, officially, in interest of the Arab Christians, and pioneered for and welcomed by a minority of the Syrian coastal delegations' Maronite leaders. British mandates were confirmed in Mesopotamia, and an ill-defined situation in Palestine allowed for the British "lease" on Palestine west of the Jordan under their direct control, and a sphere of influence east of the Jordan, south of Arab Syria, and north of the historic boundary of the Hejaz. The presence of non British, French, or official Arab-Syrian soldiers was effectively banned, which was a way for the three to exert control over the often indepdent-minded tribes. Unspecified at the time was the specific immigration policies in British-leased Palestine, and level of British control in their sphere of influence, which came to be termed as Transjordan. As per the agreement, General Henri Gouraud was disallowed to serve in French administration of any Levantine state, thus severely weakening French aspirations for all of Syria.
Elimination of the French from Syria
In May 1920, elections were held for the first directly elected "Audience-Royal of the Kingdom." 80% of seats went to the Conservative candidates, under the name Hazb al-'Arab, or the Party of the Arabs, commonly called the Conservatives. However, the minority included renowned leftist Arab nationalist figures such as Jamil Mardam-Bey, Shukri Al-Kuwatli, Ahmed Al-Qadri, Ibrahim Hanano, and Riyad Al-Soleh. Unrest erupted in Syria with the organization of nationalist figures into the "Hazb el-Beladi," or the Homeland Party, which published the weaknesses of the Dover Agreement: the lack of Arab control over the center of the nation, the confirmation of British mandates in Mesopotamia and Yemen (which ran contradictory to the Constitution of the Kingdom which stated its borders were those natural to the Arab people: From Syria, to Mesopotamia, to Palestine, to the Hejaz, the Gulf, and Yemen.) They also began to circulate propoganda stating the Hashemites had signed agreements allowing for unlimited number of "foreign colonists," in the heart of the Nation, British-leased Palestine. The term foreign colonists was universally understood to be Zionist European settlers who were allowed to live in the sovereign territory of the Arab Nation, completely under their own laws and sovereign (the King of Great Britain.) Prince Faisal was made to look a traitor to the Arab people by this united left for accepting a compromise with the French Prime Minister Clemenceau (surrendering coastal Syria) and with the Zionist leader Weizman. Anti-Hashemite manifestations broke out, and Muslim inhabitants in the French Protectorates revolted with fear of becoming second-class citizens incorporated into the new, Christian, States of The Lebanon and French Syria.
In June 1920, the Audience-Royal in Damascus, headed by Hashim Al-Atassi, adopted a resolution rejecting the British-lease of Western Palestine and rejected acknowledgement of the "independent" French republics, the State of The Lebanon and State of French-Syria. The Audience declared the irredentist claims of Syria in her natural borders (including full sovereignty over Palestine and the coast), and proclaimed Faisal "King of the Arabs." The Audience also proclaimed political and economic union with neighboring Iraq on July 9, 1920.
On August 25th with the Treaty of Sevres, the supreme inter-allied council granted France mandate over "The Lebanon and Syria," not specifically referring to the pre-existing State of French-Syria. While Westerners claim this was done in ignorance of the severe difference of the wording, the Syrians and Arabs to this day believe this was a direct action by the West, and France in particular, to flex more control over the entire Arab Nation. The treaty also stated Great Britain's lease over Western Palestine as "indefinite, or until a proper, reflective and responsible local government be formed;" as well as granting Britain protectorate powers over the British sphere of Transjordan within the Kingdom of Syria and the Hejaz; and conferred upon the British the powers of mandate over Iraq.
