Sykes–Picot Agreement

May 1916 · Secret agreement

Middle East

Background

During the First World War Britain also promised the Arabs independence (the Hussein–McMahon correspondence) and the Zionists a national home (the Balfour Declaration). The secret plan put Syria and Lebanon under France and Iraq, Jordan and Palestine under British control. The Bolsheviks published it in 1917, and Arabs saw it as a betrayal.

Signed by

Britain (Mark Sykes) and France (François Georges-Picot), with Russia's agreement

Why it matters

Secretly divided the Ottoman Empire's Arab lands into British and French zones, shaping the borders of today's Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.