Sykes- Picot Agreement
During World War I, there were many secret alliances and agreements that were formed between countries. One of these alliances was the Sykes- Picot Agreement. Both Britain and France wanted to "get the Arabs on their side" so they worked out a compromise on how to divide up the land. The British and the French wanted to "protect" the independent or confederation of Arab countries. They held a discussion to figure out the best way to divide up the land and British were represented by Sir Mark Sykes while the French were represented by Francois- Georges Picot. Although this may seem like this agreement should work out well for the Allied Powers, many people in Britain and France did not like the idea. One man who thought this was Lloyd George. He thought that is was silly to spend so much time discussing about a "damaged" country. Also, the Germans wanted to dominate the Arab countries, which just got the British angry and they enforced the idea of having the Middle East controlled by Britain. The Sykes- Picot Agreement ended up being lifted as a result of these conflicts and the Mandate for Palestine was given to Britain.