Feeling betrayed and realizing his mistakes, Faisal addressed the Audience in an apologetic matter and signed his name to their previous irredentist declaration, and asked for a "conscripted army of patriots to be formed to protect Syria's current boundaries and to liberate the proper Arab citizens from French tyranny in the 'Protectorates,' and British colonialism in Palestine, and for the freedom and sovereignty of Iraq." The young Youssef Al-Azma stepped forward to request a solemn oath to the Ba'ath or Ressurection, of the Arab Nation, and from the Nationalists and Conservatives alike was born the Hazb ba'ath al-'arabiyya al-ishtarikiyya- the Re-Born Arab Populist Party, commonly called the Baathists. Syrians reacted with the utmost joy and patriotism, voluntarily enlisting in the thousands, men and women of all ages, and the formation of a new government under War Minister, General Youssef Al-Azma happened in April of 1921.
These decisions provoked adverse reactions by the French, as well as denouncement by the Maronite patriarch of Mount Lebanon, stating the Al-Azma government was actually formed by a coup d'état. However The Protectorates' Orthodox Christian population expressed solidarity with the secular and nationalist government of Faisal's Kingdom of Syria & the Hejaz. However Maronites in the Protectorate took the mobilization of French troops to leave The Lebanon and French-Syria to move into Arab Syria as reason to declare themselves "responsible," and oust their French commissioners and declare their union as the "Phoenician Arab Republic of the Levant," secular in relation to struggles between the Maronite Levant and Orthodox throughout, in Baabda on June 29, 1922.
On June 30, the French Command issued an ultimatum to Faisal giving him the choice between submission to French interpretation of the Treaty of Sevres (French mandate over "The Lebanon and Syria," which they viewed as all actions of the Audience-Royal needing both approval by the King and the French High Commissioner) or abdication. Disregarding that the power balance was not in his favor, Faisal and the Arabs chose to resist. Under the command of the Prime Minister General Youssef Al-Azma, the Arab motivated and large Arab forcefaced the French at the Battle of Maisaloon, which was resulted in an Arab victory after five strenuous days of fighting.
The French forces retreated into the Protectorates, arriving in the heavily Maronite Lebanon as liberators by the Maronites from the secular "Phoenician Arab Republic," but as they were entering the state of French-Syria they were faced with a strong resistance. It took France five years from 1922 to 1927 to hold full control over French-Syria and to quell all the insurgencies that broke out, notably in the Alaouite territories and Aleppo, which they held to the grimace of the Kingdom of Syria & the Hejaz, which was formed on the basis of a pan-Arab state stretching from "Aleppo to Aden."
Following the Alexandria Conference in 1923, the defeat of the French in Arab Syria, and the overall quelling of anti-French Christian Arab revolts in French-Syria, the French sent General Gourard (in direct violation of the Dover Agreement, which Syria-Hejaz had long ago disregarded) to Beirut. Under his rule, the Phoenician Arab Republic was declared illegitimate, as well as declaring the dissolution of the Protectorates. In their place was the subdivided Federation of the Levant, who's executive branch was to be the French Parliament, to the outcry of its citizens, as well as the Arab Syrians who were still of the opinion that 'the Protectorates,' were indisputable sovereign territory of the Arab Nation. The states of Aleppo, Alaouites (Alawites), Alexandretta, the Lebanon (Maronites), and South Lebanon (Muslims) were formed for better use of French divide-and-conquer tactics in their Levantine Federation.
Troops free and trained, the second test for Syrian independence came from the Bedouin raiders of Abdulaziz ibn Saud of the Najd, who had conquered the Hay'eel Emirate earlier on. His 1924 Invasion of Mecca and repulsion by Syrian forces, tribal and Syrian alike, under the command of General Al-Azma was a source of great pride for many Syrians, and significantly depopularized the tribal culture in the Kingdom, especially with the few tribes in the Hejaz. In reward for his victory, King Faisal named General Al-Azma as Viceroy of the Hejaz, holding military powers over the region to keep it defended from the Bedouin raiders, and fulfill the powers of King Faisal's Royal Government in Damascus.
