1.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
2.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
3.
Ottoman Syria
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Ottoman Syria became organized by the Ottomans upon conquest from the Mamluks in the early 16th century into eyalets of Damascus and Aleppo. Eyalet of Tripoli was formed in 1579 and later Eyalet of Adana was split from Aleppo, in 1660, Eyalet of Safed was established and shortly afterwards renamed Eyalet of Sidon. The eyalets were later transformed into the Vilayet of Syria, the Vilayet of Aleppo, before 1516, Syria was part of the Mamluk Empire centered in Egypt. The Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered Syria in 1516 after defeating the Mamlukes at the Battle of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo in northern Syria. Selim carried on his victorious campaign against the Mamlukes and conquered Egypt in 1517 following the Battle of Ridanieh, when he first seized Syria in 1516, Selim I kept the administrative subdivisions of the Mamluk period unchanged. After he came back from Egypt in July 1517, he reorganized Syria into one province or eyalet named Şam. The eyalet was subdivided into districts or sanjaks. In 1549, Syria was reorganized into two eyalets, the northern Sanjak of Aleppo became the center of the new Eyalet of Aleppo. At this time, the eyalets became as follows, The Eyalet of Aleppo included the Sanjaks of Aleppo, Adana, Marash, Aintab, the Eyalet of Tripoli included the Sanjaks of Tripoli, Latakia, Hama and Homs. The Eyalet of Damascus included the Sanjaks of Damascus, Beirut, Sidon, Acre, Safad, Nablus, Jerusalem, Gaza and it was later renamed the Eyalet of Sidon, and later, the Eyalet of Beirut. In 1833, the Syrian provinces were ceded to Muhammed Ali of Egypt in the Convention of Kutahya, the firman stated that The governments of Candia and Egypt are continued to Mahomet Ali. In this period, the Sublime Portes firmans of 1839 and, more decisively, the former resented the implied loss of superiority and recurrently assaulted and massacred Christian communities — in Aleppo in 1850, in Nablus in 1856, and in Damascus and Lebanon in 1860. In 1872 Jerusalem and the towns became the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. The Geographical Dictionary of the World, published in 1906, describes Syria as and it comprises the vilayet of Syria, or of Damascus, the vilayet of Beirut, the part of the vilayet of Aleppo, and the mutessarrifliks of Jerusalem and the Lebanon. Palestine is included in Syria, comprising the mutessarriflik of Jerusalem and part of the vilayets of Beirut and Syria. The designation Syria is sometimes used in wider sense so as to include the whole of the vilayet of Aleppo and the Zor Sanjak and it included that part of the country which was afterwards detached from it to form the mandated territory of Palestine
4.
Syria Vilayet
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The Vilayet of Syria, also known as Vilayet of Damascus, was a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 24,009 square miles, the accuracy of the population figures ranges from approximate to merely conjectural depending on the region from which they were gathered. In 1864, the Vilayet Law was promulgated, the new provincial law was implemented in Damascus in 1865, and the reformed province was named Suriyya/Suriye, reflecting a growing historical consciousness among the local intellectuals. Jerusalem was separated from the rest of the province, and made into an independent sanjak of Jerusalem that reported directly to Istanbul, mount Lebanon had been similarly made into a self-governing mutesarrifate in 1864. In 1872, a new region was created, with its center in Maan, but the costs for the new administrative unit far outweighed the revenues. In 1884, the governor of Damascus made a proposal to establish a new vilayet of southern Syria, in 1888, a vilayet of Beirut was formed from the vilayet of Syria. In May 1892 another proposal was made for a regional government centred in Maan, in mid-1895, the centre of this mutasarrifiyya was moved to Karak, marking the southernmost extent of Ottoman rule in the vilayet of Syria. As of 1927, the Vilayet Syria was divided into four sanjaks, Damascus, Hama, Hauran, Ottoman Syria Media related to Vilayet of Syria at Wikimedia Commons
5.
Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem
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The Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, also known as the Sanjak of Jerusalem, was an Ottoman district with special administrative status established in 1872. The district encompassed Jerusalem as well as Bethlehem, Hebron, Jaffa, Gaza, during the late Ottoman period, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, together with the Sanjak of Nablus and Sanjak of Akka, formed the region that was commonly referred to as Southern Syria or Palestine. The district was separated from Damascus and placed directly under Constantinople in 1841, scholars provide a variety of reasons for the separation, including increased European interest in the region, and strengthening of the southern border of the Empire against the Khedivate of Egypt. However, after less than two months, the sanjaks of Nablus and Acre were separated and added to the Vilayet of Beirut, leaving just the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. In 1906, the Kaza of Nazareth was added to the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate, as an exclave, the area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I and a military Occupied Enemy Territory Administration set up to replace the Ottoman administration. OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus, the military administration was replaced by a British civilian administration in 1920 and the area of OETA South was incorporated into the British Mandate of Palestine in 1923. The political status of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was unique to other Ottoman province since it came under the authority of the Ottoman capital Constantinople. The inhabitants identified themselves primarily on religious terms, the districts villages were normally inhabited by farmers while its towns were populated by merchants, artisans, landowners and money-lenders. The elite consisted of the leadership, wealthy landlords and high-ranking civil servants. In 1841, the district was separated from Damascus and placed directly under Constantinople, before 1872, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was officially a sanjak within the Syria Vilayet. In 1904, former Jerusalem official Najib Azuri formed in Paris, France the Ligue de la Patrie Arabe whose goal was to free Ottoman Syria and Iraq from Turkish domination. In 1908, Azuri proposed the elevation of the mutassarifate to the status of vilayet to the Ottoman Parliament after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. The area was conquered by the Allied Forces in 1917 during World War I, OETA South consisted of the Ottoman sanjaks of Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. Below are six contemporary Ottoman maps showing the Quds Al-Sharif Sancağı or Quds Al-Sharif Mutasarrıflığı, the Mutasarrıfs of Jerusalem were appointed by the Porte to govern the district. They were usually experienced civil servants who spoke little or no Arabic, but knew a European language - most commonly French - in addition to Ottoman Turkish
6.
Beirut Vilayet
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The Vilayet of Beirut was a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It stretched from just north of Jaffa to the city of Latakia. It was bounded by the Syria Vilayet to the east, the Aleppo Vilayet to the north, the autonomous Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem to the south and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 11,773 square miles, the accuracy of the population figures ranges from approximate to merely conjectural depending on the region from which they were gathered. Sanjaks of the vilayet, Latakia Sanjak Tripoli Sanjak Beirut Sanjak Akka Sanjak Nablus Sanjak Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate Chisholm, Hugh, media related to Vilayet of Beirut at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Aleppo Vilayet
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The Vilayet of Aleppo was a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire, centered on the city of Aleppo. The vilayet was established in March 1866, however, the economy of Aleppo was badly hit by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and since then Damascus rose as a serious competitor with Aleppo over the title of the capital of Syria. Historically, Aleppo was more united in economy and culture with its sister Anatolian cities than with Damascus and this fact still shows today with the distinctive cultural differences between Aleppo and Damascus. At the end of World War I, the Treaty of Sèvres made most of the Province of Aleppo part of the newly established nation of Syria, however, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk annexed most of the Province of Aleppo as well as Cilicia to Turkey in his War of Independence. The Arab residents in the supported the Turks in this war against the French. Moreover, the Sykes-Picot division of the Near East separated Aleppo from most of Mesopotamia, the situation exacerbated further in 1939 when Alexandretta was annexed to Turkey, thus depriving Aleppo from its main port of İskenderun and leaving it in total isolation within Syria. At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 30,304 square miles and it should be noted that the accuracy of the population figures ranges from approximate to merely conjectural depending on the region from which they were gathered. Sanjaks of the vilayet, circa 1876 Aleppo Sanjak Antep Sanjak Cebelisemaan Sanjak Marash Sanjak Urfa Sanjak Zor Sanjak Ottoman Syria
8.
