WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:03.180 I want you to try and imagine a highly specific 00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:07.799 scenario for a moment. Just picture a quiet heavily 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:09.820 guarded room right like a back room somewhere 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:13.919 yeah exactly and on a large table there's this 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.280 enormous map of the world spread out illuminated 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:18.539 by whatever sparse light is filtering through 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:22.300 the windows and you pick up a literal blue and 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:24.820 red pencil a literal pencil a literal pencil 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:27.980 and in complete secrecy you just begin redrawing 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:30.640 the map you sketch a rigid line across a desert 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:34.140 here or you carve out a fertile river valley 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:37.310 there completely ignoring the complex tapestry 00:00:37.310 --> 00:00:39.490 of people, tribes, and ancient communities who 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:41.829 actually live on that ground. Just slicing right 00:00:41.829 --> 00:00:44.270 through them. Exactly. Now imagine that those 00:00:44.270 --> 00:00:46.409 somewhat arbitrary pencil lines you casually 00:00:46.409 --> 00:00:50.090 sketched go on to spark massive, entrenched geopolitical 00:00:50.090 --> 00:00:51.969 conflicts that completely dominate the daily 00:00:51.969 --> 00:00:55.700 news you read well over a century later. Welcome 00:00:55.700 --> 00:00:58.039 to today's deep dive. We are really thrilled 00:00:58.039 --> 00:00:59.979 to have you with us. It's great to be here. And, 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:02.100 you know, it sounds suspiciously like the premise 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:05.140 of a sprawling political thriller, but it is 00:01:05.140 --> 00:01:08.299 a very tangible, heavily documented piece of 00:01:08.299 --> 00:01:12.140 our history. It really is. Today, our deep dive 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.500 is anchored on an incredibly comprehensive Wikipedia 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.939 article detailing the 1916 Sykes -Picot agreement. 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:23.319 Our core mission here is to take this dense multi 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:26.780 -layered historical subject and extract the absolute 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:29.799 best aha moments for you. Yeah, the real turning 00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:31.959 points. Right. The goal is to give you a clear 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:34.280 shortcut to being well informed about how the 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:36.400 modern Middle East was literally sketched out 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:38.980 on a map by two diplomats acting behind closed 00:01:38.980 --> 00:01:41.879 doors. And to truly process the magnitude of 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:43.780 this agreement, we really have to look at the 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:46.480 immediate context. We are operating squarely 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:48.359 in the middle of World War I. Right. The whole 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:51.099 world is at war. Exactly. And the Ottoman Empire, 00:01:51.290 --> 00:01:53.930 which has maintained control over the vast majority 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:56.250 of the Middle East for centuries, is actively 00:01:56.250 --> 00:01:58.650 crumbling under the weight of this global conflict. 00:01:58.670 --> 00:02:01.049 It's just falling apart. Yeah, and anticipating 00:02:01.049 --> 00:02:03.650 a total collapse, the Triple Entente, that's 00:02:03.650 --> 00:02:06.310 Britain, France and Russia, are already operating 00:02:06.310 --> 00:02:09.419 on the assumption of ultimate victory. With the 00:02:09.419 --> 00:02:12.180 Ottoman Empire on the brink, these allied powers 00:02:12.180 --> 00:02:14.520 decide to preemptively divide up the spoils of 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:17.580 war. Understanding the mechanics of this specific 00:02:17.580 --> 00:02:20.219 agreement really gives you the ultimate lens 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:22.860 through which to view modern geopolitics. Okay, 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:26.080 let's unpack this. The core negotiations formulating 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:28.259 this new map took place over a period stretching 00:02:28.259 --> 00:02:32.889 from November 1915 to January 1916. The two primary 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:35.250 architects sitting at that table are Mark Sykes, 00:02:35.469 --> 00:02:37.909 representing British diplomatic interests, and 00:02:37.909 --> 00:02:40.629 Francois Georges Picot. Acting on behalf of France. 