In July 1925, France allowed for the Independence of The Lebanon and South Lebanon from the Federation, as an independent French mandate in its own right as a more centralized personal union between the increasingly anti-French Maronites (who were dismayed by their lack of special treatment by their Catholic French overlords, often being thrown into the same treatment category as their Muslim compatriots) as the "Lebanese Federation" (Fédération libonais.) The rest of the states were re-organized into a loose confederation between the states: Aleppo, Alexandretta, and Alaouites, under the name as the Upper Syrian Confederation (Confédération haute-syrienne.) On December 1, 1925 the Alaouite state seceded from the cofederation when the states of Aleppo and Alexandretta were united into the State of Syria.
In 1926, a revolt in the Lebanese Federation led by Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash spread to their northern brethren in the the State of Syria and the Alaoutie Republic and became a general rebellion in the French-controlled territories of the Middle East, France tried to retaliate by having the parliament of Aleppo declare secession from the entire Confederation but the voting was foiled by Syrian patriots (including increasingly active Arab Syrian spies and agents in the chaotic French territories.)
On May 14, 1928 the State of Syria, the Alaouite Republic, and the Lebanese Federation declared the establishment of the Republic of Syria and a new constitution was drafted. Two years later, in 1930, a new flag for the republic was adopted. The flag carried five red stars that represented the five districts of the republic (Aleppo, Alexandretta, Alaouite, The Lebanon and South Lebanon.)
In 1934, the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence was signed, a treaty that would not be ratified by the French legislature. However, the treaty allowed the Aleppo, Alexandretta, Alaouite, and South Lebanon to be incorporated into the Kingdom of Syria & the Hejaz within the following two years. The Lebanon (now the Lebanese Republic) was the only state that did not wish to be incorporated into Arab Syria, despite popular desire for it to be. The presidents of the four French-Syrian states with a symbolic kissing of King Faisal's hand, surrendered their sovereignty to the Kingdom, and devoted their lives and the actions of their governments to the Irredenist policy of the Kingdom of Syria and the Hejaz. At the height of his popularity, Prime Minister General Al-Azma resigned to focus on developing the armed forces further to continue the Irredenist Policy, commonly referred to as Al-Wattaniyya or the Homeland Policy. Hashim Al-Attasi, who was Prime Minister under King Faisal's initial reign, was selected by the Ba'ath Coalition to be Prime Minister of the the Kingdom, which by a special act symbolizing Arab victory in the incorporation of the 'Protectorates,' was renamed the Kingdom of the Arabs.
The Campaign for Iraq
Three important anticolonial secret societies had been formed in Iraq during 1918 and 1919. In Najaf there was (1)The League of the Islamic Awakening was organized. (2)The Muslim National League formed to oppose all colonialist invaders. In February 1919, in Baghadad, diverse group formed the (3) Guardiansof Indepdence, which operated multiple offices throughout the territory.
The Imam Shirathi of Karbala and his son, Mirtha Muhammad Ritha, began to organize the insurgent effort. He issued a fatwa, reminding the inhabitants that it was un-Islamic to be ruled by a foreign power, and called for the removal of the British kafir foreigners. By June of 1920, the entire southern half of the territory was rebelling against the British, the largest areas of which were along the Euphrates. Acting indepdent of the organized groups were the tribes, especially in the south, who knew their traditional autonomy was at the stake. Emissaries from a fellow tribal chief who had been crowned King of a real State, Faisal from neighboring Syria, persuaded the tribes to cooperate effectively with the organizations in the cities and soon the entire of Mesopotamia was in a state of anarchy; Churchill threatened use of Indian reinforcements, only to be reminded by Faisal from Syria-Hejaz that the Dover Agreement strictly forbade the use of non-British, French, or Arab-Syrian troops in the region.
The Great Uprising of Iraq was a watershed event in modern Arab history. For the first time, Sunnis and Shi'eh, tribes and cities, were brought together in a common effort. , which had not existed in millenia, but could be achieved, under the right leadership and guidance.
