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Description of  The British and French Mandates in the Middle East: The History of the Allied Powers Post-War Occupations via the League of Nations

The United Nations is one of the most famous bodies in the world, and its predecessor, the League of Nations, might be equally notorious. In fact, President Woodrow Wilsons pet project was controversial from nearly the minute it was conceived. At the end of World War I, Wilson's pleas at the Paris Peace Conference relied on his Fourteen Points, which included the establishment of a League of Nations, but while his points were mostly popular amongst Americans and Europeans alike, leaders at the Peace Conference largely discarded them and favored different approaches. British leaders saw their singular aim as the maintenance of British colonial possessions. France, meanwhile, only wanted to ensure that Germany was weakened and unable to wage war again, and it too had colonial interests abroad that it hoped to maintain. Britain and France thus saw eye-to-eye, with both wanting a weaker Germany and both wanting to maintain their colonies. Wilson, however, wanted both countries to rid themselves of their colonies, and he wanted Germany to maintain its self-determination and right to self-defense. Wilson totally opposed the war guilt clause, which blamed the war on Germany. Wilson mostly found himself shut out, but Britain and France did not want American contributions to the war to go totally unappreciated, if only out of fear that the U.S. might turn towards improving their relations with Germany in response. Thus, to appease Wilson and the Americans, France and Britain consented to the creation of a League of Nations. Too many were skeptical of the Treaty, especially given Europe's inability to adopt the remainder of Wilsons Fourteen Points. As a result, ironically, the United States didnt join the League of Nations, which would last only about 25 years. While it would attempt to resolve some territorial disputes, it simply proved too weak to prevent international aggression, primarily among the Axis Powers in the buildup to World War II. Thus, the Leagues greatest legacy ended up being its dismal failure to prevent World War II and ensure that World War I had truly been the war to end all wars, as originally intended. One of the Leagues most lasting legacies was the manner in which it handed over administrative control of land in the Middle East to the victorious Allied Powers, namely France and Britain. The Ottoman Empire quickly collapsed after World War I, and its extensive lands were divvied up between the French and British. While the French gained control of the Levant, which would later become modern day nations like Syria and Lebanon, the British were given the Mandate for Palestine. The British Mandate for Palestine gave the British control over the lands that have since become Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The intention of the mandate system was to have the administrators peacefully and gradually usher in independent states, and both European powers eventually attempted to withdraw from the region, but anyone with passing knowledge of the Middle Easts history in the late 20th century knows that the region has seen little peace. As with the British Mandate of Palestine, the French found themselves attempting to placate various ethnicities that they only had a passing familiarity with, and the lines they drew for states like Syria and Lebanon were ultimately arbitrary. The French would completely evacuate the region in the wake of World War II, but the ramifications are still being felt today, as Syria is wracked by civil war and Lebanons government has constantly been fragile and subject to foreign interference. Read more