00:02:40.810 --> 00:02:43.389 Right. They are looking at this massive expanse 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:45.669 of the Middle East, and they essentially decide 00:02:45.669 --> 00:02:48.069 to slice it directly across the middle, allocating 00:02:48.069 --> 00:02:50.490 massive spheres of influence. And the specific 00:02:50.490 --> 00:02:53.169 geographical breakdown they agreed upon is crucial 00:02:53.169 --> 00:02:55.840 to visualize here. France secured the northern 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.620 territories. Their blue pencil lines guaranteed 00:02:58.620 --> 00:03:01.379 them control over southeastern Turkey, the Kurdistan 00:03:01.379 --> 00:03:04.210 region, Syria, and Lebanon. Meanwhile... The 00:03:04.210 --> 00:03:06.349 United Kingdom claimed the southern section. 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:09.810 Their red pencil line secured what is today southern 00:03:09.810 --> 00:03:12.530 Israel and Palestine, Jordan and southern Iraq. 00:03:13.129 --> 00:03:15.169 But they didn't stop at just drawing massive 00:03:15.169 --> 00:03:17.530 territorial blocks. No, they didn't. The British 00:03:17.530 --> 00:03:21.150 meticulously carved out a very specific strategic 00:03:21.150 --> 00:03:23.770 enclave for themselves, encompassing the crucial 00:03:23.770 --> 00:03:26.629 ports of Haifa an acre, which is huge. It's massive. 00:03:26.710 --> 00:03:28.409 That wasn't just a land grab. You know, that 00:03:28.409 --> 00:03:31.289 was a highly calculated move to ensure the British 00:03:31.289 --> 00:03:34.500 Empire had direct. unimpeded access to the Mediterranean 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:36.879 Sea. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:39.479 Britain and France were operating within a much 00:03:39.479 --> 00:03:43.180 larger, incredibly fragile alliance. They weren't 00:03:43.180 --> 00:03:45.620 the only empires demanding a piece of the Ottoman 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:48.400 territories. Far from it. Right. To finalize 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:50.699 their own Middle Eastern borders, they had to 00:03:50.699 --> 00:03:52.900 satisfy the territorial ambitions of their other 00:03:52.900 --> 00:03:55.759 allies. Russia, for instance, had already staked 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.919 its claims earlier in the 1915 Sazanov -Paleolog 00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:01.000 agreement. Quite a mouthful. It is. And through 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.159 that prior arrangement, Russia was promised Western 00:04:03.159 --> 00:04:06.379 Armenia, Constantinople, and the highly strategic 00:04:06.379 --> 00:04:08.840 Turkish Straits. And the diplomatic scrambling 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:11.979 didn't stop there. Later on, through the 1917 00:04:11.979 --> 00:04:14.780 agreement of Saint -Jean de Maureen, Italy was 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:17.779 officially promised control over southern Anatolia. 00:04:18.540 --> 00:04:21.000 So everyone wants a piece. Basically, yeah. You 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:24.000 essentially have a scenario where every major 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:27.660 power is attempting to grab whatever strategic 00:04:27.660 --> 00:04:30.759 foothold they can manage. But amidst all of these 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:33.519 solid blocks of red and blue and green, there 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.379 was one specific anomaly on the Sykes -Ticot 00:04:36.379 --> 00:04:39.600 map. It was designated simply as the Brown Zone. 00:04:39.779 --> 00:04:41.759 Right, the Brown Zone. Yeah. That was an area 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:44.120 encompassing Palestine, though it is worth noting 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:46.660 this was a somewhat smaller geographic footprint 00:04:46.660 --> 00:04:49.079 than the later borders of mandatory Palestine. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:51.339 Good distinction to make. Yeah. And the reason 00:04:51.339 --> 00:04:54.079 it received this unique designation was due to 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:56.139 the sheer concentration of competing interests. 00:04:56.379 --> 00:04:58.560 The territory was considered far too contentious 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:00.660 to be handed over to a single imperial power. 