Zor Sanjak
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The Sanjak of Zor was a sanjak of the Ottoman Empire. Some of its area was separated from the Baghdad Vilayet, when it was created in 1857, Zor was sometimes mentioned as being part of the Aleppo Vilayet, or of the Syria Vilayet. The capital was Deir Ez-Zor, a town on the bank of the Euphrates. At the beginning of the 20th century, the sanjak had an area of 38,600 square miles, the capital itself was just a village before becoming the centre of the sanjak. Kazas of the Sanjak, Kaza of Deyr Kaza of Resül Ayn Kaza of Asare Kaza of Ebukemal
9.
Arab Kingdom of Syria
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The Arab Kingdom of Syria was the first modern Arab state to come into existence but only lasted a little over four months. During its brief existence, the kingdom was led by Sharif Hussein bin Alis son Faisal bin Hussein, the kingdom surrendered to French forces on 24 July 1920. The Arab Revolt and the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence are crucial factors in the foundations of the Arab Kingdom of Syria, in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence the promises of an Arab Kingdom were made by the British in return for an Arab uprising against the Ottomans. As the promises of independence were being made by the British, ultimately, the implementation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement would lead to the undermining and destruction of the Arab Kingdom of Syria. This is due in part to the influence of the French. Near the end of World War I, the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force under command of Edmund Allenby captured Damascus on 30 September 1918, shortly thereafter, on 3 October, Faisal entered the city. The jubilation would be short lived, as Faisal would soon be aware of the Sykes–Picot agreement. Faisal had come to expect an independent Arab kingdom in the name of his father but was told of the division of territory. Faisal obviously did not appreciate this betrayal by the British but found reassurance in the knowledge that the settlement would be worked out at a later date when the war had ended. He was probably hoping that by then the British would have changed their support for French pretensions in Syria, thus on 5 October, with the permission of General Allenby, Faisal announced the establishment of a fully and absolutely independent Arab constitutional government. Faisal announced it would be an Arab government based on justice, even reassurances by Allenby that all actions taken were provisional did not ease the looming tensions between the British, the French and the Arabs. For Arab nationalists, and many of the Arabs who fought in the Arab Revolt, after the war, at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Faisal pushed for Arab independence. The status of the Arab lands in the Middle East was the subject of negotiations between the French and British. In May 1919, the French and British Prime Ministers met in Quai d’Orsay to decide between them their respective claims to territories or spheres of influence in the Middle East. The meeting decided that in return for a British guarantee of French control in Syria, at about the same time, an American compromise resulted in an agreement to set up a commission to determine the wishes of the inhabitants. Even though they supported the idea, Britain and France eventually backed out leaving the King–Crane Commission of 1919 solely American. These events in Europe led Syrian nationalist societies like al-Fatat to make preparations for a national congress and these Syrian nationalist societies advocated complete independence for an Arab Kingdom that united Arabs under Faisal. The first official session of the Syrian Congress was held on 3 June 1919, when the King–Crane Commission arrived in Damascus on 25 June 1919, it was met with a flurry of leaflets saying Independence or Death
10.
Mandatory Palestine
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Mandatory Palestine was a geopolitical entity under British administration, carved out of Ottoman Southern Syria after World War I. British civil administration in Palestine operated from 1920 until 1948, further confusing the issue was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, promising British support for a Jewish national home in Palestine. At the wars end the British and French set up a joint Occupied Enemy Territory Administration in what had been Ottoman Syria, the British achieved legitimacy for their continued control by obtaining a mandate from the League of Nations in June 1922. The civil Mandate administration was formalized with the League of Nations consent in 1923 under the British Mandate for Palestine, the land west of the Jordan River, known as Palestine, was under direct British administration until 1948. The land east of the Jordan, a region known as Transjordan, under the rule of the Hashemite family from the Hijaz. The divergent tendencies regarding the nature and purpose of the mandate are visible already in the discussions concerning the name for this new entity. As a set-off to this, certain of the Arab politicians suggested that the country should be called Southern Syria in order to emphasise its close relation with another Arab State. During the British Mandate period the area experienced the ascent of two major nationalist movements, one among the Jews and the other among the Arabs, following its occupation by British troops in 1917–1918, Palestine was governed by the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration. In July 1920, the administration was replaced by a civilian administration headed by a High Commissioner. The first High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel, a Zionist recent cabinet minister, arrived in Palestine on 20 June 1920, following the arrival of the British, Muslim-Christian Associations were established in all the major towns. In 1919 they joined to hold the first Palestine Arab Congress in Jerusalem and its main platforms were a call for representative government and opposition to the Balfour Declaration. The Zionist Commission was formed in March 1918 and was active in promoting Zionist objectives in Palestine, on 19 April 1920, elections were held for the Assembly of Representatives of the Palestinian Jewish community. The Zionist Commission received official recognition in 1922 as representative of the Palestinian Jewish community, Rutenberg soon established an electric company whose shareholders were Zionist organizations, investors, and philanthropists. Palestinian-Arabs saw it as proof that the British intended to favor Zionism, when Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Kamil al-Husayni died in March 1921, High Commissioner Samuel appointed his half-brother Mohammad Amin al-Husseini to the position. Amin al-Husseini, a member of the clan of Jerusalem, was an Arab nationalist. As Grand Mufti, as well as the influential positions that he held during this period. In 1922, al-Husseini was elected President of the Supreme Muslim Council which had created by Samuel in December 1921. The Council controlled the Waqf funds, worth annually tens of thousands of pounds, in addition, he controlled the Islamic courts in Palestine
11.
Greater Lebanon
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The State of Greater Lebanon was a state declared in September 1920, and the predecessor of modern Lebanon. The state was declared as a League of Nations Mandate under the terms of the French Mandate for Syria, the British were given Palestine and Iraq, while the French were given a mandate over Syria and Lebanon. The new territory was granted a flag, merging the French flag with the Lebanese cedar, the Mutasarrifate had been established in 1861 to protect the local Christian population by the European powers under the terms of the Règlement Organique. The term, in French Le Grand Liban, was first used by the Lebanese intellectuals Bulus Nujaym and Albert Naccache, during the buildup to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Nujaym was building on his widely read 1908 work La question du Liban, the work argued that a significant extension of Lebanons boundaries was required for economic success. On October 27,1919, the Lebanese delegation led by Maronite Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek presented the Lebanese aspirations in a memorandum to the Paris Peace Conference. Following the peace conference, the French were awarded the French Mandate for Syria, most of the territory was controlled the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration, with the remainder controlled for a short time by the Arab Kingdom of Syria until the latters defeat in July 1920. Following the decisive Battle of Maysalun, Lebanese Maronites openly celebrated the Arab defeat, on August 24,1920, French Prime Minister Alexandre Millerand wrote to Archbishop Khoury, Your countrys claims on the Bekaa, that you have recalled for me, have been granted. This is the Greater Lebanon that France wishes to form to assure your country of its natural borders, Lebanon gained its independence in 1943 and the French left the country in 1946. The first Lebanese constitution was promulgated on May 23,1926, modeled after that of the French Third Republic, it provided for a bicameral parliament with Chamber of Deputies and a Senate, a President, and a Council of Ministers, or cabinet. Thus, for example, the president ought to be a Maronite Christian, the minister a Sunni Muslim. Under the Constitution, the French high commissioner still exercised supreme power, nevertheless, Charles Debbas, a Greek Orthodox, was elected the first president of Lebanon three days after the adoption of the Constitution. At the end of Debbass first term in 1932, Bishara al-Khuri and Émile Eddé competed for the office of president, thus dividing the Chamber of Deputies. To break the deadlock, some deputies suggested Shaykh Muhammad al Jisr, who was chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Muslim leader of Tripoli, as a compromise candidate. However, French high commissioner Henri Ponsot suspended the constitution on May 9,1932, dissatisfied with Ponsots conduct, the French authorities replaced him with Comte Damien de Martel, who, on January 30,1934, appointed Habib Pacha Es-Saad as president for a one-year term. Émile Eddé was elected president on January 30,1936, a year later, he partially reestablished the Constitution of 1926 and proceeded to hold elections for the Chamber of Deputies. However, the Constitution was again suspended by the French high commissioner in September 1939, emir Majid Arslan II Sykes-Picot Agreement Patriarch Elias Hoayek San Remo conference Mount Lebanon French Mandate of Syria Battle of Maysalun. List of French possessions and colonies French colonial empire Salibi, Kamal, a House of Many Mansions, The History of Lebanon Reconsidered
12.
