WI: German Colonies + Northernmost Palestine for Syria?

[Jackson Lennock]

I came across an interesting tidbit about the Arab Kingdom of Syria. At one point, the British sought to exchange more German colonial territory in Africa (I am unsure how much) for Faisal getting Syria (meaning the Syrian interior). The French said no. What if a slightly sweeter deal were offered (including Northernmost Palestine)?

My guess is France gets all of Togo and all of Cameroon. Maybe British support for a French Saar too, though I'm just speculating there. The British could also just pawn off Gambia (as they frequently offered to do). Or offer the Seychelles and Mauritius?



The British had told the Hashemites that certain lands (sort of corresponding to the below) were promised to the French. The status of Palestine was ambiguous at least.



^British promises, as modified based on 1916 correspondence.


A Map of the Arab Kingdom of Syria before the French destroyed it.

 

[Jackson Lennock]

Possible tweaks based on the OTL proclaimed Syrian Kingdom.

on the north, the Taurus Range; on the south, a line running from Rafah to Al-Jauf and following the Syria-Hejaz border below 'Aqaba; on the east, the boundary formed by the Euphrates and Khabur rivers and a line stretching from some distance east of Abu-Kamal to some distance east of al-Jauf; on the west, the Mediterranean Sea.

I figured that with France not going after Faisal, they'd commit more resources to retaining Cilicia. Meanwhile Syria would seek more of a coastline in the south. I went with the proposed Sykes-Picot southern border for Palestine (with the Negev, Hebron, Rafah, and Eilat being Syrian). The Sinai border is placed further west at El Arish and extends to about Nuweiba. I suppose it's plausible the British could just concede all of Sinai to Syria, though the Egyptians would be less than pleased about that.

 

[HJ Tulp]

Where the British really looking forwards to have such a large and united Arab Kingdom around?

 

[raharris1973]

Where the British really looking forwards to have such a large and united Arab Kingdom around?

Good question.

From reading 'A Line in the Sand' on the nasty Anglo-French rivalry in the region, 1914-1945, they were constantly needling, screwing, undermining each other and suspicious of each other. They gave refuge to one another's opponents in times of revolt. At the very end, summer of '45, the British helped the Syrians usher the French out of Syria and Lebanon entirely. The French in turn kept giving aid to the right-leaning Zionist underground taking shots at the British. But.....but, the British did not in OTL stand-up for Feisal, circa 1920. And at the height of the Druze and Great Syrian Revolt, 1925-27, when French officials started publicly talking about just giving up their Syria mandate, the British went into a panic. They suddenly felt like without the French, without them to point at as a foil as the 'worse imperialist', and with an Arab nationalist independence victory, *they*, the British would suddenly become very exposed and vulnerable in all their Middle East mandates of Iraq, Transjordan and Palestine, as well as Egypt, and they began ending sanctuary for Syrian rebels.

@Jackson Lennock has an interesting concept though, I could imagine British frustrations with France boiling over. The French gave themselves bad publicity through their own actions, were ornery and whiny to the British, and T.E. Lawrence publicly amplified the anti-French line, while they vilified him as an evil mastermind.

Speaking of trades, @Jackson Lennock and everyone, what about an even grander bargain that does more for both countries in Machiavellian terms. At Versailles France yields up its Levant claims to Britain, with or without Feisal, in return for Britain saying AOK to French annexation or puppetization of the Rhineland? Or Franco-British alliance, regardless of US participation or not? Or later on, the French trade inland Syria to the British-Feisal sphere in return for British support, silent or out loud, in the Ruhr Crisis of 1923?

 

[Wendell]

Honestly, I'm not sure this Syria would even reach to Aqaba given that its endurance might change the fate of Hejaz.