00:05:00.939 --> 00:05:03.579 To delicately balance Russian, French, and various 00:05:03.579 --> 00:05:05.579 Islamic interests regarding the holy places, 00:05:05.939 --> 00:05:09.209 this zone was designated to fall under an international 00:05:09.209 --> 00:05:11.990 administration. Basically a compromise. Exactly. 00:05:12.670 --> 00:05:14.730 The diplomats effectively decided that since 00:05:14.730 --> 00:05:17.149 no single power could comfortably claim it without 00:05:17.149 --> 00:05:19.670 causing a diplomatic crisis, it would just be 00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:23.610 managed by a vague international consensus. The 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:26.470 underlying motives driving all of these intricate 00:05:26.470 --> 00:05:29.730 pencil lines were deeply rooted in logistics, 00:05:30.310 --> 00:05:32.939 economics, and imperial survival. I mean, the 00:05:32.939 --> 00:05:35.220 lines weren't drawn out of a desire for mere 00:05:35.220 --> 00:05:37.639 territorial expansion. There was a real strategy 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:40.540 there. Absolutely. Before Sykes and Pico even 00:05:40.540 --> 00:05:42.800 finalized their agreement, the British government 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:45.779 had established the De Bunsen Committee in 1915 00:05:45.779 --> 00:05:48.959 to explicitly define their objectives in the 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:51.480 event of the Ottoman Empire's collapse. And the 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:53.660 De Bunsen Committee's findings laid bare the 00:05:53.660 --> 00:05:56.480 actual priorities of the British Empire. Their 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:58.540 foremost objective was the protection of the 00:05:58.540 --> 00:06:01.040 western flank of India. which was widely considered 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.899 the crown jewel of their imperial holdings. Exactly. 00:06:04.259 --> 00:06:06.279 Beyond sheer defense, they were heavily focused 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:09.180 on securing vital commercial routes. They needed 00:06:09.180 --> 00:06:11.579 uninterrupted land bridges and railway networks 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:13.620 connecting the Mediterranean directly to the 00:06:13.620 --> 00:06:16.920 Persian Gulf to facilitate global trade. And 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:18.959 layered on top of those commercial and defensive 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:22.160 strategies was the emerging realization of a 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:26.259 new, game -changing resource. Oil. There were 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:29.000 already early persistent whispers of massive 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:32.399 oil reserves located in the Mosul Vilayet, which 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:34.959 was an Ottoman administrative province situated 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:37.480 in modern -day northern Iraq. So it wasn't just 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:40.300 random lines in the sand? Not at all. The borders 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:43.540 engineered by Sykes and Pico were meticulously 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:46.120 designed to encapsulate trade routes, railway 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:49.279 corridors, strategic buffer zones, and vastly 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.540 lucrative oil fields. This intense focus on securing 00:06:52.540 --> 00:06:55.500 resources and trade routes brings us to a massive 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:58.300 parallel storyline unfolding at the exact same 00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:01.379 time. While Mark Sykes and Francois Georges Pico 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:03.560 are secluded in back rooms quietly sketching 00:07:03.560 --> 00:07:05.779 lines and trading cities, the British government 00:07:05.779 --> 00:07:08.600 is simultaneously making entirely different wildly 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:10.920 contradictory promises to the Arab populations 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:13.740 actually living in those territories. The historical 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:16.339 record points to a staggering level of diplomatic 00:07:16.339 --> 00:07:18.959 duplicity here. This peril timeline revolves 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.540 around the McMahon -Hussein correspondence. Between 00:07:21.540 --> 00:07:25.920 July 1915 and March 1916, there is a highly sensitive 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:29.420 exchange of 10 specific letters. These communications 00:07:29.420 --> 00:07:31.819 are flying between Sir Henry McMahon, serving 00:07:31.819 --> 00:07:34.199 