Lesson 1 - The Allies’ projects to partition the Ottoman Empire during the Great War

Question 1

How did some of the Great Powers, like Russia try and weaken the Ottoman Empire?

Answer 1

1) Occupying or seizing some of its territory;

2) Encouraging ethnic minorities to seek autonomy if not independence, in hope new principalities or states could become valuable allies.

Question 2

Which powers tried to preserve the Ottoman Empire - at least until the later years?

Answer 2

Others, such as Britain (at least until 1882, when British troops occupied Egypt), and to some extent Austria-Hungary, tried overall to preserve integrity of Ottoman Empire andacted as protectors of Porte

Question 3

In early 1914 how did most of the Great Powers see the Ottoman Empire?

Answer 3

As a burden

Question 4

How did this change by the summer of 1914?

Answer 4

They saw the Ottoman Empire as a potential ally

Question 5

Who signed a treaty in August 2014

Answer 5

Berlin and the Ottoman Empire

Question 6

Why was the Ottoman Empire Ottoman the dragged into Great War, on 2 Nov1914?

Answer 6

Ottoman fleet under command of German admiral Wilhelm Souchon attacked Russian positions in Crimea and along Black Sea coast. On 2 Nov., Russia declared war on Ottoman Empire.

Question 7

Who joined Russia a few days later?

Answer 7

Britain and France then followed suit three days later.

Question 8

Did France, Russia and Britain know at the start of the war what the fate of the Ottoman Empire should be?

Answer 8

No, throughout they conflict they elaborated various plans which:

1) were influenced to large extent by the military situation on ground;
2) The legacy of decades of expansionist policies and of competition between colonial powers eager to get whatever advantage or territory that seemed available.

Question 9

Who in spite of the Entente remained enemies?

Answer 9

France and Britain

Question 10

Did the series of conferences during and after the war bear any relationship to the projects set out at the start of the war?

Answer 10

No

Question 11

How was the task of western diplomats and politicians was complicated further?

Answer 11

The Entente members and particularly Britain had made series of
commitments to third parties:

1) Sharif Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi, ruler of Mecca;
2) World Zionist Organisation in 1917;
3) Italy in 1915.

Question 12

What did France and Britain try to do ?

Answer 12

Tried to get out of some of these commitments but they were not to be forgotten!

Question 13

Where and what were the French commercial interests in the area?

Answer 13

They had commercial and Financial interests n Beirut, Aleppo and Suriyya (around Damascus), including Aleppo-Damascus and Beirut-Damascus railways and in silk production of Lebanon.

French interests were also present further south in sanjaq of Jerusalem.

Question 14

What other interests did the French have in the area?

Answer 14

They had strong cultural and historical links with Christian communities in the region, especially the Maronites living in Beirut and the Mount Lebanon area.

The French missionaries were also present in region in relatively large numbers.

In the Holy Land, The French claimed protectorate over all Catholic interests. Such “sentimental” involvement dated back to the crusades and was confirmed by Suleiman the Magnificent, who made the French kings protectors of Christians in the Middle East.

Question 15

When had the French interest in Syria been acknowledged by Britain?

Answer 15

when the two countries signed the Second Entente Cordiale in April 1904. This was in return for France recognising Britain’s position in Egypt.

Question 16

What the Middle East the priority of France when the war started?

Answer 16

No, the Priority of government was to recover Alsace-Lorraine.

Question 17

What however did the colonial lobby want?

Answer 17

They wanted the Ottoman Empire to be dismembered and France get Syria. What “Parti colonial” (“colonial lobby”) meant by
Syria, was “la Syrie intégrale”, ie area that stretched from Taurus mountains in north to Egyptian border in south, and included most Arabian desert.

Question 18

Who were two famous people in the Parti Colonial?

Answer 18

François Georges-Picot (who had served as consul
in Beirut) and Stephen Pichon (Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1906-11, in 1913, from 1917-20).

Question 19

Why did France not play a major role in the war in the Middle East?

Answer 19

France’s war commitments in Europe made it impossible
for her to take leading role in war in Middle East. Instead, war against Ottoman Empire was left to Britain and Tsarist Russia.

Question 20

Why did Britain at the beginning of the war have limited interests in the Middle East?

Answer 20

Because Britain had largely got what she wanted earlier?

1) Suez Canal: even though French interests still held 56% of shares, British government had become with 44% largest shareholder in 1875.

2) Egypt: in 1882, British troops landed in Alexandria and occupied Egypt. Although occupation was supposed to be temporary, under consul-general Lord Cromer, London established “veiled protectorate” over Egypt;

3) Protectorates in the Persian gulf: Bahrain in 1860, Muscat and Oman in 1892, and Trucial States (group of tribal confederations, forerunner of United Arab Emirates) in 1892.

Question 21

What were the main concerns for Britain?

Answer 21

1) To ensure that route to India remained open. This meant that Arabian peninsula had to be kept under control to prevent any potential Ottoman and German threats to vital sea route between Britain and Raj;

2) To ensure continuous access to British-controlled refinery in Abadan, Persia. After a series of successful trials from 1904, Royal Navy had been converting between 1912 and 1914 its vessels from coal- to oil-powered engines. Therefore access to Persian Gulf was critical for war effort. This explains why 1st major action against
Ottomans was occupation of Basra by expeditionary force from India in Nov. 1914.

Question 22

What did Britain want to prevent Russia from doing?

