Promises and Partition: Allied Diplomacy, the Mandates, and Egypt, 1914-22
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All 12 Flashcards — Promises and Partition: Allied Diplomacy, the Mandates, and Egypt, 1914-22
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Question
What was the McMahon-Hussein correspondence (1915-16)?
Answer
Letters between Sir Henry McMahon and Sharif Hussein of Mecca, in which Britain promised support for Arab independence in exchange for an Arab revolt against the Ottomans.
Question
What was the Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916)?
Answer
A secret Anglo-French agreement dividing the Middle East into British and French zones of control, contradicting the promises made to Hussein.
Question
Who led the Arab Revolt in the field, and which British officer advised him?
Answer
Faisal (son of Hussein) led Arab forces; T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") was his British adviser.
Question
What did the Balfour Declaration (1917) promise, and to whom?
Answer
Arthur Balfour promised British support for a Jewish national home in Palestine, in a letter to Lord Rothschild, while stating non-Jewish communities' rights should not be harmed.
Question
What is a League of Nations mandate?
Answer
A system where a stronger power governed a territory 'temporarily' under League of Nations supervision, in theory to prepare it for self-rule, but in practice functioning like colonial control.
Question
Which mandates were French, and which were British?
Answer
French: Syria and Lebanon. British: Iraq and Transjordan. All four were Class A mandates.
Question
Why was Faisal made King of Iraq in 1921?
Answer
After France expelled him from Syria (defeating his forces at Maysalun in 1920), Britain compensated the Hashemite family by making Faisal King of Iraq and his brother Abdullah Emir of Transjordan.
Question
Compare British and French styles of mandate rule.
Answer
Britain favoured indirect rule through client monarchs (Faisal, Abdullah); France favoured direct rule by French officials and deliberately divided Syria into smaller statelets to weaken nationalism.
Question
What was the Wafd Party?
Answer
Egypt's dominant nationalist party, formed from Saad Zaghlul's 1918 delegation (wafd) demanding full independence; became a mass movement after the 1919 Revolution.
Question
What triggered the Egyptian 1919 Revolution?
Answer
Britain's refusal to let Zaghlul's delegation argue Egypt's case at the Paris Peace Conference, followed by his arrest and exile to Malta in March 1919.
Question
What were the 'Four Reserved Points' of the 1922 Declaration of Independence?
Answer
Britain kept control of: (1) security of imperial communications/Suez Canal, (2) Egypt's defence, (3) protection of foreign interests and minorities, (4) the status of Sudan.
Question
Why is 1915-1922 often described as a period of 'broken promises' in the Middle East?
Answer
Britain made three overlapping, contradictory promises (McMahon-Hussein, Sykes-Picot, Balfour) over the same territory, then replaced hoped-for independence with the mandate system — disappointing Arab and Egyptian nationalists alike.
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Topic 21.13 hub
War and change in the Middle East and North Africa 1914–1945
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