as the British High Commissioner to Egypt, and 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:36.759 Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca. And the 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:40.639 British lay out a very Right. They agreed to 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:43.319 formally recognize and support a fully independent, 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.459 unified Arab state after the war. But the condition 00:07:46.459 --> 00:07:48.889 for this British support was significant. In 00:07:48.889 --> 00:07:51.829 exchange for the promise of a unified Arab homeland, 00:07:52.509 --> 00:07:54.889 Hussein was required to launch a massive armed 00:07:54.889 --> 00:07:57.050 insurrection against the Ottoman Empire from 00:07:57.050 --> 00:07:59.750 within. Effectively opening up a brutal new front 00:07:59.750 --> 00:08:02.269 in the war. So Hussein accepts the terms of the 00:08:02.269 --> 00:08:05.569 correspondence. In June 1916, Hussein, fighting 00:08:05.569 --> 00:08:08.149 alongside his sons Ali and Faisal, officially 00:08:08.149 --> 00:08:10.889 triggers the Arab revolt. They begin waging a 00:08:10.889 --> 00:08:12.930 grueling military campaign against the Ottoman 00:08:12.930 --> 00:08:15.470 forces. And the British government heavily backs 00:08:15.470 --> 00:08:18.459 this insurrection. Heavily. material, the British 00:08:18.459 --> 00:08:20.959 inject 50 ,000 pounds in gold into the revolt, 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:23.860 alongside continuous shipments of weapons, ammunition, 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:26.459 and food to sustain the Arab fighters. What's 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:28.839 fascinating here is the sheer audacity of the 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:32.039 diplomatic contradiction. You have Arab forces 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:34.799 out in the desert actively fighting, bleeding, 00:08:35.019 --> 00:08:38.419 and dying under the foam belief that their sacrifices 00:08:38.419 --> 00:08:41.159 are paving the way for an independent unified 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:43.059 homeland. Because they were told exactly that. 00:08:43.139 --> 00:08:45.940 Right. They are heavily relying on the explicit 00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:48.840 promises detailed in those 10 letters from the 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:50.580 British High Commissioner. All while remaining 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:53.840 entirely oblivious to the fact that months earlier, 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:57.080 Sykes and Picot had already methodically carved 00:08:57.080 --> 00:09:00.419 up that exact same territory into colonial spheres 00:09:00.419 --> 00:09:02.759 of influence. Yeah, the British and French governments 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:05.480 had zero intention of allowing a unified Arab 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:07.960 state to emerge. Zero. They had already drafted 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:10.100 the blueprints to install their own direct direct 00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:12.659 administrations and their own colonial advisors 00:09:12.659 --> 00:09:15.379 over Damascus, Baghdad, Lebanon, and Palestine. 00:09:15.539 --> 00:09:18.179 The intricate web of secret treaties and contradictory 00:09:18.179 --> 00:09:21.139 promises was bound to fracture eventually. We 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:23.379 can't keep that quiet forever. Here's where it 00:09:23.379 --> 00:09:26.100 gets really interesting, because an imperial 00:09:26.100 --> 00:09:29.360 secret of this magnitude simply cannot stay buried 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:32.440 forever. The ultimate leak of the Sykes -Picot 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:35.600 agreement happens, and it originates from a wildly 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.799 unexpected source. Out of nowhere, really? Yeah. 00:09:38.980 --> 00:09:42.700 Fast forward to November 1917, World War I is 00:09:42.700 --> 00:09:45.360 still tearing Europe apart, but the Russian Empire 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:48.299 is simultaneously undergoing a chaotic, violent 00:09:48.299 --> 00:09:51.720 revolution. The Bolsheviks manage to seize power 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:53.909 and And as they take control of the sprawling 00:09:53.909 --> 00:09:56.289 government ministries, they begin digging through 00:09:56.289 --> 00:09:58.649 the archives. Just looking for leverage. Right. 00:09:58.750 --> 00:10:02.169 And they literally uncover the imperial receipts. 00:10:02.289 --> 00:10:04.909 They find the fully documented secret Sykes to 00:10:04.909 --> 00:10:07.450 Co. treaties hidden away in the diplomatic files. 