Replacing the Ottomans was hard and unprofitable. The European League of Nations ratified the division of Palestine, the Levant, and Iraq between France and Britain. A mandate to be where they were not wanted. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp is somewhat disingenuous. By showing architectural sites around the French Mandate, there is an implication that France was a good steward of the area and a protector of the history. In the 26 years of the French mandate Damascus was attacked by French forces twice and then they themselves were attacked by free French and Australians during World War II. Not a great record of stewardship.
Todays stamp is issue A10, a 4 Piaster stamp issued by the French League of Nations Mandate in Syria. It was part of a 24 stamp issue in various denominations that show architectural sights around Syria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
Syria had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years up until 1918. The Ottomans had buttressed their often precarious finances by granting self rule to areas of the Empire in return for an annual tribute paid by the territory. As such, the area had a large degree of self rule. That said, when the Arab Legion arrived in Damascus toward the end of World War I, they were welcomed and a Hashemite was named King of Syria. Though the Arab Legion was affiliated with Britain through Lawrence of Arabia, they were not authorized to take Syria. A deal had be struck between Britain and France that divided the area up postwar. This allowed the continued influx of European Jews into Palestine but just replaced an Ottoman ruler with an even more foreign European.
The Syrians tried to fight for the freedom the Arab legion had won. The entrance into Syria by Algerian and Senegalese French troops was actively resisted. The French won the battle of Maysalun and then laid siege on Damascus. The Hashemite King was forced into exile and French administrators came in quickly to try to replace the local administration. This meant more direct rule by France than under the Ottomans. An uprising by the Druze minority was quickly taken up by many Syrians in 1925. The French had allowed their number of colonial troops to drop and the uprising met with much initial success. It took a mobilization of 50,000 French troops to restore the French authority. Doing so again meant bombing and a siege of Damascus, for the second time in a decade.
In World War II, Syria initially sided with the pro Nazi Vichy government after the fall of France. In 1941, there was a coup in neighboring Iraq where a Arab nationalist group asked for Nazi German aid routed through Syria.. This was not acceptable and Iraq and Syria were invaded, in Syria’s case mainly by Australians. This was an embarrassment to the Allies as the Vichy French forces fought. The battles saw American made Martin bombers given to France used by the Vichy forces fighting American P40 fighters given to the Australians. The campaign was little covered in the west as it implied the French were then on the German side and willing to fight to retain colonies. Damascus was again bombed and fought over. The Vichy were defeated but the French had learned their lesson and left Syria at the first opportunity in 1946.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Hashemites. Building an effective army of locals meant they were the only ones to realistically succeed the Ottomans. Instead the French and the British arrogantly came in only to find they lacked the will to stay. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.