Independence from the Ottoman Empire

In 1917 after World War 1, Syria had become tired with Ottoman rule. They planned underground revolts,¹ although they did not have the military power to rebel against such a major empire². During this time, Sharif Hussein, a tribal leader within the Arabian Peninsula, or present day Saudi Arabia,³ met with the British High Commissioner of Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon, and created the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence⁴ which was focused on an alliance to drive the Ottoman Empire away from the Middle East.This alliance sparked up the Arab Revolt⁵ where 70,000 men, both English and Middle Eastern began to fight against the Ottomans. In the year 1920, the fighting ended with the Ottomans being defeated and a new state of Syria being formed from Syria, Palestine, and Northern Mesopotamia through the Sykes-Picot Agreement under the rule of King Faisal⁶.  

Conquest

                The conquest of Syria was important to their development as a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire, in the year  1516, had waged war against Egypt, as well as invaded the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.7 This major fallout of Syria and the conquering occurred as a result of the Battle of Marj Dabiq, which happened within Aleppo and Halab, two major cities of Syria.⁸ The leader of the Ottoman empire, Selim I, defeated the Mamluk forces and triumphantly marched north to Damascus, after having defeated the Mamluk empire where much havoc was caused throughout Syria’s plains via flooding of the plains.⁹

Colonial Experience of Syria

The colonial period of Syria under the rule of the Ottoman empire was an extremely dark time for the people of Syria. Their rule affected two major aspects of their everyday lives: The economy, and persecution of Christians.

                The economy of Syria under Ottoman rule was extremely detrimental and wounding towards the inhabitants of Syria at the time. Syria was destroyed prior to Ottoman rule by the Mongolians¹⁰ who almost completely destroyed the villages within Syria. Syria was forced to place money towards rebuilding efforts even though Syria as a whole was poor after the many times Syria had been conquered, defeated, and destroyed¹¹. The population of Syria decreased by 30% and villages completely disappeared into the desert from the lack of money and food they needed to survive¹². By the 18^th century, only 1/8^th of the villages registered within Syria remained¹³.

                The Syrian Christians were also persecuted under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire left laws which dehumanized the Christians such as a law which stated that it was illegal to deny food to animals but it was legal for food to be denied to Christians¹⁴. Christians were also forced to pay a major tax to the Ottoman Empire as well. There were punishments for publicly practicing non-Muslim beliefs within the Ottoman Empire, which caused Syrian Christians, who were poor as it is, to pay even more of their money towards the Ottoman Empire due to their religious beliefs¹⁵.

                Therefore, Syria throughout the Ottoman Rule was a dark period of time due to the economy that they were living in as well as the religious persecution which affected many people throughout Syria.