English-French Agreement

07 Déc English-French Agreement

Many sources claim that Sykes-Picot came into conflict with the Hussein-McMahon correspondence of 1915-1916 and that the publication of the agreement in November 1917 led to the resignation of Sir Henry McMahon. [107] There were several differences, iraq being the most obvious in the British red territory, and less obvious, the idea that British and French advisers would have control of the area designated as an Arab state. Finally, while the correspondence did not mention Palestine, Haifa and Acre should be British and the brown territory (a reduced Palestine) should become internationalized. [108] When the Russo-Japanese War broke out, France and Britain were about to be drawn into the conflict on the side of their respective allies. France was firmly allied with Russia, while the United Kingdom recently signed the Anglo-Japanese alliance. To avoid war, « the two powers ended their old rivalry »[7] and resolved their differences in Africa, America, Asia and the Pacific. To this end, the French Foreign Minister, Théophile Delcassé, and Lord Lansdowne, The British Minister of Foreign Affairs, reached an agreement on colonial affairs, and Lord Lansdowne and Paul Cambon, The French Ambassador to the United Kingdom, signed the agreement that resulted on 8 April 1904. The French chose Picot as The French High Commissioner for the soon-to-be-occupied territory of Syria and Palestine. The British appointed Sykes political chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. On April 3, 1917, Sykes met Lloyd George, Curzon and Hankey to receive his instructions on the matter, namely to keep the French on their side as they pushed towards a British Palestine. First Sykes in early May, then by chance, Picot and Sykes visited the Hejaz together in May to discuss the agreement with Fayçal and Hussein.

[55]166 Hussein was persuaded to accept a formula that the French of Syria would follow the same policy as the British in Baghdad. As Hussein believed that Baghdad would be part of the Arab state, he was finally satisfied with this. Subsequent reports from participants expressed doubts as to the exact nature of the discussions and the degree to which Hussein had actually been informed of the Sykes-Picot conditions. [61] George Curzon said: the great powers remain committed to the Organic Regulation Agreement, regarding governance and non-interference in the affairs of the Maronite, Orthodox Christian, Druze and Muslim communities with regard to beirut Vilayet of June 1861 and September 1864, adding that the rights granted to France in Syria and parts of Turkey under Sykes-Picot , are incompatible with this agreement. [78] The agreement was based on the premise that the Triple Agreement would take place during the First World War and would conclude warning agreements during the First World War. The first negotiations that led to the agreement took place between 23 November 1915 and 3 January 1916, during which British and French diplomats Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot signed an agreed memorandum. [3] The agreement was ratified by their respective governments on 9 and 16 May 1916. [4] Hussein`s letter of February 18, 1916, McMahon appealed for 50,000 pounds of gold, more weapons, ammunition and food, saying Feisal was waiting for « no less than 100,000 people » to arrive for the planned revolt and McMahon`s response of 10 March 1916 confirming British approval of the applications and concluding the ten letters from correspondents.