The Peace on The Horizon - 75 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East(9)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

(contents)

 

Prologue (9)

 

009. Britain's triple tongue diplomacy during World War I

When talking about the Middle East after the World War II, it is inevitable to mention about "triple tongue diplomacy" by Britain during the World War I.

 

World War I was a war between two groups. One was UK, France and their allies including Japan. The other side was Germany, Austria and Ottoman Empire. UK, France and its allies defeated German allies. In 1919 the Versailles Treaty was concluded at the Paris Peace Conference on postwar treatments led by UK and France. This treaty was extremely harsh for the defeated Germany and Ottoman Empire. Germany ceded its territory and also was forced a huge compensation. It was the system called the winner-take-all.

 

The UK and France also did not allow the Ottoman Empire. Leaving Asia Minor as Turkish original territory, UK and France confiscated Levant, Tigris & Euphrates regions from Ottoman Empire, having been the lord in the long history. It was a final game of colonization by the European imperialistic nations starting in the 19th century. The wish of Arabs who had been originally living in that area has been totally neglected.

 

During the World War I UK made three promises, namely the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, the Sykes- Pico Agreement and the Balfour Declaration. They were the roots of all of the present disasters in the Middle East. Each of these three promises were concluded by UK with different partners respectively. But they totally contradicted each other. Therefore, these series of UK diplomacy were criticized as triple tongue diplomacy. It was not only criticized, but also brought disasters to the whole region in the Middle East. The disaster has been continuing after more than one hundred years.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)