Alawite State
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The Alawite State and named after the locally-dominant Alawite Shia sect, was a French mandate territory on the coast of present-day Syria after World War I. The French Mandate from the League of Nations lasted from 1920 to 1946, the use of Alawite instead of Nusayri was advocated by the French early in the Mandate period, and referred to a member of the Alawi religious sect. In 1920, the French-named Alawite Territory was home to a population of Alawi Muslims. The region is coastal and mountainous, home to a predominantly-rural, during the French Mandate period, the society was divided by religion and geography, the landowning families and 80 percent of the population of the port city of Latakia were Sunni Muslim. More than 90 percent of the population was rural, and 82 percent were Alawites. The Alawite State bordered Lebanon on the south, the border was with the Sanjak of Alexandretta. To the west was the Mediterranean, the eastern border with Syria ran roughly along the An-Nusayriyah Mountains and the Orontes River from north to south. The modern Latakia and Tartus Governorates roughly encompass the Alawite State, both have majority Alawite populations, parts of modern-day Al-Suqaylabiyah, Masyaf, Talkalakh and Jisr ash-Shugur Districts also belonged to the state. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I brought on a scramble for control of the empires provinces. As of 1918 France occupied Lebanon and Syria, which was under the leadership of the Amir, by 1920, growing anti-French sentiment in the region led to the establishment of the Arab Kingdom of Syria under King Faisal I on 7 March 1920. The Arab Kingdom of Syria was initially supported by the British, the British withdrew support, and on 5 May 1920 the Allied Supreme Council published a Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon to the French Republic with French and Arabic the official languages. General Gouraud was appointed commissioner of the Syrian territories and commander-in-chief of French forces. The population of Lebanon was pro-French, that of Syria was anti-French, at the time, the French rejected native outcry for the unification of Syria. In early September 1920, the French divided the territories of their mandate based on population to grant local autonomy to demographic regions. Some argue that the French acted to intentionally divide the population, the division intended to protect the Alawi people from more-powerful majorities. After the relative independence of Faisal Is rule, French colonialism was unwelcome, the divisions were thought to serve the interests of a Christian minority over a Muslim majority, favouring colonial rule and stifling dissent. Salih al-Ali led the Syrian Revolt of 1919 in the Alawi region east of the city of Latakia. Al-Ali was primarily interested in protecting Alawite regions from external meddling and his rebellions were not motivated by nationalist movement, however, they identified with it to further Alawite autonomy
13.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
14.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
15.
Jordan
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Jordan, officially The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west, Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordans most populous city as well as the countrys economic, what is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age, Ammon, Moab, later rulers include the Nabataean Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the then Emir Abdullah I and became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Jordan captured the West Bank, which it later lost in 1967, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The country is a monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a relatively-small, semi-arid, almost-landlocked country with a population numbering at 9.5 million, Sunni Islam, practiced by around 92% of the population, is the dominant religion in Jordan. It coexists with an indigenous Christian minority, Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East, and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State, while Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of high human development with a middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce, the country is a major tourist destination, and also attracts medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of resources, large flow of refugees. Jordan is named after the Jordan River, where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the origin of the rivers name is debated, but the most common explanation is that it derives from the word yarad, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Others regard the name as having an Indo-Aryan origin, combining the words yor and don, another theory is that it is from the Arabic root word wrd, as in people coming to a major source of water. The name Jordan appears in an ancient Egyptian papyrus called Papyrus Anastasi I, the lands of modern-day Jordan were historically called Transjordan, meaning beyond the Jordan River. The name was Arabized into Al-Urdunn during the Muslim conquest of the Levant, during crusader rule, it was called Oultrejordain
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Lebanon
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Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, Lebanons location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than seven thousand years, predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Canaanites/Phoenicians and their kingdoms, a culture that flourished for over a thousand years. In 64 BC, the region came under the rule of the Roman Empire, in the Mount Lebanon range a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church was established. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion, however, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church, the ties they established with the Latins have influenced the region into the modern era. The region eventually was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, following the collapse of the empire after World War I, the five provinces that constitute modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate of Lebanon. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was populated by Maronites and Druze. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, establishing confessionalism, a unique, foreign troops withdrew completely from Lebanon on 31 December 1946. Lebanon has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie since 1973, despite its small size, the country has developed a well-known culture and has been highly influential in the Arab world. Before the Lebanese Civil War, the experienced a period of relative calm and renowned prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, commerce. At the end of the war, there were efforts to revive the economy. In spite of troubles, Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world. The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn meaning white, occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L, the name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and its territory was the core of the Bronze Age Phoenician city-states. After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umyayad, Abbasid Seljuk, with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920, and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943
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State of Palestine
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The State of Palestine claims the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as the designated capital. Most of the areas claimed by the State of Palestine have been occupied by Israel since 1967 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War and its independence was declared on 15 November 1988 by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Algiers as a government-in-exile. Since the British Mandate, the term Palestine has been associated with the area that currently covers the State of Israel, the West Bank. In 1947, the UN adopted a plan for a two-state solution in the remaining territory of the mandate. The plan was accepted by the Jewish leadership but rejected by the Arab leaders, on the eve of final British withdrawal, the Jewish Agency for Israel declared the establishment of the State of Israel according to the proposed UN plan. During the war, Israel gained additional territories that were designated to be part of the Arab state under the UN plan, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip and Transjordan occupied the West Bank. Egypt initially supported the creation of an All-Palestine Government, but disbanded it in 1959, Transjordan never recognized it and instead decided to incorporate the West Bank with its own territory to form Jordan. The annexation was ratified in 1950 but was rejected by the international community, the Six-Day War in 1967, when Egypt, Jordan, and Syria fought against Israel, ended with Israel being in occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, besides other territories. In 1964, when the West Bank was controlled by Jordan, the Palestinian National Charter of the PLO defines the boundaries of Palestine as the whole remaining territory of the mandate, including Israel. Following the Six-Day War, the PLO moved to Jordan, the October 1974 Arab League summit designated the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed their right to establish an independent state of urgency. In November 1974, the PLO was recognized as competent on all matters concerning the question of Palestine by the UN General Assembly granting them observer status as an entity at the UN. In spite of this decision, the PLO did not participate at the UN in its capacity of the State of Palestines government, in 1979, through the Camp David Accords, Egypt signaled an end to any claim of its own over the Gaza Strip. In July 1988, Jordan ceded its claims to the West Bank—with the exception of guardianship over Haram al-Sharif—to the PLO, in November 1988, the PLO legislature, while in exile, declared the establishment of the State of Palestine. In the month following, it was recognised by many states, including Egypt. In the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, the State of Palestine is described as being established on the Palestinian territory, the UN membership application submitted by the State of Palestine also specified that it is based on the 1967 borders. During the negotiations of the Oslo Accords, the PLO recognised Israels right to exist, after Israel took control of the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza Strip from Egypt, it began to establish Israeli settlements there. These were organised into Judea and Samaria district and Hof Aza Regional Council in the Southern District, in 1980, Israel decided to freeze elections for these councils and to establish instead Village Leagues, whose officials were under Israeli influence. Later this model became ineffective for both Israel and the Palestinians, and the Village Leagues began to break up, with the last being the Hebron League, dissolved in February 1988
18.
