The “War Alert” in the Middle East in 1923: The Story of a Forgotten Crisis

Abstract

This article focuses on a previously unexplored episode in the history of international relations, related to the temporary suspension of the Lausanne Conference on the Middle East in February 1923, which threatened to revive a state of war between Turkey and the Entente powers. This crisis, which unfolded at the same time as the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, had a significant impact on the final outcome of the peace settlement in the Middle East enshrined in the Lausanne Treaty. The aim of the article is to determine the place and role of this crisis in the process of establishing a new system of international relations after the Great War and its interconnection with other major events and processes of this period. The author consecutively analyses two phases of this crisis, the first relating to the Turkish demand for the withdrawal of the ships of the Allied Powers from its ports, and the second to the sharp aggravation of the situation on the Turkish-Syrian border. The crisis demonstrated the inability of France to defend its interests in the Middle East “single-handedly” and its forced dependence on British policy. Thus, its role in the development of international relations in the Middle East was similar to that played by the Ruhr Crisis in Europe. The paper draws on numerous sources, primarily British, French and Italian diplomatic documents.