In the year 1917, as the World War I persisted there was the ccreation of an agreement referred as the Sykes-Picot Agreement aimed at dividing majority of the Arab Middle East into “zones of interest”. The fact that Britain and France were largely controlled the areas distinguished the reason as why the document scared and angered the individuals involved in both countries. During the end of the world war 1 in the year 1918, this marked the end of the most powerful empires in the region, for example the Ottoman Empire. During the 16th and the 17th century, the Ottoman Empire had managed to control majority of the southeastern region of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa (Khalid 34). The only region that remained without being conquered was Turkey. The regions that had been controlled by the Ottomans later ended up in the global conflict that affected many states. The region presently referred as the Middle East was amassed with the wealth of vital resources in which many countries, for example, France and the Great Britain were interested in the economic and political benefits of the regions.
On May 1916, Sir Mark Sykes, a member of the British Government and Francois Georges Picot from France, organized an undisclosed agreement that was aimed at dividing the Arabian territories of the former Ottoman’s Empire (Laqueur, and Barry 45). According to the agreement, it was stated that the countries willing to sign the agreement would be given the chance to develop the direct and indirect administration based on their desires. It was noted under the Sykes-Picot that France was to conquer the Syrian coast and Lebanon, while Britain was assigned to control central and southern Mesopotamia, and the regions around Baghdad and Basra provinces. Palestine was expected to be administers internationally by the Christian denominations, this is because the Christian governing powers, for example Russia held interest of the area (Sykes 67). The remaining part was assigned to the Arab leaders who were under the supervision of the French at the northern region and the Britain at the Southern region. Britain and France aimed at retaining the passage and the trade of their regions of interest.
According to the events, France and Great Britain were cautious on the declaration of their economic and political interests at the Middle East in public. They eventually neglected Russia as their neighbor in the Eastern region who had indulged in the agreement and had signed a copy from the agreement. The signing of the agreement angered the Arab people as they had expected economic and political independence, as they felt that the foreigners were exploiting their lands. The agreement increased the conflict that had priory existed between the Palestine and the Jews. This anger resulted to the individuals intensified urge for independence.
During the First World War, there were allies between the axis power that resulted to an agreement between England, France and Russia. This agreement led to the separation of the Anatolia region and the Aljazeera region that constituted of the present Syria, Jordan and predominant Iraq (Laqueur, and Barry 65). Massive wealth sought out and negotiated among the states; however, different negotiations resulted in the past due to the large pieces of lands and the vacuum of powers in the lands respectively.
All these factors succeeded through the weakening of Ottoman Sultanate through consecutive years, and the caliphate, which surpassed the consequences of time, and they failed to maintain a healthy relationship with the developing countries (Khalid 54). The Ottoman Empire was predicted to decline even after lasting for more than seven years. Their land was partitioned into independent states that were dominated by French and English languages. During the course of the First World War, the war had spread to diverse continents leading to the formation of tens of agreements viewed as natural conflicts. There was no agreement unfavorable to the Arabs than the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This agreement came into conclusions in May 1916, and it commenced in three allied states, the Great Britain, France and Russia. However, although Russia had participated in the agreement, they did not have a key role due to the domination of the British and French soldiers in the war. The Ottoman Empire was the main contributor of the First World although they had been predicted to fail based on the high rates of corruption in the reigning empires.
According to Gertrude Bell, she was involved in the framing of the Arabian Peninsula drawings, currently located as Iraq, Jordan and Syria. Efraim Halevy concluded that, “There was a famous story based on the British consul, lady by the name Gertrude Bell who contributed to the drawing of the map between Iraq and Jordan, using a transparent piece of paper. she turned to talk to someone and in the act, the paper moved and the ruler moved resulting to the formation of the considerable territories of the new Jordanians”. This indicated that the Arabs lacked the space to express their views and the acts that happened were a secret between the three member states. According to the borders, it was stated that the northern part was Syria, southern, Mesopotamia and the rest was the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This divergence of the states developed years later in Saudi Arabia. Individuals who participated in drawing the borders did not originate from anywhere close to Asia and the historical clans and sites that had no mercy on their inhabitants had divided them up. This was evident by the Karsh in the year 2003.
The map was partitioned into the blue and red Zones that belonged to the French Republic. Anatolia and Syria were under the French rule while the British ruled Jordan, Iraq and the east of the Peninsula. A dispute developed in the Kingdom of Hejaz between Ibn Saud and Shareef Hussein, Hussein was a collaborator of the west, a factor that enabled him to get more out the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Eventually he managed, naming his second son Abdulla, King of Jordan and his youngest son Feisal, King of Iraq (Laqueur, and Barry 80). Like any other operations, it was evident that without any precise decisions, it would be a long process if each of the member states revolted with Iraq, Egypt and Syria, this would result to the murder of prominent ministers of the states. In addition, Iraq’s case the King was the main target of assassination (Sykes 90). With the decline of the kingdoms and the development of the republics at the west, control was no longer evident in the region as in the past. The new kingdoms instituted were not foreseen as the Kingdom of Ibn Saud, and these types of states were distinct and hard to be noticed.
It is evident that the boundaries developed by the Europeans are currently in existence. This identifies the weakness of the Arabs despite that fact that they were once a diverse empire, this empire was deprived of their rights, similar to the ignorance age before the great prophet Mohammed peace be upon him. This factor seems to have no remedy rather than the Islamic religion (Khalid 70). Syria, Jordan and Iraq developed with help of the allied countries of France, England and Russia and they constituted of either republics or kingdoms that developed through the foreigners who had established the borders in Europe and eventually implemented them in the Middle East.
Work cited
Khalid, Rashid I. British Policy Towards Syria and Palestine, 1906-1914: A Study of the Antecedents of the Hussein – Mcmahon Correspondence, the Sykes – Picot Agreement, and the Balfour Declaration. London: Ithaca Press, 1980. Print.
Laqueur, Walter, and Barry M. Rubin. The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict. New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Print.
Sykes, Mark. The Papers of Sir Mark Sykes, 1879-1919: With Special Reference to the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Middle East : from Hull University Archives. East Ardsley, Wakefield, UK: Microform Academic Publishers, 2006. Print.
