French Roots

Conflict and Syria have been synonymous for quite some time now, although the first time you heard the words together on the news a few months back may have you thinking otherwise.

Major events brought the country to its current state and to the center of international news spotlight. Understanding this history puts everything you read about and hear today into context, which makes the bigger picture more clear.

Because Syria is home to one of the oldest cities ever, I'll fast-forward this history lesson a few millennia to the year 1920.

The San Remo Conference was held April 1920

• A joint decision was made my Britain and France
• France was granted a mandate for Syria and Lebanon
• Britain was granted a mandate for Palestine and Iraq

As we all know, countries go 

over some

The leader of Syria at the time was Faysal. He was torn between appeasing his very upset and angered Arab nationalists and submitting to France, whose power he knew was no match for Syria. Nationalists are patriotic people who desire independence for their country.

France seized Syria. They overthrew Faysal and occupied the capital of Damascus.

But one year later, Faysal, who was exiled, sat on the throne of Iraq!

Britain believed Faysal "had learned the limits of Arab nationalism and of Europe's superior strength.

Why is this important?

For France's rule over Syria to be successful, they knew they had to weaken this nationalist force, these energetic native people who want nothing more than to unite Syria and give France the boot. So, France divided areas of the country administratively.

"United we stand, divided we fall." The saying follows age-old logic. These divided sects had trouble uniting for a cause: their independence and national identity as Syrians.

Over time, the groups within these geographical divides cultivated their own diverse and distinct cultures. But also "some of Syria's religious and ethnic minorities, such as Kurds, Armenians, Jews and various Christian sects, were widely dispersed and did not have a geographical base to give rise to political unity."

More legal documents were drawn and some forms of governmental structure were put into place. In 1936, France agreed to Syrian independence but signed an agreement maintaining France's military and economic dominance.

Meaning: Syria still was not truly independent and by 1940 was still a pretty choppy country, rather than a unified group of people under their own nation.

Momentum picks up tremendously with Assad rule, the theme of my next post.

*Three posts leading up to what is most current isn't ideal, but these are my first posts. However, it is my view that we regurgitate the news we hear often without knowing what we are saying. So, to do these stories justice I really find it important to dig a little deeper into background and history.

Sources: The Troubles in Syria: Spawned by French Divide and Rule, 10 Simple Points, Timeline on Syria