Franco-Syrian War

The Franco-Syrian War took place during 1920 between the Hashemite rulers of the newly established Arab Kingdom of Syria and France. During a series of engagements, which climaxed in the Battle of Maysalun, French forces defeated the forces of the Hashemite monarch King Faisal, and his supporters, entering Damascus on July 24, 1920. A new pro-French government was declared in Syria on July 25, headed by 'Alaa al-Din al-Darubi.[7] and eventually Syria was divided into several client states under the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon. The British government, concerned for their position in the new mandate in Iraq, agreed to declare the fugitive Faisal as the new king of Iraq.

Franco-Syrian War
Part of the Interwar Period

Syrian soldiers at Maysalun, 1920
DateMarch, 1920[1][2][3][4] – July 25, 1920
Location
Arab Kingdom of Syria
Result French victory; establishment of French Mandate of Syria
King Faisal expelled to Mandatory Iraq
Belligerents
France
 • West Africa[5]		 Syria
 • Arab militias
Commanders and leaders
Henri Gouraud
Mariano Goybet		 King Faisal
Yusuf al-'Azma †
Arab militias:
 • Ibrahim Hananu[6]
 • Subhi Barakat[6]
 • Saleh al-Ali
Strength
70,000 men[5] Roughly 5,000
Casualties and losses
5,000 killed

Background
Main articles: Arab Revolt and Al-Ali Revolt

Near the end of World War I, the Egyptian Expeditionary forces of Edmund Allenby captured Damascus on September 30, 1918, and shortly thereafter on October 3, 1918, Hashemite ruler Faisal entered Damascus as well, in the final stages of the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. On October 5, 1918, with the permission of General Allenby, Faisal announced the establishment of an Arab constitutional government in Damascus.

Following the implementation of the initially secretive 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the occupied remnants of the Ottoman Empire between France and Britain, French military administration was established in the Levant. General Henri Gouraud was appointed as representative of the French government in the Middle East and commander of the French Army of the Levant, centered in Syria.

While events transpired in Europe that would eventually render the Arab Kingdom of Syria into a French mandate, it would also catalyze Syrian nationalist societies like al-Fatat (the Young Arab Society) to make preparations for a national congress. These Syrian nationalist societies advocated complete independence for an Arab Kingdom, uniting the Arab world under the Hashemite ruler Faisal. The first official session of the Syrian Congress was held on June 3, 1919 and al-Fatat member Hashim al-Atassi was elected its president.[8] On June 25, the King-Crane Commission arrived in Damascus to a flurry of leaflets which said “Independence or Death”. On July 2, 1919, the Syrian Congress passed a number of resolutions pertaining to the formation of Syria as a completely independent constitutional monarchy with Faisal as king, asking for assistance from the United States, and the refusal of any rights claimed by the French.[8] The hopes of Faisal that either the British or Americans would come to his aid and intervene against the French quickly faded with what many consider the defining catalyst for the creation and destruction of the Arab Kingdom of Syria: the Anglo-French Agreement. The Anglo-French Agreement provided for the withdrawal of British troops from Syria and signaled the end of the British military involvement in Syria.

Eventually, Faisal would be forced into negotiations with Clemenceau in January 1920 which stipulated that the French would uphold the existence of the Syrian state and would not station troops in Syria as long as the French government remained the only government supplying advisers, counselors and technical experts.[9] News of this compromise did not bode well with Faisal’s vehemently anti-French and independence minded supporters who immediately pressured Faisal to reverse his commitment to France, which he did.

Warfare chronology

Countrywide revolts
Map of the Arab Kingdom of Syria, declared on March 8, 1920
See also: Hananu Revolt and Alawite Revolt of 1919

In the aftermath of the Clemenceau negotiations in January 1920, violent attacks against French forces occurred sporadically across Syria and effectively the Syrian Congress assembled in March 1920 to declare Faisal the king of Syria, as well as to officially set up the Arab Kingdom of Syria with Hashim al-Atassi as Prime Minister. An independent Arab Kingdom of Syria was proclaimed in Damascus on March 8, 1920, in an apparent dispute with the French over the nature of its rule.

This action was immediately repudiated by the British and French and the San Remo Conference was called together by the League of Nations in April 1920 to explicitly establish the mandate of the French over Syria. Shortly, the war of Syrian Arab nationalists with the French became a devastating campaign for the new proclaimed Arab Kingdom of Syria. Several violent incidents in the region initiated by Arab militias, like the Battle of Tel Hai, led to further international support of the French.

The League of Nations having given the French Mandate of Syria as planned, the French General Gouraud issued an ultimatum to the Syrian government to disband its troops and submit to French control. Worried about the results of a long bloody fight with the French, King Faisal himself surrendered on July 14, 1920,[8] but his message would not reach the general and King Faisal’s defense minister Yusuf al-'Azma, who ignoring the King, led an army to Maysalun to defend Syrian Arab Kingdom from French advance. The Hashemite government of Damascus submitted reluctantly to the French ultimatum and disbanded its troops.

Battle of Maysalun
Main article: Battle of Maysalun

In spite of King Faisal's acceptance of France's ultimatum, Yusuf al-'Azma refused to give in. He raised a small body of disbanded troops and civilians, poorly armed relative to the modern, well-equipped professional French Army, and led them to Maysalun. Although he had no illusions about the outcome of the battle, al-'Azma wanted to make it clear that Syria would not surrender without fighting, in order to deny the French occupation any legitimacy. The Battle of Maysalun resulted in a crushing Syrian defeat. The French forces under the command of General Mariano Goybet easily defeated the Syrian forces. Yusuf al-'Azma was killed in the battle.

Final stages
Award to French veterans - the Cilicia Levant medal law 18 July 1922
Main article: Siege of Damascus (1920)

The final stage of the war took place on July 24, 1920, when the French forces entered Damascus without any resistance. The next day, the Arab Kingdom of Syria was abolished, and French rule officially reinstalled.

Aftermath
Main article: French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon

Following the San Remo conference and the defeat of King Faisal's short-lived monarchy in Syria at the Battle of Maysalun, the French general Henri Gouraud established civil administration in the territory. The mandate region was subdivided into six states. They were the State of Damascus (1920), State of Aleppo (1920), Alawite State (1920), Jabal Druze (1921), the autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta (1921) (modern-day Hatay in Turkey) and the State of Greater Lebanon (1920), which became later the modern country of Lebanon.

See also

Bibliography

References
  1. Sarkees, Meredith Reid; Wayman, Frank Whelon (1 July 2010). Resort to war: a data guide to inter-state, extra-state, intra-state, and non-state wars, 1816-2007. CQ Press. ISBN 9780872894341 – via Google Books.
  2. Peretz, Don (3 September 1994). The Middle East Today. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780275945756 – via Google Books.
  3. Benny Morris. Victims. the date of the first attack of Arabs against French interest on March, 1st.
  4. Tom Segev in One Palestine. Complete. the date of the first attack of Arabs against French interest on March, 1st.
  5. Caroline Camille Attié: Struggle in the Levant: Lebanon in the 1950s, I.B.Tauris, 2004, ISBN 1860644678, page 15-16
  6. Tauber E. The Formation of Modern Syria and Iraq. p.22
  7. Eliezer Tauber The Formation of Modern Syria and Iraq. p.37
  8. Eliezer Tauber. The Formation of Modern Syria and Iraq. Frank Cass and Co. Ltd. Portland, Oregon. 1995.
  9. Elie Kedourie. England and the Middle East: The Destruction of the Ottoman Empire 1914-1921. Mansell Publishing Limited. London, England. 1987.
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