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:09.690 And the Bolsheviks were operating on an ideology 00:10:09.690 --> 00:10:12.470 fundamentally opposed to this brand of imperial 00:10:12.470 --> 00:10:14.350 land grabbing and secret diplomacy. Completely 00:10:14.350 --> 00:10:16.409 against it. So upon discovering the documents, 00:10:16.750 --> 00:10:19.230 they made the immediate calculated decision to 00:10:19.230 --> 00:10:21.879 expose the entire arrangement to the world. They 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:23.720 published the full text of the secret treaties 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:26.419 prominently in their state -run newspapers, is 00:10:26.419 --> 00:10:29.440 Vestia and Pravda. The fallout was instantaneous. 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:32.360 Within days, the revelation crossed borders. 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:35.179 The Manchester Guardian secured the texts and 00:10:35.179 --> 00:10:37.620 printed the secret treaties in English on November 00:10:37.620 --> 00:10:40.779 26, 1917. So it's out in the English -speaking 00:10:40.779 --> 00:10:43.000 world now, too. The secret was officially out 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.899 in the open. Our source material features a fantastic 00:10:45.899 --> 00:10:49.059 quote that perfectly encapsulates the sheer global 00:10:49.059 --> 00:10:52.210 whiplash of this moment. It notes that in the 00:10:52.210 --> 00:10:54.570 wake of the publication, quote, the British were 00:10:54.570 --> 00:10:57.149 embarrassed, the Arabs dismayed, and the Turks 00:10:57.149 --> 00:10:59.769 delighted. Which makes perfect sense. The Ottoman 00:10:59.769 --> 00:11:03.009 Turks utilized the leak as a massive propaganda 00:11:03.009 --> 00:11:06.769 victory, pointing to the published texts as definitive 00:11:06.769 --> 00:11:09.669 proof to the Arab troops that their British allies 00:11:09.669 --> 00:11:12.740 were openly lying to them. A huge blow to morale. 00:11:13.340 --> 00:11:15.519 Absolutely. And this revelation also triggered 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.179 a severe ideological crisis with the United States. 00:11:18.259 --> 00:11:20.460 Because the timing of the leak clashed violently 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:22.519 with the public messaging of U .S. President 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:25.240 Woodrow Wilson. At this stage of the conflict, 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:27.820 Wilson is loudly championing a completely different 00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:30.840 vision for the postwar global order. He's talking 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:33.179 about a new way of doing things. Right. He is 00:11:33.179 --> 00:11:36.059 actively promoting concepts like open diplomacy 00:11:36.059 --> 00:11:39.200 and the self -determination of populations. These 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.620 principles were the very foundation of his famous 00:11:41.620 --> 00:11:44.639 14 points. Suddenly, courtesy of the Bolshevik 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.620 archives, the British and French allies are caught 00:11:47.620 --> 00:11:50.799 red -handed. The published treaties expose them 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:54.399 engaging in the exact type of cynical backroom 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.700 imperial horse trading that they were publicly 00:11:56.700 --> 00:11:58.700 claiming to be fighting against on the global 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:01.250 stage. It shattered the moral high ground the 00:12:01.250 --> 00:12:03.250 Allies were attempting to maintain. Completely. 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:06.129 Yet despite the staggering diplomatic scandal, 00:12:06.509 --> 00:12:08.690 the war continues until the Ottomans finally 00:12:08.690 --> 00:12:12.309 sign an armistice in late 1918. The active military 00:12:12.309 --> 00:12:14.570 engagements largely halt, but the scrambling 00:12:14.570 --> 00:12:16.490 to enforce and manipulate the borders on the 00:12:16.490 --> 00:12:19.289 map kicks into a frenzied high gear. Because 00:12:19.289 --> 00:12:21.629 transitioning from secret pencil lines to enforceable 00:12:21.629 --> 00:12:24.269 borders proved to be an incredibly messy reality. 00:12:24.509 --> 00:12:27.009 The raw mechanics of how these borders were finalized 00:12:27.009 --> 00:12:30.149 is stunning to read about. In December 1918, 00:12:30.409 --> 00:12:33.350 just after the war's end, an entirely undocumented 00:12:33.350 --> 00:12:35.730 Sunday meeting takes place at the French Embassy 00:12:35.730 --> 00:12:38.789 in London. British Prime Minister David Lloyd 00:12:38.789 --> 00:12:41.750 George and French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau 00:12:41.750 --> 00:12:44.610 sit down privately to haggle over the remnants 00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:47.429 of the Middle East. Just two men in a room. Exactly. 