Throughout the course of World War 1 a serious of agreements were made, which had a influence on the location of the Middle East. During this period of time, the Arabs were seeking an independent Arab state, free from the Ottoman influences, and Great Britain was at war with the Ottomans. The British used this to their advantage, agreeing to help the Arab’s fight the Ottomans, and in return giving them what they request, which was a Independent Arab state. Meanwhile, they were also making agreements with the French, which is formerly known as the Skye’s Picot Agreement. These agreements were both made by the British, and in retrospect it was …show more content…
The person who led this movement from the Arab side was Sharif Hussein, who was a key tribal leader in Arabia, and he was also the person who spoke on behalf of all the tribes in Arabia at that time, he hoped to achieve a state in which the Arabs could live in unity, without the rue of any country. Hussein through his actions had shown that he was a strong believer in nationalism and wanted Arabs to have the freedom of living in a country, which they ran. As the British wanted Arab support for their fight against the Ottomans, they, in return they were promised an Arab state. In a series of ten letters know as the MacMahon-Hussein Correspondence, a letter for Sharif Hussein, which was sent on the Fourteenth of July 1915 by Hussein Sharif asked for the approval of the British for the implied territories for the Arab State. Hussein had stated in his letter that “England will acknowledge the independence of the Arab countries”, this is showing that Hussein strongly believed that the British would give him what he asked for, and when they did he would like the Arab state to be acknowledged as independent. Through this correspondence with the Arabs, the British were able to gain trust, which would help them in many ways, to work against the …show more content…
This was due to the British only using the Arabs rivalry against the Ottomans and vision of an Arab state against them. At this time while the British had made the following deal with the Arabs they made another deal with the French, which is formerly known as “The Sykes Picot Agreement”. This basically was that once the Arabs had defeated the Ottomans, they would divide the land among them and the French, which would involve the following the British would take control of what is now Iraq, Kuwait and Jordon. The French were to be given control of Syria, Lebanon and Southern Turkey. The only undecided country was Palestine and that was said to be decided later. Although this was an agreement, which originally was meant to be kept hidden from the Arabs, in 1911 Russian Bolshevik government had exposed it, which created considerable amounts of tension between the British, and the Arabs. This is the way that the British had betrayed the Arabs, and is the reason for Hussein not acquiring an independent Arab