Syria
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Syrias capital and largest city is Damascus. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, in the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a number of military coups. In 1958, Syria entered a union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, in the past, others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon. However, the discovery of the inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria. The area designated by the word has changed over time, since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period is represented by houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic, archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only those of Mesopotamia. The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Eblas contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is an agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c.2300 BC. The Northwest Semitic language of the Amorites is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages, Mari reemerged during this period, and saw renewed prosperity until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia, Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages, and developed the Ugaritic alphabet. The Ugarites kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC, Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi of Babylon. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, the army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam
19.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
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Condominium (international law)
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Although a condominium has always been recognized as a theoretical possibility, condominia have been rare in practice. A major problem, and the reason so few have existed, is the difficulty of ensuring co-operation between the powers, once the understanding fails, the status is likely to become untenable. The word is recorded in English since c,1714, from Modern Latin, apparently coined in Germany c.1700 from Latin com- together + dominium right of ownership. A condominium of three sovereign powers is sometimes called a condominium or tridominium. Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty that have consulting status, the condominium was established by treaty in 1816. Pheasant Island in the River Bidassoa between France and Spain and it was established by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua exercise a tridominium over parts of the Gulf of Fonseca, Austria and Germany consider themselves, together with Switzerland, to hold a tripartite condominium over the main part of Lake Constance. On the other hand, Switzerland holds the view that the runs through the middle of the lake. Hence no international treaty establishes where the borders of Switzerland, Germany, the part of the Paraná River between the Salto Grande de Sete Quedas and the mouth of the Iguassu River is shared in condominium by Brazil and Paraguay. Jamaica and Colombia share a maritime condominium by mutual agreement as an alternative to delimiting their sea boundary, the outer portion of the EEZ of each country otherwise would overlap in this area. Unlike other joint development zones, this appears not to have been purposed simply as a way to divide oil. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Brčko District forms a condominium between the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, the arrangement lasted for some 300 years, even though in the same time there was nearly constant warfare between the two parties on the mainland. The Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina was jointly ruled by Cisleithanian Austria, an islet in the border river Brömsebäck was considered to belong to neither Denmark and Sweden. The Independent State of Croatia during World War II from 1941 to 1943 was a condominium of Nazi Germany, egypt from 1876–1882 was under France and the United Kingdom. A small area on the Arabian Peninsula, a part of Oman, the agreement defining the Hadf zone was signed in Salalah on 26 April 1960 by Sultan Said bin Taimur and in Ajman on 30 April 1960 by Shaikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, ruler of Ajman. This provided for some joint supervision in the zone by the ruler of Ajman and it allowed the Ajman ruler to continue collecting zakat. The ruler of Ajman was, however, not to interfere in the affairs of the people, the Bani Kaab. The Free City of Kraków was a protectorate of Prussia, Austria and Russia from 1815 until 1846, the Spanish Netherlands became an Anglo-Dutch condominium in 1706 during the War of the Spanish Succession, until the peace treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt in 1713/14 ending the war
21.
Sinai and Palestine Campaign
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The Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I was fought between the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire, supported by the German Empire. It started with an Ottoman attempt at raiding the Suez Canal in 1915, fighting began in January 1915, when a German-led Ottoman force invaded the Sinai Peninsula, then part of the British Protectorate of Egypt, to unsuccessfully raid the Suez Canal. After the Gallipoli Campaign, veterans from each side formed the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, after a period of stalemate in Southern Palestine from April to October 1917, General Edmund Allenby captured Beersheba from the III Corps. Serious losses on the Western Front in March 1918, during Erich Ludendorffs German Spring Offensive, Damascus and Aleppo were captured during the subsequent pursuit, before the Ottoman Empire agreed to the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, ending the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. The British Mandate of Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria, the campaign was generally not well known or understood during the war. Australia did not have a war correspondent in the area until Captain Frank Hurley, Henry Gullett, the first Official War Correspondent, arrived in November 1917. The Republic of Turkey came into existence in 1923 after the Turkish War of Independence ended the Ottoman Empire, the Suez Canal was of vital strategic importance to the British, reducing the sailing time from India, New Zealand and Australia to Europe. As a result Egypt became a base during the war. To Germany and the Ottoman Empire the canal was the closest and weakest link in British communications, Defence of the canal posed a number of problems, with its sheer size alone making it hard to control. There was no road from Cairo, while only one railway track crossed the 30 miles of desert from Cairo to Ismaïlia on the Canal before branching north to Port Said and south to Suez. At the beginning of hostilities between Britain and the Ottoman Empire in November 1914 the 30,000 strong British defence force evacuated the Sinai Peninsula, instead they concentrated their defences on the western side of the canal. These were supported by the guns of Allied ships in the canal, opposing them were around 25,000 men, including the 25th Division. The Ottoman Empire demonstrated its interest in being reinstated in Egypt in 1915 when Ottoman forces attacked British forces in Egypt, the Germans also helped to foment unrest among the Senussi in what is now Libya, when they attacked western Egypt and threatened the Sudan during the Senussi Campaign. Egypt was neither an independent ally nor a member of the British Empire, the recently appointed High Commissioner Sir Reginald Wingate and Murray agreed that Egypts contributions would be restricted to the use of the countrys railway and Egyptian personnel. However, Maxwell had proclaimed on 6 November 1914 that Egypt would not be required to aid Britains war effort, martial law allowed the British administration to control foreign European residents, monitor foreign agents and intern dangerous persons who were the subjects of hostile nations. The powers were used to police prostitution and the sale of alcohol. The Capitulations, however provided some protection to the Europeans who controlled both these industries, in the autumn of 1917 GHQ was transferred from Cairo to the front leaving garrison battalions. This move took the commander in chief of the EEF, who was responsible for law, out of touch with the civil authorities
22.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
23.
French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
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The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire concerning Syria and the Lebanon. The mandate system was supposed to differ from colonialism, with the country acting as a trustee until the inhabitants would be able to stand on their own. At that point, the mandate would terminate and an independent state would be born, Hatay was annexed by Turkey in 1939. The French mandate lasted until 1943, when two independent countries emerged, Syria and Lebanon, French troops completely left Syria and Lebanon in 1946. Faisal established the first new postwar Arab government in Damascus in October 1918, the new Arab administration formed local governments in the major Syrian cities, and the pan-Arab flag was raised all over Syria. The Arabs hoped, with faith in earlier British promises, that the new Arab state would all the Arab lands stretching from Aleppo in northern Syria to Aden in southern Yemen. However, in accordance with the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement between Britain and France, General Allenby assigned to the Arab administration only the regions of Syria. Palestine was reserved for the British, on 8 October, French troops disembarked in Beirut and occupied the Lebanese coastal region south to Naqoura, replacing British troops there. The French immediately dissolved the local Arab governments in the region, France demanded full implementation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, with Syria under its control. On 26 November 1919, British forces withdrew from Damascus to avoid confrontation with the French, Faisal had traveled several times to Europe, since November 1918, trying to convince France and Britain to change their positions, but without success. Frances determination to intervene in Syria was shown by the naming of General Henri Gouraud as high commissioner in Syria and Cilicia, at the Paris Peace Conference, Faisal found himself in an even weaker position when the European powers decided to ignore the Arab demands. In May 1919, elections were held for the Syrian National Congress, 80% of seats went to conservatives. However, the minority included dynamic Arab nationalist figures such as Jamil Mardam Bey, Shukri al-Kuwatli, Ahmad al-Qadri, Ibrahim Hanano, the head was moderate nationalist Hashim al-Atassi. In June 1919, the American King–Crane Commission arrived in Syria to inquire into local public opinion about the future of the country, the commissions remit extended from Aleppo to Beersheba. They visited 36 major cities, met more than 2,000 delegations from more than 300 villages. Their conclusions confirmed the opposition of Syrians to the mandate in their country as well as to the Balfour Declaration, the conclusions of the commission were rejected by France and ignored by Britain. Unrest erupted in Syria when Faisal accepted a compromise with French Prime Minister Clemenceau, anti-Hashemite demonstrations broke out, and Muslim inhabitants in and around Mount Lebanon revolted in fear of being incorporated into a new, mainly Christian, state of Greater Lebanon. A part of Frances claim to territories in the Levant was that France was a protector of the minority Christian communities
24.