00:12:47.629 --> 00:12:50.149 And in that single undocumented conversation, 00:12:50.490 --> 00:12:53.429 Clemenceau makes a massive concession. he officially 00:12:53.429 --> 00:12:56.210 surrenders French rights to both the Mosul region 00:12:56.210 --> 00:12:58.649 and to Palestine. Which is huge. Right, because 00:12:58.649 --> 00:13:00.809 those were territories that France was explicitly 00:13:00.809 --> 00:13:04.409 guaranteed under the original 1916 Sykes -Picot 00:13:04.409 --> 00:13:06.909 map. But Clemenceau doesn't just hand over those 00:13:06.909 --> 00:13:09.649 territories out of goodwill. He executes a highly 00:13:09.649 --> 00:13:12.649 calculated trade. In exchange for relinquishing 00:13:12.649 --> 00:13:15.230 control of the land, Clemenceau secures a guaranteed 00:13:15.230 --> 00:13:17.330 share of the oil that is expected to flow out 00:13:17.330 --> 00:13:19.990 of the Mosel Villiers. The oil again. Always 00:13:19.990 --> 00:13:22.850 the oil. Additionally, he extracts a firm promise 00:13:22.850 --> 00:13:25.230 of British support regarding French territorial 00:13:25.230 --> 00:13:27.830 claims on the rural region back in Europe. While 00:13:27.830 --> 00:13:29.669 the prime ministers are trading regions like 00:13:29.669 --> 00:13:32.710 commodities in London. The situation on the ground 00:13:32.710 --> 00:13:35.429 in the Middle East is reaching a boiling point. 00:13:35.990 --> 00:13:38.409 Faisal, the son of Hussein who had actively led 00:13:38.409 --> 00:13:41.309 the Arab revolt alongside British forces, enters 00:13:41.309 --> 00:13:44.309 Damascus in late 1918. And he's expecting them 00:13:44.309 --> 00:13:47.269 to make good on their promise. Right. Operating 00:13:47.269 --> 00:13:49.110 on the promises made in the McMahon -Hussein 00:13:49.110 --> 00:13:51.870 correspondence, he officially declares a fully 00:13:51.870 --> 00:13:54.590 independent Arab constitutional government. Faisal 00:13:54.590 --> 00:13:57.029 genuinely believes he has secured the independent 00:13:57.029 --> 00:14:00.029 homeland his forces bled for, but the allied 00:14:00.029 --> 00:14:02.210 powers respond by shifting the legal framework 00:14:02.210 --> 00:14:05.049 of the post -war world to legitimize their original 00:14:05.049 --> 00:14:08.590 pencil lines. In April 1920, they convened the 00:14:08.590 --> 00:14:11.129 San Remo Conference. And the San Remo Conference 00:14:11.129 --> 00:14:13.429 effectively launders the Sykes -Picot Agreement 00:14:13.429 --> 00:14:15.759 through international law. They achieved this 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.279 by utilizing mandates. Which was a new concept 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:20.200 at the time. Yeah, mandates were essentially 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:22.519 a newly invented legal framework established 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:25.139 by the League of Nations. It provided the imperial 00:14:25.139 --> 00:14:27.279 powers with international cover to govern these 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:30.080 territories, supposedly until the local populations 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.500 were deemed ready for self -rule. Armed with 00:14:32.500 --> 00:14:34.960 this new international mandate, the French government 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:37.580 moves swiftly against Faisal's newly declared 00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:40.820 state. France issues a strict ultimatum to the 00:14:40.820 --> 00:14:43.240 Arab government in Damascus. Submit or else? 00:14:43.379 --> 00:14:46.159 Basically, when the Arab forces refuse to submit 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:48.700 to French authority, the French military marches 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:52.419 in. At the Battle of Mezalun in 1920, French 00:14:52.419 --> 00:14:54.919 forces violently crush the independent government 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.899 and forcibly depose King Faisal. The initial 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:00.240 promise of Arab independence outlined in the 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:03.240 10 British letters is entirely dismantled. Entirely. 