1939-1946






Syria 1920-1939



In 1920, the League of Nations granted France a mandate over Syria and Lebanon; it was in fact part of the implementation of the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. Not part of this agreement had been the Arab Revolt; Arab troops had liberated Damascus on October 1st 1918; Emir Faysal in 1920 was declared King of Syria (this Syria nominally stretching from the Taurus Mountains to the Sinai Peninsula). French troops ousted Faysal and his administration from Damascus in July 1920.
The Lebanon was separated in 1920, Alawite and Druze autonomous areas created in 1922. The years 1925-1926 saw the Great Syrian Revolt, which forced the French to temporarily abandon Damascus.
The 1928 constituent assembly drafted constitution which was rejected by the French High Commissioner. In 1936 the Franco-Syrian Treaty was signed; Latakia (the Alawite Territory) and Jebel Druze were reintegrated into Syria. In 1938 the Sanjak of Alexandrette was separated from Syria; in 1939 it was annexed by Turkey.
In 1924, Syria's population was estimated at 1.8 million; the estimate for 1939 is 2.5 million.





EXTERNAL
FILES 		Timeline, from BBC News
Library of Congress, Country Studies : Syria
Encyclopedia of the Orient : Syria; Syrian Encyclopedia, from Damascus Online
DOCUMENTS Historical Population Statistics : Syria, from Population Statistics at Univ. Utrecht
REFERENCE Daniel Pipes, Greater Syria. The History of an Ambition, Oxford : UP 1990, KMLA Lib.Sign. 956 P665g
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol.28, pp.361-374 Article Syria. KMLA Lib.Sign. R 032 B862h v.28
David Commins, Historical Dictionary of Syria, Lanham Md : Scarecrow 1996, 299 pp. [G]
Chapter 5 : The Arab Struggle for Independence, pp.70-91, in : Peter Mansfield, The Ottoman Empire and its Successors, London : MacMillan (1973) 1976 [G]
Article : Syria and Lebanon, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1924 pp.895-898, 1925 pp.907-909, 1926 pp.880-883, 1928 pp.893-897, 1929 pp.881-885, 1932 pp.883-888, 1937 pp.923-928 [G]
Article : Syria, in : Americana Annual 1927 pp.818-820, 1928 pp.746-748, 1930 pp.735-736, 1931 pp.726-728, 1932 pp.680-682, 1933 p.734, 1934 pp.565-566, 1935 pp.685-686, 1936 pp.694-695, 1937 pp.668-669, 1938 p.663, 1939 pp.725-726 [G]
Article : Syria, in : New International Year Book 1920 pp.665-666, 1921 p.687, 1923 p.720, 1925 pp.680-682, 1928 pp.727-728, 1930 p.745, 1932 pp.776-777, 1933 pp.779-780, 1934 pp.680-681, 1935 pp.695-696 [G]
Article : Syria and Lebanon, in : New International Year Book 1938 pp.715-718, 1939 pp.748-749 [G]
Article : Syria, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1932 pp.491-492, 1933 pp.487-488, 1934 p.493, 1935 pp.493-494, 1936 pp.478-480 [G]
Article : Syria and Lebanon, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1937 pp.481-483, 1938 pp.480-482, 1939 pp.497-498 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on October 28th 2006, last revised on August 25th 2007

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