In March of 1921, the British, Arab Syrians, and Iraqis met at the Cairo Conference to form a government. The demand by the British for a monarch to be chosen "from your own kind," was complimented by the suggestion of the Syrians for the brother of their King Faisal, Prince Zaid bin Hussein- also a son of the Sharif of Mecca. An army was also established, which was to be trained by the British. To confirm Zaid as Iraq's first monarch, a vote was carefully arranged that had a return of 96 percent in his favor. The British skeptically allowed for Zaid to take the Iraqi throne, viewing him as the brother of the Syrian king Faisal, who had, until that point in time, balanced nationalism with respect for Western intents, but also being from the tribes, possesed an Islamic attraction not necessarily needed in Syria, but which definitely played a factor in the process of unifying Iraq into a state. King Zaid and King Faisal were sharifs, descendents of The Prophet (PBUH.) The British believed these credentials would satisfy traditional Arab standards of political legitimacy; moreover, the British thought Zaid would be accepted by the growing Iraqi nationalist movement because of his brother's role in the 1916 Arab Revolt against the Turks, his family's achievements as leaders of the Arab emancipation movement, and also upon the reccomendation of Colonel Lawrence who had spent much time years before with the family in the Hejaz. Zaid was crowned King of Iraq after the Naquib of Baghdad was disqualified as being too old (80 yrs) and Sayid Talib (a prominent Iraqi from the province of Basra) was deported on trumped up charges by the British, with support of the Arab Syrians. Thus, although with a little doctoring from the British and the Arab Syrians, who played both sides to their advantage, was "elected" as the new King with 96% of the vote. Nevertheless, Zaid would turn out to be beloved by the inhabitants of the territory as he embodied the perfect balance of tribal, city, religious, and modern life.
The final major decision taken at the Cairo Conference related to the new Anglo-Arab of 1922. Zaid was under pressure from the nationalists, and secretly from his brother King Faisal in Syria, and the anti-British religious scholars and leaders of Najaf and Karbala to limit both British influence in Iraq and the duration of the treaty. Realizing that a single government control over the region was at best shaky, and that his familys eventual goals involved the eventual incorporation of his new kingdom into that of his brothers, and to do that required financial and military support of the British (prooving them to be a common enemy and ally,) King Zaid took a moderate approach, and adopted the policies of his brother, being pro-British when necessary, and anti-British around the right people. The treaty which had been originally set as a thirty year engament but later reduced to five years, was ratified in June 1924, stated that the king would heed British advice on all matters affecting British interests, and that British officials would be appointed to specified posts in the King's personal council. A subsequent financial agreement, which only slightly increased the financial burden on Iraq, required Iraq to pay a quarter of the cost of supporting British resident officials, among other expenses. British obligations under the new treaty included providing various kinds of aid, notably military assistance, and British uninvolvement (unless supportive) in any matters "between the Royal Al Hashemi Family and other European powers," which was obviously directed towards the actions of his brother Faisal to first incorporate French-Syria before incorporating Iraq. Provisions were also made giving the King the option between League of Nations membership or political union with another State, when the British deemed the mandate expired, or when this was effectively demonstrated to them. In effect, the treaty ensured mutual benefits for both under the mandate, and allowed King Zaid and his family to effectively use the nation as they saw fit after the mandate's expiration, so long as all situations "remembered the good-will shown by the British to the advancement and emmancipation of the Arabs." Iraq would remain politically and economically tied to Arab Syria, which was politically a wise move which would be useful in promoting incorporation later on.
On October 1, 1922 the Royal Air Force in Iraq was reorganized as the Royal Air Force Iraq Command, and was given control of all British forces in the kingdom.
Before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the British-controlled the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) which had held the rights to the Mosol province.Under the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement — an agreement in 1916 between Britain and France for future control of the Middle East — the area would have fallen under French influence. The Dover Agreement, however, changed all this, and the area had been succesfully negotiated as a British mandate with the Arab Syrians, who drew their initial borders further west of the province. The Dover Agreement, however, did grant the Arab Syrians a 25 percent share in the TPC as compensation.