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.279 And France assumes direct mandate control over 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:08.700 Syria. The brutal enforcement of these borders 00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:12.039 left awake of fractured communities. The profound 00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:14.820 tragedy of the Sykes -Picot legacy extends deeply 00:15:14.820 --> 00:15:17.340 to populations who were entirely marginalized 00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:19.679 by the diplomats' pencil lines. Most notably 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.460 the Kurds and the Assyrians. The original blue 00:15:22.460 --> 00:15:25.879 and red lines, sketched in 1916, sliced arbitrarily 00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:29.059 through the historical region of Kurdistan. In 00:15:29.059 --> 00:15:30.779 the immediate aftermath of the war, there was 00:15:30.779 --> 00:15:33.840 a brief window of potential recognition. The 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:37.179 Treaty of Sevres, signed in 1920, actually contained 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:39.440 provisions that hinted at the creation of an 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:41.980 autonomous or potentially independent Kurdish 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:44.600 territory. But that fleeting diplomatic promise 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:47.580 was quickly erased by shifting geopolitical realities. 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:50.580 Following the Turkish War of Independence, the 00:15:50.580 --> 00:15:53.059 Treaty of Sevres was completely superseded by 00:15:53.059 --> 00:15:56.139 the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. And the terms 00:15:56.139 --> 00:15:58.809 changed dramatically. They did. In the finalized 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:00.809 text of the Treaty of Lausanne, there was absolutely 00:16:00.809 --> 00:16:03.570 no provision made for a Kurdish state. The ultimate 00:16:03.570 --> 00:16:05.870 result of this diplomatic whiplash is that the 00:16:05.870 --> 00:16:08.570 Kurds, alongside their Assyrian neighbors, find 00:16:08.570 --> 00:16:11.549 their historical homelands severely partitioned. 00:16:11.669 --> 00:16:13.769 They are left politically marginalized, their 00:16:13.769 --> 00:16:16.169 populations divided across the newly solidified 00:16:16.169 --> 00:16:19.370 borders of modern -day Turkey, Iraq, Syria and 00:16:19.370 --> 00:16:23.230 Iran. This specific fragmentation laid the groundwork 00:16:23.230 --> 00:16:26.610 for severe systemic disenfranchisement and conflict 00:16:26.610 --> 00:16:28.980 that continues to heavily impact the political 00:16:28.980 --> 00:16:32.120 stability of those four nations today. So what 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:35.320 does this all mean? Why does a memorandum drafted 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:39.659 by two European diplomats in 1916 remain critically 00:16:39.659 --> 00:16:41.620 relevant to the information you are consuming 00:16:41.620 --> 00:16:44.279 today? The ongoing relevance stems from the fact 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:46.679 that historians and political analysts widely 00:16:46.679 --> 00:16:49.200 view the Sykes -Picot agreement as the literal 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.500 blueprint for the artificial borders defining 00:16:51.500 --> 00:16:53.799 the modern Middle East. The foundation of the 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:55.990 map. Right. These boundaries were engineered 00:16:55.990 --> 00:16:58.870 almost exclusively to serve the logistical, economic 00:16:58.870 --> 00:17:01.289 and defensive interests of the British and French 00:17:01.289 --> 00:17:04.160 empires. They were drawn with virtually zero 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:07.559 regard for the complex ethnic, tribal, or sectarian 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:09.460 realities of the people physically inhabiting 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:11.319 the terrain. When we look at how this agreement 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:14.359 echoes today, our source points to stark, modern 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:16.720 examples of how these borders are viewed by various 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:19.359 factions operating on the ground. As a reminder 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:21.539 to you listening, we're just conveying the reported 00:17:21.539 --> 00:17:24.039 facts from our source material here without endorsing 00:17:24.039 --> 00:17:26.599 any viewpoints. For instance, looking at the 00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:28.980 historical record of the Islamic State, or ISIL, 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:32.180 Their insurgency explicitly targeted the legacy 00:17:32.180 --> 00:17:34.400 of the Sykes -Picot agreement. Erasing those 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:36.900 specific lines wasn't merely a byproduct of their 00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:39.660 territorial expansion. It was a foundational 00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:42.279 stated objective of their campaign. The source 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:44.920 notes a highly specific public address from July 