Answer 22

Britain’s ambition was to prevent Russians in particular from gaining access to Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Persian Gulf.

Question 23

Why was the formulation of a clear British policy towards the region complicated?

Answer 23

A large part of the Arab provinces of Ottoman Empire was under the responsibility of different departments with conflicting views. i.e foreign office, high commission in Cairo, Viceroy and Government in India.

Question 24

What had the ambition been of Russia in the area?

Answer 24

1) To annex Constantinople, for religious, cultural and strategic reasons;
2) To control Straits, ie passage between Black Sea and Mediterranean, for strategic and economic reasons.

Question 25

When were these ambitions revived?

Answer 25

During the Balkan Wars (1912-13 and 1913),

Question 26

Why did the beginning of the hostilities between Ottoman Empire and Russia did not create opportunity St Petersburg was waiting for ?

Answer 26

1) The presence of two powerful former German vessels, Yavuz Sultan Selim (SMS Goeben) and Midili (SMS Breslau) in Black Sea made naval operations far too dangerous.

2) Additionally, the bulk of Russian forces were concentrated
in Poland, where they faced German and Austro-Hungarian armies.

Question 27

What did London and Paris fear that Russia would do?

Answer 27

It was feared that Russians might give priority to conquest of
Constantinople. This would allow Central Powers to redirect their forces towards Western front.

Question 28

What did Russia demand in response for keeping her troops on the Western Front?

Answer 28

Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov agreed not to remove troops fighting against Central Powers but made it clear that he expected London and Paris to recognise validity of Russia’s claim on Straits and Constantinople.

Question 29

How was this demand formulated?

Answer 29

This demand was formulated officially in note sent in March 1915 to British and French ambassadors.

Question 30

When Greece joined the allies - what worry did the Russians have?

Answer 30

If Greeks participated in successful Gallipoli campaign, then there was real possibility that Greece could get hold of Constantinople, long-term ambition of proponents of Megali Idea (lit.
“Great Idea”, ie ambition to give Greece borders similar to those of Byzantine empire),who considered city to be true capital of Greece.

Therefore it was doubly important that Russia get reassurances from Britain and France - that Straits and Constantinople would go to them.

Question 31

What did London and Paris want if Russians got the Straits and Constantinople?

Answer 31

▪ London agreed, provided that freedom of passage of Straits was respected;
▪ Paris agreed, provided France obtained Greater Syria, including Cilicia.

Question 32

What was the question about Palestine?

Answer 32

Was Palestine part of Greater Syria? Indeed, Russia could not accept domination of Holy Land by Catholic power.

Question 33

What did PM Herbert Asquith set up?

Answer 33

A committee to determine British policy towards Ottoman Empire

Question 34

Who was the committee made up of?

Answer 34

Led by Maurice de Bunsen, committee included representatives from main departments concerned: War Office, Admiralty, Foreign Office, and India Office.

Question 35

Were London very interested in the region?

Answer 35

Proposals of De Bunsen Committee exposed limited interests of London in region. Only the India Office, who saw Mesopotamia as possible bread basket for Raj, has significant
interests. For London, the priority was to defend Egypt, Red Sea and Gulf. Other than that, Middle East was only important to relieve pressure off Russians

Question 36

What were the 4 possible solutions regarding future of Ottoman Empire that the committee suggested?

Answer 36

◦ (1) partition, leaving only small Ottoman state in Anatolia;
◦ (2) preservation subject to Great Power control zones of political and commercialinfluence;
◦ (3) preservation as independent state in Asia;
◦ (4) creation of decentralised, federal Ottoman state in Asia.

*

Question 37

What did the De Bunsen Committee finally agree on?

Answer 37

Ultimately, De Bunsen Committee rejected idea of formal partition of the Middle East into colonies or protectorates, advocating instead combination of solutions 2 and 4, ie reformed,
decentralised Ottoman state with establishment of zones of interest along pre-war lines:

• Russians would be dominant actors in eastern Anatolia and have control of Constantinople and Straits;
• French would dominate Syria;
• British would have sphere of interest in Mesopotamia and would control port of Haifa, at end of railway line coming from Basra

Question 38

What area did the committee think that Syria should cover?

Answer 38

Given history of tensions between Britain and Russia, Committee suggested that “Syria” should stretch across northern Mesopotamia as far as border with Persia in order to create a buffer zone between British zone and expected Russian zone.

Question 39

Were the proposals binding?

Answer 39

Members of Committee were well aware that its proposals were in no way binding and would depend on course of war, in particular the Gallipoli campaign of 1915–16, and British success in defending Egypt and Suez Canal against Ottoman attacks (in 1915 and 1916).

Question 40

What was one important question that the committee needed to deal with?

Answer 40

Whether it was necessary to defend Basra when Ottoman tried to retake city.

Question 41

Why had the deterioration between Britain and the Ottoman Empire been a cause for concern for the Raj in India?

Answer 41

Because of the effect that it would have on the Muslim populations in India and the worry that they would respond to the call for Jihad - which the Germans had pressurised the Sultan to issue in 1914.

Question 42

What did the British do to try and impress the Arabs?

Answer 42

They sent troops to Bahrain in October 2014

Question 43

Why were the British forced to withdraw initially from their campain to Baghdad which would have defended Basra?

Answer 43

They didn’t have enough troops and the authorisation for more troops came too late.

Question 44

When did the British finally take Bagdad?

Answer 44

In August 1917