Skyes-Picot Alternatives?

The Sykes-Picot Agreement (as well as the San Remo conference and Treaty of Sevres) is usually described as the Wests (or particularly France and Englands) misbegotten plans for a post-Ottoman Mid-East. The general story is that both victorious countries broke up the post WWI Ottoman empire with no regard to geography or ethnicities and debatably is seen as a root of the regions woes to this day.

While I hear a lot of just criticism on Sykes-Picot, I've never encountered any book, video or podcast proposing a better idea. Were there any contemporary or future proposals that would have divided the former empire along better borders whether geographic, ethnic or otherwise?

The only alternative I'm aware of is Britain's initial promise to then Emir Hussein which promised a "Greater Arabia" stretching from Saudi Arabia to Syria, however you could debate if such a state would have similar issues being a conglomeration of different ethnicities and religions.

Posted Nov 12, 2024, 8:09 PM UTC

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