The History and Politics of French Involvement in Lebanon (1860–2021)

Abstract

French intervention in Lebanon can be traced to the 19th century when in 1860, during the Ottoman period, Emperor Napoleon III sent 6,000 troops to restore peace, help the Christians and contribute to the reconstruction of Mount Lebanon. In the early 20th century France envisaged a direct French military occupation of Mount Lebanon to create a ‘little France, free, industrious and loyal’. Still, the French envisaged their missionary and educational role as a supplementary asset in their competition with the British. The creation of Greater Lebanon in 1920 was mainly determined by the interests of France in dividing and controlling Syria. In May 1926 Greater Lebanon was renamed The Lebanese Republic. The constitution defined its flag as the tricolour French flag with the cedar in the white strip, and adopted French as an official language alongside Arabic. Certainly, the French mandatory authorities left an impact on the local culture, economy and politics. During World War II, in November 1941, General Catroux declared France’s recognition of Lebanon’s and Syria’s independence and invited the representatives of their respective governments to sign a treaty with France to terminate the mandate. After Lebanon’s independence in 1943 French interest in Lebanon continued to be felt in politics and economics mainly because France wanted to support liberal and democratic values and protect Lebanon’s political stability against external threats. Political history and internal Lebanese sectarian rivalries and loyalties asides, this article focuses on the various French economic and political initiatives to help Lebanon stabilise after the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005. As a matter of fact, in May 2007 France renewed its commitment to work closely with the US in order to help Lebanon affirm its sovereignty, democracy and freedom. We argue that French influence in Lebanon has aimed to support its liberal socio-economic and political institutions, initiate reform, and build the state. In August 2020, after the devastating explosion in port Beirut, the leader of the former colonial power, Emmanuel Macron, visited Beirut twice and laid out his demands to the ruling elite to introduce economic and political reform that Paris had been demanding for years, to fight corruption, to form a ‘government of mission’ and rescue Lebanon from imminent collapse. After his predecessors Jacques Chirac, François Mitterand and Nicolas Sarkozy, president Macron took the huge risk to help Lebanon overcome its financial and economic collapse and fight against patronage and the wealth of entrenched baronial dynasties, some of which stretch back to the French mandatory period. We conclude by stressing that Macron’s visit in September 2020 to commemorate the centennial of the establishment of Greater Lebanon in 1920 could be interpreted as a failure on the part of the Lebanese politicians, celebrating 100 years without being able to solve their internal problems. Many Lebanese mourned the colonial legacy.