Why were many Arabs angered by decisions made at the Paris Peace Conference after World War I?
1 Answer
The wishes of the Arab delegation led by Prince Feisal (later King of Iraq) were ignored.
Explanation:
T.E. Lawrence managed to get Prince Feisal to come to the Paris Peace conference post World War 1. Feisal made a speech to the Conference outlining the Arab desires for the Middle East. His appeal was largely ignored.
During the War there were a number of contradictory, some secret some not, agreements made about the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire post war, which muddied the waters considerably.
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The McMahon-Hussein Agreement (1915). In order to get the Arabs to rebel against the Ottomans, Britain promised to give a Free and independent Arab Homeland in Palestine.
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The Sykes Picot Agreement (1916), An agreement which divided area of the Ottoman Empire between France, Britain, and Russia. This secret agreement was revealed by the Bolsheviks after the Revolution in 1917.
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The Balfour Declaration (1917) which promised a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
The Cairo conference (1921) organized by Winston Churchill as Colonial Secretary generally sorted these contradictions out as best it could. The Sykes-Picot deal was adhered to and the Balfour declaration was given as fact. Iraq and Transjordan (Jordan) were created with Hashemite rulers but not free and independent as promised. The area West of the Jordan River became the Palestine Mandate Area.
Turkey eventually sorted itself out separately.
Map of Skyes-Picot Agreement.
Area in Green, Russia (Turkey); Blues, French(Syria); Orange Britain (Syria and Lebanon). Palestine Mandate Purple.
Image by
By Rafy - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sykesmap1.htmlhttp://books.google.nl/books?id=8WX6BZAmtx4C&pg=PA48, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17823074
Area in Green, Russia (Turkey); Blues, French(Syria); Orange Britain (Syria and Lebanon). Palestine Mandate Purple.
