Syrian Arab Kingdom and the Mandate System Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the historical concepts, entities, treaties, and figures surrounding the 1920 Syrian Arab Kingdom and European mandatory rule.

Sheikh Rashid Rida

A leading Islamic reformer, publisher of the journal al-Manar, and president of the General Syrian Congress who helped forge a democratic, inclusive constitutional regime in post-WWI Syria.

General Syrian Congress

A legislative body of 87 deputies representing districts across Greater Syria that declared unilateral independence in March 1920 and drafted the Syrian constitution.

1920 Syrian Constitution

A civil, democratic constitution that disestablished Islam as the state religion, placed the executive under parliamentary control, and guaranteed one-third of legislative seats to non-Muslim minorities.

Prince Faisal

The son of the Sharif of Mecca who led Arab forces in defeating the Ottoman Turks and was elected king of the constitutional Syrian Arab Kingdom in 1920.

Bilad al-Sham

The Arabic term for Greater Syria, a region encompassing modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, and Transjordan linked by economic ties and Arabic culture.

The "Right to Have Rights"

Hannah Arendt's concept asserting that fundamental human rights are dependent on membership in a sovereign, self-determined political community.

King-Crane Commission

An American commission dispatched by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 to survey public opinion in Greater Syria, finding that 80 percent of respondents favored full independence and regional unity.

Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant

The League provision governing former Ottoman territories, provisionally recognizing their independence subject to mandatory administrative advice and assistance.

San Remo Conference (1920)

An Allied meeting in Italy where Britain and France assigned mandates over Greater Syria without Arab representation or consent, dividing the region into French and British spheres.

Battle of Maysalun

The July 24, 1920 military clash outside Damascus in which the French Army of the Levant defeated Syrian forces, crushing the Syrian Arab Kingdom.

Treaty of Lausanne (1923)

The final World War I peace settlement that established Turkish borders and formally codified European mandatory rule over former Ottoman Arab lands into international law.

Al-Maslaha al-`Amma

The Islamic legal concept of "public interest," invoked by Rashid Rida to validate parliamentary legislation and democratic compromise under Islamic law.

General Henri Gouraud

The French High Commissioner in Beirut who issued the July 1920 ultimatum to King Faisal and led the French occupation of Damascus.

Great Syrian Revolt (1925)

An armed uprising against French mandatory rule initiated by Druze leader Sultan al-Atrash, demanding independence, national unity, and rights of man.

Hasan al-Banna

Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928 who drew inspiration from Rashid Rida and rejected Western political models in favor of an Islamic system.

Minoritization

The process by which modern nation-state formation and colonial intervention construct, categorize, and divide populations into distinct majority and minority groups.