The policy of confessional particularism of the French authorities in Mandatory Syria in 1920–1946

Abstract

The paper discusses the confessional principles of the territorial structure of Syria during its stay in the status of a French mandated territory. The authors prefaced their analysis with a description of the process of establishing a French colonial administration in Syria, in particular, the conclusion of the Anglo-French Sykes-Picot agreement on the division of the Middle East and, in particular, Greater Syria, into spheres of influence that determined the modern borders of the Middle Eastern states. The instrumental role of confessional differences in the struggle of the French authorities in Syria with the popular idea of pan-Arabism in the region is shown. Predominantly according to the confessional principle, the territory of Syria was fragmented by the French into 5 regions-states, which, firstly, determined the subsequent loss of control by Damascus over Lebanon and the Alexandretta Sanjak, and secondly, laid the foundation for the emergence of separatist tendencies and future domestic instability. However, as the authors of the paper show in the short term, the policy of the French imperialists failed. Paris failed to use Christians to put down the Druze and Sunni uprisings. However, after the French left the territory of Syria, there was a conflict between large ethno-confessional groups (Sunnis, Alawites and Druzes), the consequences of which were especially sharply exposed already in the 2010s.