British Mandate for Palestine (legal instrument)
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The Mandate of Palestine was superseded with UN Charter, Chapter XII, Article 80 UN Trusteeship Agreement, UNGA181 of November 29,1947. The Palestine Mandate was administrated by the United Kingdom from September 29,1922 to November 29,1947, Government of the State of Israel was proclaimed over parts of this territory on 14 May,1948. The approximate northern border with the French Mandate was agreed upon in the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement of 23 December 1920, Transjordan had been a no mans land following the July 1920 Battle of Maysalun. The Trans-Jordan Memorandum provided the detail to support Article 25 of the Mandate and it also established a separate Administration of Trans-Jordan for the application of the Mandate, under the general supervision of Great Britain. Transjordan became largely autonomous under British tutelage according to an agreement of February 20,1928, the League of Nations welcomed the end of the mandate in Transjordan on 18 April 1946. The conquest of Palestine became part of British strategies aimed at establishing a bridge between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. This would enable rapid deployment of troops to the Gulf, then the line of defence for British interests in India. A land bridge was also an alternative to the Suez Canal, the committee considered various scenarios and provided guidelines for negotiations with France, Italy, and Russia regarding the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Committee recommended in favour of the creation of a decentralised, at the same time, the British and French also opened overseas fronts with the Gallipoli and Mesopotamian campaigns. In Gallipoli, the Turks successfully repelled the British, French and Australian, from 1915, Zionist leader and anglophile Zeev Jabotinsky was pressing the British to agree to the formation of a Zionist volunteer corps that would serve under the aegis of the British army. The British eventually agreed to set up the Zion Mule Corps, after Lloyd George was made prime minister during the war, the British waged the Sinai and Palestine Campaign under General Allenby. This time the British agreed to a Jewish Legion, which participated in the invasion, russian Jews regarded the German army as a liberator and the creation of the Legion was designed to encourage them to participate in the war on Britains side. At the same time, British intelligence officer T. E. Lawrence was encouraging an Arab Revolt led by the Sharif of Mecca. The British defeated Ottoman Turkish forces in 1917 and occupied Ottoman Syria, the land remained under British military administration for the remainder of the war, and beyond. The Ottoman Empire capitulated on 30 October 1918, and on 23 November 1918, the Middle East was divided into three OETAs. Occupied Enemy Territory Administration South extended from the Egyptian border of Sinai into Palestine and Lebanon as far north as Acre and Nablus, a temporary British military governor Major General Sir Arthur Wigram Money would administer this sector. In October 1919, British forces in Syria and the last British soldiers stationed east of the Jordan were withdrawn and the region came under exclusive control of Faisal bin Hussein from Damascus. In 1916, Britain and France concluded the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which proposed to divide the Middle East between them into spheres of influence, with Palestine as an international enclave, the British made two potentially conflicting promises regarding the territory it was expecting to acquire
25.
San Remo conference
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The San Remo conference was an international meeting of the post-World War I Allied Supreme Council, held at Villa Devachan in Sanremo, Italy, from 19 to 26 April 1920. It was attended by the four Principal Allied Powers of World War I who were represented by the ministers of Britain, France and Italy. Resolutions passed at this conference determined the allocation of Class A League of Nations mandates for the administration of former Ottoman territories in the Middle East. The precise boundaries of all territories were left unspecified, to be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, the conference decisions were embodied in the Treaty of Sèvres. As Turkey rejected this treaty, the decisions with regard to the Palestine mandate were finally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations on 24 July 1922. In July 1919 the parliament of Greater Syria had refused to acknowledge any right claimed by the French Government to any part of Syrian territory. On 30 September 1918 supporters of the Arab Revolt in Damascus declared a government loyal to Sharif Hussein, a Pan-Syrian Congress, meeting in Damascus, had declared an independent state of Syria on 8 March 1920. Faisal was declared the head of state, at the same time Prince Zeid, Faisals brother, was declared regent of Mesopotamia. The San Remo conference was hastily convened and it was attended by the prime ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy, and representatives of Japan, Greece, and Belgium. Great Britain and France agreed to recognize the independence of Syria and Mesopotamia. Palestine was composed of the Ottoman administrative districts of southern Syria, under international law, premature recognition of its independence would be a gross affront to the government of the newly declared parent state. It could have been construed as a belligerent act of intervention without any League of Nations sanction, for France, the San Remo decision meant that most of its claims in Syria were internationally recognized and relations with Faisal were now subject to French military and economic considerations. The ability of Great Britain to limit French action was significantly diminished. France issued an ultimatum and intervened militarily at the Battle of Maysalun in June 1920, deposing the Arab government, in 1920, Great Britain appointed Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel as high commissioner and established a mandatory government in Palestine that remained in power until 1948. Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant, which contained the rules to be applied to all Mandated Territories, was written two months before the signing of the Versaille Peace Treaty. It was not known at time to which territories paragraphs 4,5 and 6 would relate. Those 10 territorial areas were administered under 15 mandates. The decisions of the San Remo conference confirmed the mandate allocations of the First Conference of London, the San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917
26.
Sanjak
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Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish word sancak, meaning district, banner, sanjaks were also called by the Arabic word for banner or flag, لواء liwa. Ottoman provinces were divided into sanjaks governed by sanjakbeys and were subdivided into timars, kadiluks. The unofficial, geo-political region of Sandžak in Serbia derives its name from the former Ottoman Sanjak of Novi Pazar, Liwa or Liwa is an Arabic term interchangeable with the Turkish term Sanjak. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the term was used in the Arab countries formerly under Ottoman rule and it was gradually replaced by other terms like qadaa and mintaqah and is now defunct. These were Sultan-öyügü, Hudavendigar-eli, Koca-eli and Karasi-eli, the districts which made up an eyalet were known as sanjaks, each under the command of a sanjak-bey. The number of sanjaks in each eyalet varied considerably, in 1609, Ayn Ali noted that Rumelia Eyalet had 24 sanjaks, but that six of these in the Peloponnesos had been detached to form the separate Morea Eyalet. Anatolia had 14 sanjaks and the Damascus Eyalet had 11, there were, in addition, several eyalets where there was no formal division into sanjaks. These, in Ayn Ali’s list were Basra and part of the Baghdad, Al-Hasa, Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis and he adds to the list Yemen, with the note that ‘at the moment the Imams have usurped control’. These eyalets were, however, exceptional, the pattern was the eyalet subdivided into sanjaks. However, this had not always been the case, some sanjaks in fact preserved the names of the dynasties that had ruled there before the Ottoman conquest. In 1609, Ayn Ali made a note on their formal status, in listing the sanjaks in the Diyarbekir Eyalet, he notes that it had ten ‘Ottoman districts’ and, in addition, eight ‘districts of the Kurdish lords’. In these cases, when a lord died, the governorship did not go to an outsider, in other respects, however, they resembled normal Ottoman sanjaks, in that the revenues were registered and allocated to fief holders who went to war under their lord. In addition, however, Ayn Ali noted that there were five ‘sovereign sanjaks’, which their lords disposed of ‘as private property’, there were other areas, too, which enjoyed autonomy or semi-autonomy. In the second half of the 16th century, Kilis came under the governorship of the Janbulad family. In the 1840s, the boundaries of sanjaks were redrawn to establish units of comparable population. Each of these sanjaks was headed by a muhassil, most of the sanjaks throughout the Empire were under the rule of non-hereditary appointees, who had no permanent family of territorial connections with the area. The Sanjak was governed just as a Vilayet on a smaller scale, a sanjak was typically divided into kazas, also known as kadiluks, each headed by a kadı, or judge
