On Arab’s Anti-Turkey And Nation-Founding Movement(1914-1920)

The Arab nation is an ancient nation which has a long history and is bound together by common language, culture, customs, history and beliefs. Once the glory of the Arab Empire gave a wonderful memory of the Arab people, the Turks made them quiet for a long time in this world. As nationalism originated in the West spread all across the world, by which the Arabs in the Crescent Area were also influenced in the early twentieth century, they established some nationalist organizations.The outbreak of the First World War gave the Arabs a chance to get rid of the shackles of foreign domination and embrace freedom, Arab nationalists and the ruler of Hejaz Sharif Hussein proposed the establishment of an independent, unified Arab country in the Arab region. This struggle to seek an independent state against the Turkish rule marked the beginning of the modern Arab awakening. Their efforts resulted in the establishment of the first modern Arab country-the United Kingdom of Syria. But the baby-state lasted only a few months. The reason for the result lied not only in the dishonesty of the United Kingdom and the ruthlessness of the French, but also in the negative factors caused by the limitations of the Arabs themselves. Past Arab historians always sang praises of the Arabs for their braveness and bloody fight as a defender of the interests of the people of the oppressed nations, while ignoring the adverse effects to the national independence movement caused by the defects of the leaders and general public of the Arab nation. And some Western historians defended Western countries’wartime promises and post-war Mandate on the position of Westerners. This paper attempts to make full use of the original file data and stand as a latecomer and spectator to narrate and analyze the Arab’s Anti-Turkey and Nation-Founding Movement in this period, and restore the epic history in an objective and impartial manner on the basis of previous studies. This paper is divided into four chapters, the main contents of which are as follows:The first chapter analyzes the brewing process before the outbreak of the Arab Revolt and the general process of the revolt itself. The Arabs held the dream of the establishment of an independent unified Arab country and launched the shocking Arab Revolt with the British military and financial aid, which subsequently made a significant contribution in the Anti-Turkey war. The Arabs deemed Britain to be a mighty force which could be relied on in their Anti-Turkey cause. Britain recognized that the Ottoman Empire was not as vulnerable as thev thought after the defeat in the battle of Gallipoli early in World War I and began to seek cooperation with the Arabs. The United Kingdom selected the ruler of Hejaz Sharif Hussein as their partner and negotiated with him thereafter. The main outcome of the negotiation is known as "Hussein-McMahon Correspondence", in which Britain willfully made some vague promises which subsequently proved to conflict with the promises the United Kingdom made to the French in the "Sykes-Picot Agreement" and to the Zionists in the "Balfour Declaration" and be a curse for the Nation-Founding movement of the Arabs.The second chapter focuses on the military and diplomatic efforts of the Arabs between their entrance of Damascus and the Peace Conference in Paris. The Arabs tried to be the first to enter Damascus and Beirut and made the Allies to approve the fait accompli and fulfill their promises. But this idea was only a wishful thinking of the Arabs because the British had to fulfill what they had promised to the French in the "Sykes-Picot Agreement". Britain invited Faisal to come to Europe and negotiate with the Entente countries on the Syrian Issue with the attempt to persuade Faisal to accept the established arrangements. France treated Faisal very cold, and the United Kingdom was not willing to meet in full its commitments before, which made the Arabs in a very passive position before the start of the Peace Conference in Paris.The third chapter discusses the process which saw the opening of the Peace Conference in Paris and the Anglo-French agreement on the Syrian Issue and the final Syrian compromise under pressure from the United Kingdom. Peace Conference in Paris was led by the head of three Powers i.e. Britain, France, and the United States. Although President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points advocated self-determination for the peoples of the Ottoman Empire and reliance on open diplomacy rather than secret agreements, these principles were misinterpreted and distorted in their implementation. The three Powers had their own scheme for post-war arrangement of the Near East with the purpose of safeguarding their own interests in the region. The highest goal of the Arabs was to establish a unified independent state, second to which was to accept the solo Mandate or joint Mandate of the United Kingdom and the United States. They were firmly opposed to the French Mandate alone. But the result of the competition of great powers eventually forced Faisal to solely face the requirements from France which aimed to turn Syria into a Protectorate of France.The fourth chapter introduces the short-term process of the establishment and the demise of the United Kingdom of Syria. Syrians did not want to accept the French Mandate alone, and the public in the whole country were agitated when they learned of the requirements from France. The Second Syrian National Congress announced the establishment of the United Kingdom of Syria in Greater Syria including Lebanon and Palestine, which would inevitably lead to fierce opposition from Britain and France. France issued an ultimatum to Syria. Although the Syrian government finally decided to accept the ultimatum, the French still captured Damascus forcefully and expelled King Faisal I. The Arabs finally failed in their first attempt to establish an independent state after they had overthrown Turkish rule.The United Kingdom of Syria which was the first modern Arab state milestoned the history of the Arab nation although it lasted only a few months.The national independence movement of the Arab nation had thus entered a new stage.