Soon the British and Iraqis were debating over the oil. The major obstacle was Iraq's insistence on a 20 percent equity participation in the company; this figure had been included in the original TPC concession to the Turks and had been assumed, King Zaid claim, now by the Iraqis. In the strong nationalist sentiments against the concession agreement, and belief that agreements between the Arab Syrians and British were strong enough, King Zaid, on his brothers advice, refused to budge on the agreement. And received what he asked for. And when time came for the League of Nations to vote on the disposition of Mosul, all fears that Mosul might be returned to Turkey (if King Zaid didn't surrender his claims) were proved false: the Kingdom of Iraq assumed their concession in the oil production, and was confirmed sovereignty perpetually over the "clearly Arab region of Mosul," and nationalistic pride and cheers for the new monarch were commonplace. King Zaid's success in securing Iraqi rights to concessions of TPC, renamed, the Iraqi Arab Petroleum Company (IAPC), and in securing Mosul cemented the positive image of King Zaid as well as the entire Hashemi family.
With the signing of the Anglo-Arab Treaty and the settling of the Mosul question, Iraqi politics took on a new route. The emerging class of Sunni and Shia landowning tribal sheikhs vied for positions of power with wealthy and prestigious urban-based Sunni families and with Ottoman-trained army officers and bureaucrats. Because Iraq's newly established political institutions were the creation of her native government under a wildly popular monarch (despite obvious influence from Great Britain), and because the concept of democratic government had proven succesful in neighboring Syria, the politicians in Baghdad emerged legitimate and developed deeply rooted constituencies. Thus, with a constitution and a similarly elected assembly, the Audience of Iraq, Iraqi politics was a traditional combination of scholarly minds vying for the position or opportunity to present their ideas for the furtherment of the new nation to the King, who enjoyed more direct control over Iraq's government than Faisal exercised in Syria. Sunni, Shi'eh, Tribal, city differences were put aside, and Nationalistic tendencies soared. The introduction of Syrian pan-Arab propaganda, with King Zaid's open support, was receieved warmfully by the Iraqi people, who began to view themselves more and more primarily as Arab than anything else.
The new Tripartitie Anglo-Arab Treaty was signed in June 1931 between Great Britain, the Kingdom of Syria-Hejaz, and the Kingdom of Iraq. It provided for a "close alliance," for "full and frank consultations between the His Iraqi Majesty with His Majesty the King of Great Britain and for brotherly, spiritual, and temporal advice from His Majesty the King of Syria and the Hejaz and of the Arabs," and for mutual assistance in case of war. Thus Syria-Hejaz was guaranteed British support indirectly, while being able to be anti-British in attempts to raise nationalistic tendencies at home to drive out the French. Iraq granted the British the use of air bases near Basra and the right to move troops across the country (and should Iraq join Syria-Hejaz, this was subject to later approval by His Syrian Majesty King Faisal.) It also imposed the first limit on immigration into British-leased Palestine to no more than 25,000 persons a year, had the British by their own law and force and cost relocate any colonists from Transjordan to their leased territory, and relinquished Transjordan completely to the Royal Arab Government, which inturn promised to allow British troops to be in Iraqi territory should it be united with Syria (which was obviously to come.) The treaty, of twenty-five years' duration, was to come into force upon Iraq's expiration of mandate. This occurred on October 4, 1932. On October 7, an Act of Union was simultaeneously passed by the Audiences of the Kingdom of the Arabs and the Kingdom of Iraq, uniting the two nations under the sovereignty, name, and king of the former in "full equality and with utmost respect to Arab tradition and family ties." King Zaid was named Crown Prince, also in accordance with Arab tradition, and entitled to the usage of the unique title "His Royal Highness King Zaid, Crown Prince of the Arabs." Zaid was named Governor of Basra by his brother King Faisal.
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