On this day in 1916 the Sykes-Picot agreement was officially ratified (in secret) by France and Great-Britain. This agreement still has a big impact on today's world and could (in)directly be linked to the rise of Al-Qaeda and ISIL, the civil war in Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian coflict, which has escalated again in the past weeks. So what was this agreement exactly and how did it lead to all these problems? 

During World War 1 France and Great Britain were fighting against the Ottoman Empire who had joined the war on the side of the Central Powers. They sent armies to the Middle East, mainly from their African colonies, to fight the Ottomans and also tried to incite Arab revolts by sending agents, such as 'Lawrence of Arabia' (do watch the movie). 

Although victory was far from certain, British and French diplomats (led by Markes Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot) secretly met in 1915 and 1916 to decide what to do with the Middle-East in case of an eventual victory. They quite literally divided up the Middle-East by 'drawing lines in the sand' as imperialist powers had done before with Africa in 1884. 

The Sykes-Picot agreement would form the basis for the official peace treaties and the creation of different French and British mandates between 1920 and 1922. These new areas/countries were called mandates as Britain and France officially had the task (mandate) to prepare them for independence. In fact, Britain and France did not show any signs of leaving soon and the local population, mostly Arabs, started revolts against the European colonists, who would use an iron fist to suppress them. 

These revolts, resistance movements and anti-Western feelings would later influence and inspire Islamic extremist groups. Besides, the countries that eventually gained independence still used the artificial borders created by Sykes and Picot. This led to many problems as minority groups, such as the Kurds, were now living in multiple countries.

The new Arab nations were not based upon existing national feelings, but on random lines in the sand, creating an explosive situation. 

Originally posted on Instagram on May 16, 2021