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Nablus Sanjak
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The District of Nablus also known as the Sanjak of Nablus is an administrative area that existed throughout Ottoman rule of Ottoman Syria and to a lesser extent during British rule. From the 17th to the early 20th century it maintained its autonomy of Ottoman rule, mostly due to the mountainous terrain, the rulers of the district composed of several Arab families, some originating from northern Syrian cities, some from Balqa and others were indigenous to Nablus. The primary noble families were the Tuqan, Jarrar, Abd al-Hadi, Jayyusi, Nimr, Rayyan, Qasim, Atut, al-Hajj Muhammad, Ghazi, sanjaq Nablus comprised five nahiyas, Jammain East, Jammain West, Mashariq Nablus, Wadi al-Shair and Sharawiyya. Jammain East was headed by the Qasim clan, Jammain West by the Rayyan, Wadi al-Shair by the Sayf and al-Ahfa clans, Mashariq Nablus by the Hajj Muhammad clan, the Tuqan, Nimr and Abd al-Hadi families controlled Nablus. The District of Nablus was economically active in growing olives which they used to produce oil, olive wood baskets. Cotton was also a cash crop. Most economic activity was based in Nablus, however the surrounding towns, in return, the ruling families protected the villages and met municipal needs
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Acre Sanjak
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The Sanjak of Acre, often referred as Late Ottoman Galilee, was a prefecture of the Ottoman Empire, located in modern-day northern Israel. The city of Acre was the Sanjaks capital, Acre was captured by the Ottoman Sultan Selim I in 1517, but the city fell into disuse soon thereafter and was governed under the Sanjak of Safad during 16th-18th centirues. Acre was the center of the Nahiya of Acre, a subdistrict of the sanjak, Acre was the center of a major economic boom under the leadership of Zahir al-Umar during the late 18th century. The Sanjak of Acre was created c. early 18th century as a prefecture of the Sidon Eyalet, the Sidon Eyalet later became known as the Acre Eyalet between 1775 and 1841 when Acre was designated as the eyalets capital city. Following the promulgation of the Vilayet Law as per the then-ongoing Tanzimat, or administrative reforms, in 1864, in 1888, the sanjaks of Acre, Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, and Nablus were separated from the Syria Vilayet and transferred to the Beirut Vilayet. The sanjak was made up of five districts, Kaza of Acre Kaza of Haifa Kaza of Safed Kaza of Nazareth Kaza of Tiberias
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Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate
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The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate was one of the Ottoman Empires subdivisions following the Tanzimat reform. As the Ottoman Empire began to decline, the structure came under pressure. Both officials were to report to the governor of Sidon, who resided in Beirut, on May 22,1860, a small group of Maronites fired on a group of Druze at the entrance to Beirut, killing one and wounding two. This sparked a torrent of violence which swept through Lebanon, in a mere three days, from May 29 to 31,60 villages were destroyed in the vicinity of Beirut. 33 Christians and 48 Druze were killed, by June the disturbances had spread to the “mixed” neighborhoods of southern Lebanon and the Anti Lebanon, to Sidon, Hasbaya, Rashaya, Deir el Qamar, and Zahlé. The Druze peasants laid siege to Catholic monasteries and missions, burnt them, france intervened on behalf of the local Christian population and Britain on behalf of the Druze after the massacres, in which over 10,000 Christians were killed. Mount Lebanon became a semi-autonomous mutasarrifate, in September 1864, the statute became permanent. The mutasarrıf was to be assisted by a council of twelve members from the various religious communities in Lebanon. Each of the six religious groups inhabiting the Lebanon elected two members to the council and this Mutasarrifate system lasted from 1861 until 1918, although it was de facto abolished by Djemal Pasha in 1915, after which he appointed his own governors. The members of the international commission researched many names for the new administrative division, many titles were considered, Emir was quickly refuted because it was offensive to the Ottoman Porte and was reminiscent of the Emirate system that the Ottomans fought to abolish. The commission members also ruminated over the title of President but the designation was not approved by the Ottoman government, eight mutasarrıfs were appointed and ruled according to the basic mutasarrifate regulation that was issued in 1861 then modified by the 1864 reform. These were, The mnemonic word DaFRuWNaMYO helped school children memorize the name of the mutasarrıfs, when the First World War broke out in 1914, Djemal Pasha occupied Mount Lebanon militarily and revoked the mutasarrifate system. He appointed the mutasarrıfs during this period and those governors were, Ali Münif Bey Ismail Bey Mümtaz Bey The total population in 1895 was estimated as 399,530, with 80,234 Muslims and 319,296 Christians. In 1913, the population was estimated as 414,747. Source, History of Lebanon under Ottoman rule Beirut Vilayet Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem Principality of Lebanon US country studies
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Hejaz Vilayet
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The Vilayet of the Hejaz refers to the Hejaz region of Arabia when it was administered as a first-level province of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 96,500 square miles. The Hejaz included all the area from the border of the Vilayet of Syria, south of Ma‛an, to the border with the Vilayet of Yemen. Despite its lack of resources, the region had great political importance as the cradle of Islam and was a source of legitimacy for the Ottomans rule. Subsidies provided by the state and zakat were the source of income for the population of the two holy cities, but trade generated by the hajj was also an important source of revenue. The Ottoman regular force in Hejaz was constituted as a fırka, outside of cities and towns, Ottoman authority was weak. Only those two towns had permanent garrisons, Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517 and took over Egypt. The Hejaz was at the time, a Mamluk suzerainty and had relied on Egypt for grain imports, it was also under threat from an aggressive Portuguese navy in the Red Sea. As a result, the emir of Mecca at the time, Berekat ibn Muhammed Haseni, sent his 12-year-old son, Muhammad, to Egypt and pledged their allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan, along with the key to Mecca. The Sultan allowed the emir of Mecca to remain in power in exchange for loyalty to the Sultan, to strengthen the Sultans legitimacy in Hejaz and in the Muslim world, the Sultan adopted the title Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Initially, the Ottomans administered the Hejaz under the Eyalet of Egypt, the Sharif of Mecca represented imperial authority in the region. Administration later fell to the Governors of Jeddah, and the Eyalet of Jeddah was later transformed into the Hejaz Vilayet, with a governor in Mecca. Since the 1750s, Wahabi Muslims, a sect from the Najd region backed by the influential Al Saud family. In 1801, while the Ottoman Portes attention was diverted to the French invasion of Egypt, Şerif Pasha, the governor of Jeddah, temporarily wrestled Mecca back from the Wahhabis but was finally defeated in 1806. In early 1807, the leader of the Wahhabi army Ibn Saud ordered the expulsion of all pilgrims and troops loyal to the Emir of Mecca and it was alleged that Ibn Saud banned pilgrim caravans that were accompanied with trumpets and drums, which were contrary to Wahhabi doctrines. The Ottoman government found itself unable to confront the Wahhabis, Muhammad Ali Pasha dispatched an army commanded by his son Tusun Pasha in 1811, and successfully retook Medina and Mecca in 1812 and 1813 respectively. From 1818 to 1845, the region would be administered by Egypt, osman Pasha was then appointed to the Governorship of the Hejaz. The borders of the province were redefined better, and the Emirate of Mecca was restored, in the late 1860s, a commission was sent to the Hejaz to reorganize the province, and the following decades saw the introduction of administrative reforms
31.
