Sykes–Picot Agreement

The Sykes–Picot Agreement was a secret arrangement made in May 1916 between Britain and France, with the assent of Russia, to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War. It was negotiated by the British diplomat Mark Sykes and the French diplomat François Georges-Picot, and it assigned spheres of control to each power, roughly giving France Syria and Lebanon and Britain Mesopotamia and parts of Palestine. It conflicted with promises that Britain had made to Arab leaders, notably Sharif Hussein of Mecca, in return for their revolt against the Ottomans. The Bolsheviks made the agreement public after the Russian Revolution in 1917. Although the final borders differed from the plan, the name has become shorthand for colonial borders imposed on the Middle East.

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