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:48.349 2014, where the group's former leader, Abu Bakr 00:17:48.349 --> 00:17:50.930 al -Baghdadi delivered a speech focusing heavily 00:17:50.930 --> 00:17:54.170 on the 1916 map. He publicly vowed that their 00:17:54.170 --> 00:17:56.630 military advance would not cease until they, 00:17:56.630 --> 00:17:59.430 quote, hit the last nail in the coffin of the 00:17:59.430 --> 00:18:01.529 Sykes -Picot conspiracy. The group even produced 00:18:01.529 --> 00:18:04.109 a highly publicized propaganda video explicitly 00:18:04.109 --> 00:18:07.390 titled End of Sykes -Picot. In the footage, a 00:18:07.390 --> 00:18:09.410 fighter stands directly at the physical border 00:18:09.410 --> 00:18:12.109 separating Iraq and Syria, declaring to the camera 00:18:12.109 --> 00:18:13.950 that they fundamentally do not recognize the 00:18:13.950 --> 00:18:16.450 boundary. They frame it entirely as a colonial 00:18:16.450 --> 00:18:18.529 imposition that they are actively dismantling. 00:18:18.970 --> 00:18:20.769 And the resonance of these borders stretches 00:18:20.769 --> 00:18:22.930 right up to the current geopolitical landscape. 00:18:23.750 --> 00:18:25.630 The source highlights a recent perspective from 00:18:25.630 --> 00:18:29.390 August 2025 involving American diplomat Tom Barrick. 00:18:29.549 --> 00:18:32.509 In that specific interview, Barak openly discusses 00:18:32.509 --> 00:18:35.009 how the modern state of Israel views the territorial 00:18:35.009 --> 00:18:37.789 lines drawn over a century ago. According to 00:18:37.789 --> 00:18:40.509 the source, he stated that Israel views the Sykes 00:18:40.509 --> 00:18:43.549 -Picot borders as meaningless. Furthermore, he 00:18:43.549 --> 00:18:45.690 asserted that Israel possesses both the capacity 00:18:45.690 --> 00:18:48.789 and the desire to take over Lebanon and Syria. 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:52.039 These events and statements spanning from insurgent 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:54.599 groups to modern diplomatic assessments really 00:18:54.599 --> 00:18:57.119 illustrate just how deeply the structural foundation 00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.400 laid down by Marc Sykes and Francois Georges 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:02.119 Bicot continues to dictate the terms of modern 00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:04.839 conflict. It is genuinely staggering to consider 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:07.700 how a quiet, secretive memorandum initialed in 00:19:07.700 --> 00:19:10.759 January 1916 to protect railway lines and secure 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:13.519 early oil fields managed to create a geopolitical 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.140 earthquake. The aftershocks of that single meeting 00:19:16.140 --> 00:19:18.420 are literally still dictating the headlines of 00:19:18.380 --> 00:19:32.190 appearing on your newsfeed this morning. They 00:19:32.190 --> 00:19:35.430 literally used a blue and a red pencil on a static 00:19:35.430 --> 00:19:37.710 paper map. It's almost absurd to think about 00:19:37.710 --> 00:19:40.970 now. It is. Now consider the sheer complexity 00:19:40.970 --> 00:19:43.309 of the tools being utilized to define our world 00:19:43.309 --> 00:19:46.069 today. We operate with global positioning systems, 00:19:46.589 --> 00:19:49.490 real -time satellite imagery, complex demographic 00:19:49.490 --> 00:19:52.309 algorithms, and massive networks of data harvesting. 00:19:52.529 --> 00:19:54.650 The infrastructure of power has moved entirely 00:19:54.650 --> 00:19:58.230 beyond paper and pencil. Precisely. So consider 00:19:58.230 --> 00:20:01.319 this. What invisible lines are being drawn right 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:04.339 now, deep inside modern corporate boardrooms, 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:07.740 across encrypted digital spaces, or quietly processed 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:10.559 within massive data centers? What new unseen 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:12.619 boundaries are being sketched out today that 00:20:12.619 --> 00:20:14.980 might define the political and social conflicts 00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:18.619 a century from now? That is an incredibly provocative 00:20:18.619 --> 00:20:20.660 thought to end on. Thank you so much for joining 00:20:20.660 --> 00:20:23.019 us on this deep dive. We hope we've successfully 00:20:23.019 --> 00:20:25.619 provided you with a clear shortcut to understanding 00:20:25.619 --> 00:20:28.400 the complex, often hidden history behind the 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:30.619 map of the modern Middle East. Keep questioning 00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:32.680 the lines you see on the maps every day, and 00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:33.619 we'll catch you next time.