The middle east after ww1
McMahon-Hussein Correspondence 1915-1916
British would recognize the Arab independence in an area running from the 37th parallel near the Taurus Mountains on the southern border of Turkey, to be bounded in the east by Persia and the Persian Gulf, in the west by the Mediterranean Sea and in the south by the Arabian Sea. while in return the Arabs would revolt in alliance with the United Kingdom
Sykes-Picot Agreement
1916
Secret agreement for France and UK to carve out parts of the ottoman empire for the Entente. France would get Lebanon, Syria, South-east Turkey and Northern Iraq. Britain would get Palestine, Jordan and Southern Iraq while Russia would get Constantinople and Armenia. Italy later staked her claim to the South-western part of Turkey
Green for Italy
Yellow for Russia
Blue for France
Red for Britain
Letters for independent states that are within the European's sphere of influence
Balfour Declaration
British proclaimed support for the establishment of a "national home" for the Jewish people in Palestine. This was the first public support for zionism by a major world power and angered the arabs who considered palestine part of their united arab state
These three separate agreements made by the British were directly contradictory and the end result did not satisfy most parties in this conflict
Sir Arthur Balfour
Map of the middle east 1922
The arbitrary borders of Iraq and Syria drawn up without any consideration for the religious and ethnic makeup of those lands is a primary cause of the Syrian conflict.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict that still carries on today was precipitated by the Balfour declaration and directly lead to the rise of Zionism.
The Kurds and other ethnic groups in the middle east were not even taken into account, leading to tensions in Kurdish populated regions in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran