“I was sent to these Arabs as a stranger… but charged by duty to lead them… I was a participant in a fraud.” T.E. Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia

The Middle East underwent a profound transformation leading up to and during the First World War. Before 1917, much of the region was governed by the Ottoman Empire, which had maintained control over the Levant, Mesopotamia, and parts of the Arabian Peninsula for centuries.

Prior to the territorial shifts that occurred toward the end of the war, the political landscape looked significantly different:

Ottoman Imperial Provinces: Instead of modern nation-states like Iraq, Syria, or Lebanon, the region was divided into vilayets (provinces) and sanjaks (districts) administered from Constantinople. For example, what is now Iraq was divided into the three vilayets of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul.

British and French Influence: While the Ottomans held the interior and northern regions, the British Empire controlled Egypt (as a protectorate) and held various treaties with coastal sheikhdoms along the Persian Gulf and the Aden Protectorate.

The Persian Empire: To the east, the Qajar Dynasty ruled Persia (modern-day Iran), serving as a significant non-Ottoman power in the region.

The Hejaz: In the Arabian Peninsula, the Sharifate of Mecca governed the Hejaz region along the Red Sea coast under Ottoman suzerainty, while the interior Nejd was under the burgeoning influence of the House of Saud.

The map of the region began to change drastically in 1917 as Allied forces advanced through Jerusalem and Baghdad, eventually leading to the Mandate system established by the League of Nations.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret 1916 convention between Great Britain and France, with the assent of the Russian Empire and Italy, to define their mutually agreed-upon spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire.

The agreement was named after its lead negotiators: Mark Sykes (representing Britain) and François Georges-Picot (representing France).

The Terms of the Agreement

The deal essentially drew a line across the Middle East—often called the “Line in the Sand”—running roughly from Acre on the Mediterranean coast to Kirkuk in the east.

The Blue Zone (France): Direct control over the Syrian coast and much of modern-day Lebanon, with a sphere of influence over the Syrian interior.

The Red Zone (Britain): Direct control over southern........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)