Turkish War of Independence
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Few of the occupying British, French, and Italian troops had been deployed or engaged in combat. The Turkish National Movement in Anatolia culminated in the formation of a new Grand National Assembly by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, after the end of the Turkish-Armenian, Franco-Turkish, Greco-Turkish fronts, the Treaty of Sèvres was abandoned and the Treaties of Kars and Lausanne were signed. The Allies left Anatolia and Eastern Thrace, and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey decided on the establishment of a Republic in Turkey, on 3 March 1924, the Ottoman Caliphate was officially abolished and the last Caliph was exiled. On October 30,1918, the Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of World War I, bringing hostilities in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I to a close. However, dismantling the Ottoman government and partitioning the Ottoman Empire among the Allied nations had been an objective of the Entente since the start of the war, a wave of seizures took place in the following months by the Allies. On December 1, British troops based in Syria occupied Kilis, beginning in December, French troops began successive seizures of Ottoman territory, including the towns of Antakya, Mersin, Tarsus, Ceyhan, Adana, Osmaniye and Islahiye. The first bullet was fired by Mehmet Çavuş in Dörtyol against the French on December 19,1918, on January 19,1919, the Paris Peace Conference opened, a meeting of Allied nations that set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers, including the Ottoman Empire. As a special body of the Paris Conference, The Inter-Allied Commission on Mandates in Turkey was established to pursue the secret treaties they had signed between 1915 and 1917, among the objectives was a new Hellenic Empire based on the Megali Idea. This was promised by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George to Greece, Italy sought control over the southern part of Anatolia under the Agreement of St. -Jean-de-Maurienne. France expected to control over Hatay, Lebanon and Syria. France signed the French-Armenian Agreement and promised the realization of an Armenian state in the Mediterranean region in exchange to the French Armenian Legion, meanwhile, Allied countries continued to lay claim to portions of the quickly crumbling Ottoman Empire. On April 30, Italy responded to the idea of Greek incorporation of Western Anatolia by also sending a warship to Smyrna as a show of force against the Greek campaign. A large Italian force also landed in Antalya, the Greek campaign of Western Anatolia began on May 15,1919, as Greek troops began landing in Smyrna. He and his carefully selected staff left Constantinople aboard the old steamer SS Bandirma for Samsun on the evening of May 16,1919, resistance to Allied demands began at the very onset of the Ottoman Empire′s defeat in World War I. Many Ottoman officials organized the secret Sentinel Association in reaction to the policies of the Allies, the objective of the Sentinel Association was to thwart Allied demands through passive and active resistance. Many Ottoman officials participated in efforts to conceal from the occupying authorities details of the independence movement spreading throughout Anatolia. Munitions initially seized by the Allies were secretly smuggled out of Constantinople into Central Anatolia, mirliva Ali Fuad Paşa in the meantime had moved his XX Corps from Ereğli to Ankara and started organizing resistance groups, including Circassian immigrants under Çerkes Ethem. The most prominent idea given for the Sultan’s decision was by assigning these officers out of the capital, Mustafa Kemal Paşa and his colleagues stepped ashore on May 19 and set up their first quarters in the Mintika Palace Hotel
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Antakya
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Antakya, is the seat of the Hatay Province in southern Turkey. In ancient times, Antakya was known as Antioch, and was for one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. It was an early center of Christianity. It has a population of about 250,000, most of the population speaks Turkish as their native language, while a minority are native Arabic speakers. Antakya is situated in a well-watered and fertile valley, the area of Antioch has been occupied by humans since the Calcolithic era, as revealed by archeological excavations of the mound of Tell-Açana, among others. The King of Macedonia and Greece Alexander the Great, after defeating the Persians in the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, followed the Orontes south into Syria and occupied the area. The city of Antioch was founded in 300 BC, after the death of Alexander, AD with the rise of Islam, and after the 10th c. In 637, during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, the city became known in Arabic as أنطاكيّة. In 969, the city was recovered for the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas by Michael Bourtzes and the stratopedarches Peter. It soon became the seat of a dux, who commanded the forces of the themes and was the most important officer on the Empires eastern border. In 1078, Philaretos Brachamios, an Armenian rebel seized power and he held the city until the Seljuk Turks captured it from him in 1084. The Sultanate of Rum held it only fourteen years before the Crusaders arrived, the Crusaders Siege of Antioch resulted in its fall and the Crusaders caused significant damage during the First Crusade including a 3-day massacre of its population both Christian and Muslim. Following the defeat of the Turkish garrison, Bohemond I became its overlord and it remained the capital of the Latin Principality of Antioch for nearly two centuries. In 1268 it fell to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan Baibars after another siege, Baibars proceeded to massacre the Christian population. In addition to suffering the ravages of war, the city lost its importance because trade routes to the Far East moved north following the 13th-century Mongol conquests. Antioch never recovered as a city, with much of its former role falling to the port city of Alexandretta. An account of both cities as they were in 1675 appears in the diary of the English naval chaplain Henry Teonge, the city was the center of the Sanjak of Antakya, part of the Damascus Eyalet. In 1822, Antakya was hit by an earthquake and damaged, when Ottoman general Ibrahim Pasha established his headquarters in the city in 1835, it had only some 5,000 inhabitants
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Hatay State
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The state was transformed de jure into the Hatay Province of Turkey on July 7,1939, de facto joining the country on July 23,1939. Hatay Province includes districts of Erzin, Dörtyol and Hassa in addition to former Hatay State territories. Formerly part of the Aleppo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, the Sanjak of Alexandretta was occupied by France at the end of World War I and constituted part of the French Mandate of Syria. Then it was attached to the State of Aleppo, then in 1925 it was attached to the State of Syria. In truth, the Turks first appeared in Anatolia during the 11th century when the Seljuk Turks occupied the province of the Abbasid Empire. Turkish politics aimed at incorporating the Sanjak of Alexandretta when the French mandate of Syria would expire in 1935, local Turks initiated reforms in the style of Atatürks, formed various organisations and institutions in order to promote the idea of union with Turkey. In 1936, the elections returned two Syrian independentist MPs in the sanjak, and this prompted communal riots and passionate articles in the Turkish, in particular, Arab nationalist Zaki al-Arsuzi was influential in anti-irredentist agitation. In response, Atatürk government coined the name Hatay for the Sanjak of Alexandretta, as a reference to Hittites, on behalf of the League of Nations, representatives of France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Turkey prepared a constitution for the sanjak. The new statute came into power in November 1937, the Sanjak becoming distinct but not separated from Syria on the diplomatic level, in 29 June 1939, following a popular referendum, Hatay became a Turkish province. This referendum has been labelled both phoney and rigged, and a way for the French to let Turks take over the area, for the referendum, Turkey crossed tens of thousands of Turks into Alexandretta to register as citizens and vote. On June 29,1939, the Hatay legislature voted on disestablishing the Hatay State, on July 7,1939, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey approved the law establishing the Hatay Province and incorporating districts from Adana Province and Gaziantep Province. By July 23,1939, the last vestiges of the French Mandate authorities had left Antakya, the result was a flight of many Arabs and Armenians to Syria. Although Turks formed the largest single ethno-religious minority, Arabic speakers including Sunnis, Alawites, the State of Hatay was featured as one of the main locations in the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Aside from the name and location, most of the detail of Hatay within the movie is fictionalised - the flag is incorrect, kars Republic Sökmen, Tayfur, Hatayın Kurtuluşu İçin Harcanan Çabalar, Ankara 1992, ISBN 975-16-0499-0. Dr. Abdurrahman Melek, Hatay Nasıl Kurtuldu, Türk Tarih Kurumu,1966
34.
Ethiopia
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Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With nearly 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and it occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres, and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa. Some of the oldest evidence for modern humans has been found in Ethiopia. It is widely considered as the region from modern humans first set out for the Middle East. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era, tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history. During the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, subsequently, many African nations adopted the colors of Ethiopias flag following their independence. It was the first independent African member of the 20th-century League of Nations, Ethiopias ancient Geez script, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar, which is seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar, co-exists alongside the Borana calendar. A slight majority of the population adheres to Christianity, while around a third follows Islam, the country is the site of the Migration to Abyssinia and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. A substantial population of Ethiopian Jews, known as Bete Israel, resided in Ethiopia until the 1980s, Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80 ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromiffa, Amhara, Somali, and Tigrayans. Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches, additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by the nations Nilotic ethnic minorities. Ethiopia is the place of origin for the coffee bean which originated from the place called Kefa and it is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast fertile West, jungles, and numerous rivers, and the worlds hottest settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian Highlands are Africas largest continuous mountain ranges, and Sof Omar Caves contain Africas largest cave, Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. Ethiopia is one of the members of the UN, the Group of 24, the Non-Aligned Movement, G-77. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ethiopia suffered from civil wars, the country has begun to recover recently however, and now has the largest economy in East Africa and Central Africa. According to Global Fire Power, Ethiopia has the 42nd most powerful military in the world, the origin of the word Ethiopia is uncertain
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Libya
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The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres, Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa, Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in western Libya, the other large city is Benghazi, which is located in eastern Libya. Libya has been inhabited by Berbers since the late Bronze Age, the Phoenicians established trading posts in western Libya, and ancient Greek colonists established city-states in eastern Libya. Libya was variously ruled by Carthaginians, Persians, Egyptians and Greeks before becoming a part of the Roman Empire, Libya was an early center of Christianity. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the area of Libya was mostly occupied by the Vandals until the 7th century, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire and the Knights of St John occupied Tripoli, until Ottoman rule began in 1551. Libya was involved in the Barbary Wars of the 18th and 19th centuries, Ottoman rule continued until the Italian occupation of Libya resulted in the temporary Italian Libya colony from 1911 to 1943. During the Second World War Libya was an important area of warfare in the North African Campaign, the Italian population then went into decline. Libya became an independent kingdom in 1951, a military coup in 1969 overthrew King Idris I, beginning a period of sweeping social reform. Since then, Libya has experienced a period of instability, the European Union is involved in an operation to disrupt human trafficking networks exploiting refugees fleeing from wars in Africa for Europe. At least two political bodies claim to be the government of Libya, the Council of Deputies is internationally recognized as the legitimate government, but it does not hold territory in the capital, Tripoli, instead meeting in the Cyrenaica city of Tobruk. Parts of Libya are outside of either governments control, with various Islamist, rebel, the United Nations is sponsoring peace talks between the Tobruk and Tripoli-based factions. An agreement to form an interim government was signed on 17 December 2015. Under the terms of the agreement, a nine-member Presidency Council, the leaders of the new government, called the Government of National Accord, arrived in Tripoli on 5 April 2016. Since then the GNC, one of the two governments, has disbanded to support the new GNA. The name Libya was introduced in 1934 for Italian Libya, reviving the name for Northwest Africa. The name was based on use in 1903 by Italian geographer Federico Minutilli. It was intended to supplant terms applied to Ottoman Tripolitania, the region of what is today Libya having been ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1551 to 1911
36.
