Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Since 1945, no detailed study of the French occupation in Syria (1927-36) has been attempted by any specialist in French history. Peter Shambrook seeks to bridge this gap with this significant account of French imperial policy in the interwar Middle East.
Based largely on 30,000 pages of French diplomatic papers, released in the late 1980s at the Centre des Archives Diplomatiques in Nantes, this study analyzes the process of French decision making in Syria between the end of the Great Revolt in 1927 and the Franco-Syrian Treaty of September 1936. Peter Shambrook explores in full the positions of both protagonists and provides a fresh perspective on the conundrum that the French never really solved in Syria: how to maintain effective control, while attempting to appear faithful to their official mandatory policy to emancipate the territories.