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The battle of maisalun, 1920

Emir Faisal

The story of King Faisal al Husseini’s last stand against the invading French Army has become the stuff of obscure legend. The version of events recounted in our story by Azad al Abila, the blind Sufi mystic, to Nikolai Faroun is infused with drama and romanticism.

 General Henri Gouraud

General Henri Gouraud

The Setting: San Remo, italy

San Remo, Italy

San Remo, Italy

 The battle fought at Maisalun Pass on July 23, had its origin earlier that year when the victors of the Great War convened in San Remo, Italy to finalize certain agreements made between them during the Versailles Peace Conference the year before.

The actual story of the brief, bloody encounter between Syria’s last king and French General Henri Gouraud is less a tale of heroic contest as one of confusion, imperial ambition, and diplomatic duplicity.

The French Mandate

Most importantly for the history of Syria, the signatories of San Remo ratified the French Mandate over Syria and Lebanon.

The declared purpose of the mandate was to provide a path for self-determination for these two former provinces of the Ottoman Empire. It was understood that the Levant, as this area was also known, would come under the French imperial umbrella and the French would govern as they saw fit.

The French and British Mandates

Map of the Levant, showing the British and French Mandate borders

A collision course

The fact that Syria had already declared itself an independent state in February with Faisal as its new king put the fledgling nation and the French Empire on a collision course.

France’s new Prime Minister, Alexandre Millerand, made some half-hearted attempts to negotiate with Faisal, but it was clear from the start that he intended to project French power into the Levant. For his part, Faisal sent mixed signals to the French, wavering between striking a deal and outright defiance of the mandate imposed on his country.

This indecision stemmed less from Faisal’s temperament than from the fact his administration was fatally divided. Extremists wanted an outright military struggle with France. Others wanted to align themselves with the Ataturk’s new secular Turkish state. Yet others wanted an Islamic state that would eventually embrace all of the Middle East.

 Alexandre Millarand, French Prime Minister

Alexandre Millerand, Prime Minister of France

The occupation

General Gouraud reviews the French Troops

 Under cover of the diplomatic dance, France gathered an army to invade Syria and then handed Faisal an ultimatum in early July.

General Gouraud's troops engaged the “Sharifian forces”, as the French called the king’s army, on July 24 on the road to Damascus.

The last stand

Although Faisal’s troops resisted valiantly, they were no match against French tanks and aircraft.

The French entered Damascus on July 25 without firing a shot. King Faisal held out for a few weeks in the Syrian desert but left the country in August.

By the following year, Faisal would be a ruler once more, this time as the new King of Iraq, although under watchful eyes of the British, and the French would be in uneasy control of the Levant.

next: The Last King
 

The Syrian Troops

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