To the Victors Go the Spoils

THE INTERWAR PERIOD HIST 1301 | History To the Victors Go the Spoils With the Ottoman Empire already struggling with internal issues and finding it harder to maintain control over its territories in Arabia and the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, thereby ending its involvement in World War I. Many ideas for severing the empire had been discussed throughout the battle. 1919 saw the advance of Allied forces into Istanbul, Greece take control of Western Anatolia, and Allied forces conquer territory in the old Ottoman Empire. Mustafa Kemal, who became known as Atatürk, or the "father of the Turks," headed the Turkish National Movement that opposed these occupations. Kemal was already regarded as a Turkish hero because to his actions during the Battle of Gallipoli. The Ottoman Empire was divided by the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, leaving them in charge of just Istanbul and Thrace. But Mustafa Kemal's Turkish forces prevailed in many wars and compelled a reworking of the pact. The Ottoman government was to be succeeded by an independent Turkey according to the terms of the Lausanne Treaty of 1923. In the Middle East, it also created League of Nations missions. The mandate system saw the administration of formerly Ottoman-controlled lands passed to France or Britain, who were to rule these areas until an arbitrary future period when the local populace was judged capable of ruling themselves. The mandated regions included Palestine, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and modern-day Iraq. It was difficult for the European nations to rule Arabia. Fighting persisted over access to locations like Mecca and Medina, which are revered sites for Muslims. The majority of the Arabian Peninsula, known as the Nejd, and the western portion of the peninsula, known as the Hejaz, were under the Saud family's authority by the mid1920s. Shortly after, in 1932, they established Saudi Arabia, a new nation. Britain and France had started delineating their own zones of influence inside the fallen Ottoman Empire throughout the war. Syria and Lebanon were under French mandate, while Iraq, Palestine, and the Transjordan (the East Bank) were under British mission. Even while they claimed to support self-determination, the remaining European imperial powers made it plain that they had no intention of deviating from the customary path of empires in this area. The residents of the mandate zones were not consulted by either Britain or France regarding the choices that their governments would be making on their behalf. It was rapidly evident that complete European control would not be ensured by the mandate system. For instance, nationalists put pressure on the British mandate over Mesopotamia, which was renamed Iraq, in the 1920s and 1930s. Although the British maintained most political power in Iraq, King Faisal— whom they had promised authority of Syria—accepted the role of head of state. Similar constraints were imposed on the next Iraqi king, but the country's nationalists grew more outspoken in their criticism of the British occupation. With the Balfour Declaration, the British further muddled matters in another area of their jurisdiction. This remark, one of several inconsistent promises Britain made to various factions during the war, was delivered by British foreign secretary Alfred Balfour in 1917. According to Balfour, Britain was in favour of Palestine serving as the Jewish people's "national home." Many European Jews have been promoting Jews' return to their ancient homeland in the Middle East through Zionist organisations since the nineteenth century. The Balfour Declaration signalled the achievement of a long-term objective pursued by pro-Zionist organisations. After the war, Palestine was a British mandate that was mostly populated by Arab peoples. The decision to bring in a sizable Jewish population—supported by the government—promised to generate issues, and in fact, it ignited property and religious disputes that persist to this day. Jewish immigration to Palestine grew threefold between 1922 and 1935, from 9 percent to almost 27 percent of the overall population. The British had started by abruptly opening up a portion of Palestine to Jewish immigrants. The Palestinians quickly protested to Britain about failing to deliver on its promise to give Arabs freedom and about being treated like second-class citizens in their own country. After riots and protests were so frequent, Britain finally prohibited immigration to Palestine, obstructing the path of escape for Jews trying to escape the Nazis' anti-Semitic policies. The winners also shared in the German Empire's assets in Asia and Africa. Samoa, which New Zealand legally seized after the war, was one of the Asian territories that Germany had given up early in the conflict. Australia seized Nauru and German New Guinea. German-held islands north of the equator, such the Marshall Islands and the Caroline Islands, were acquired by the Japanese Empire. Germany had occupied German East Africa (Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania), German Southwest Africa (togo and a portion of Ghana), and Kamerun (modern-day Cameroon and parts of Chad, Gabon, Nigeria, and the Congo) in Africa (present-day Namibia). After the war, they were made mandatory. South Africa seized Southwest Africa, the Belgians got land in Burundi and Rwanda, while Britain and France acquired land in Togo and Cameroon. When these divides were made, the African peoples were not consulted; in fact, certain ethnic groups were split between two administrations due to the boundaries cutting across them. Africa was obviously not experiencing national self-determination, and more and more people were questioning whether Europe really had any moral authority over her colonies in Africa.