Haile Selassie
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Haile Selassie I,23 July 1892 –27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, was Ethiopias regent from 1916 to 1930 and emperor from 1930 to 1974. He also served as Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 25 May 1963 to 17 July 1964 and 5 November 1966 to 11 September 1967 and he was a member of the Solomonic Dynasty. At the League of Nations in 1936, the emperor condemned the use of weapons by Italy against his people during the Second Italo–Ethiopian War. His regime was also criticized by rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, as autocratic. Among the Rastafari movement, whose followers are estimated at two and four million, Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible. Beginning in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafari movement perceives Haile Selassie as a figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness. Haile Selassie was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian throughout his life and he is a defining figure in Ethiopian history. Haile Selassie died on 27 August 1975 at the age of 83, Haile Selassie was known as a child as Lij Tafari Makonnen. Lij is translated as child, and serves to indicate that a youth is of noble blood and his given name, Tafari, means one who is respected or feared. Like most Ethiopians, his personal name Tafari is followed by that of his father Makonnen and his Geez name Haile Selassie was given to him at his infant baptism and adopted again as part of his regnal name in 1930. As Governor of Harer, he known as Ras Teferi Makonnen listen. Ras is translated as head and is a rank of nobility equivalent to Duke, in 1916, Empress Zewditu I appointed him to the position of Balemulu Siltan Enderase. In 1928, she granted him the throne of Shoa, elevating his title to Negus or King, on 2 November 1930, after the death of Empress Zewditu, Ras Tafari was crowned Negusa Nagast, literally King of Kings, rendered in English as Emperor. Upon his ascension, he took as his regnal name Haile Selassie I, Haile means in Geez Power of and Selassie means trinity—therefore Haile Selassie roughly translates to Power of the Trinity. Haile Selassies full title in office was By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Elect of God. This title reflects Ethiopian dynastic traditions, which hold that all monarchs must trace their lineage to Menelik I, who was the offspring of King Solomon, to Ethiopians, Haile Selassie has been known by many names, including Janhoy, Talaqu Meri, and Abba Tekel. The Rastafari movement employs many of these appellations, also referring to him as Jah, Jah Jah, Jah Rastafari, Haile Selassies royal line originated from the Amhara people, but he also had Oromo, and Gurage roots. He was born on 23 July 1892, in the village of Ejersa Goro and his mother was Woizero Yeshimebet Ali Abba Jifar, daughter of the renowned Oromo ruler of Wollo province Dejazmach Ali Abba Jifar
37.
Field marshal
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Field marshal is a very senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually it is the highest rank in an army, and when it is and it is considered as a five-star rank in modern-day armed forces in many countries. The origin of the dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the kings horses. Promotion to the rank of marshal in many countries historically required extraordinary military achievement by a general. However, the rank has also used as a divisional command rank. The traditional attribute distinguishing a field marshal is a baton, the baton nowadays is purely ornamental, and as such may be richly decorated. That said, it is not necessary for the insignia to be a baton, the exact wording of the titles used by field marshals varies, examples include marshal and field marshal general. The air force equivalent in Commonwealth and many Middle Eastern air forces is marshal of the air force. Navies, which usually do not use the nomenclature employed by armies or air forces, use titles such as fleet admiral, Field marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim was a politician in Afghanistan who served as Vice President from June 2002 until December 2004 and from November 2009 until his death. Between September 2001 and December 2004, he served as Defense Minister under the Afghan Transitional Administration. As military commander of the Northern Alliance, Fahim captured the Afghan capital Kabul in the fall of 2001 from the Taliban government, in 2004 President Hamid Karzai provided Fahim the honorary title Marshal and a year later he became member of the House of Elders. He later became a recipient of the Ahmad Shah Baba Medal, Fahim was a member of Afghanistans Tajik ethnic group. He was affiliated with the Jamiat Islami party of Afghanistan, Sir Thomas Blamey was the first and is the only Australian-born field marshal. He was promoted to the rank on the insistence of the Australian prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, Blamey was, at the time of his promotion, seriously ill and mostly bed-ridden in the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. He was presented with his marshals baton at a ceremony held in the sunroom at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital by the Governor-General of Australia. Blameys field marshals baton is on display in the Second World War galleries at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Currently, the only Australian field marshal is HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, during Imperial rule in China, different dynasty gave different titles to generals. A very similar title is 司馬 in Eastern Han dynasty, which means master of horse
38.
Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby
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Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, GCB, GCMG, GCVO was an English soldier and British Imperial Governor. The British succeed in capturing Beersheba, Jaffa, and Jerusalem from October to December 1917, subsequently, the EEF Pursuit by Desert Mounted Corps captured Damascus and advanced into northern Syria. During this pursuit, he commanded T. E and he continued to serve in the region as High Commissioner for Egypt and Sudan from 1919 until 1925. Allenby was born in 1861, the son of Hynman Allenby and he had no great desire to be a soldier, and tried to enter the Indian Civil Service but failed the entry exam. He sat the exam for the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1880, was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 6th Dragoons on 10 May 1882, and joined his regiment in South Africa later that year. After serving at the depot in Canterbury, he was promoted to captain on 10 January 1888. Allenby returned to Britain in 1890 and he sat – and failed – the entry exam for the Staff College in Camberley, not deterred, he sat the exam again the next year and passed. Captain Douglas Haig of the 7th Hussars also entered the Staff College at the same time, Allenby was more popular with fellow officers, even being made Master of the Draghounds in preference to Haig who was the better rider, Allenby had already developed a passion for polo. He was promoted to major on 19 May 1897 and was posted to the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, then serving in Ireland, as the Brigade-Major in March 1898. At the outbreak of the Second Boer War, Allenby was returned to his regiment, while camped beside the Australian Light Horse outside Bloemfontein with Lord Roberts army, the New South Wales Lancers with the rest of Frenchs cavalry, waited to move. At this time men and horses suffered continuously rainy weather and cases of enteric were taken away every day. Major Allenby, appointed to command the squadron of New South Wales Lancers and he was about to walk in on a rum soaked officers mess, when he was intercepted by an acquaintance, who informed Allenby the mess were just drinking his health. But thats no excuse for keeping the whole camp awake and you tell them to be in bed with all lights out, in five minutes, or Ill have to do something about it. He was promoted to local lieutenant-colonel on 1 January 1901, in a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Lord Kichener, Commander-in-Chief during the latter part of the war, described him as a popular and capable Cavalry Brigadier. For his services during the war, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the South Africa honours list published on 26 June 1902 and he was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel and to the temporary rank of brigadier general on 19 October 1905. He assumed command of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in 1906 and he was promoted again to the rank of major-general on 10 September 1909 and was appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry in 1910 due to his extensive cavalry experience. He was nicknamed The Bull due to a tendency for sudden bellowing outbursts of explosive rage directed at his subordinates. Allenby stood 62 with a barrel chest and his bad temper made The Bull a figure who inspired much consternation under those who had to work under him
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Palestine
Syria
Turkey
