Today Syria is a country known for all the wrong reasons: civil war, vicious sectarianism, and major humanitarian crisis. But how did this once rich, multi-cultural society end up as the site of one of the twenty-first century’s most devastating and brutal conflicts?
In this incisive book, internationally renowned Syria expert David Lesch takes the reader on an illuminating journey through the last hundred years of Syrian history – from the end of the Ottoman empire through to the current civil war. The Syria he reveals is a fractured mosaic, whose identity (or lack thereof) has played a crucial part in its trajectory over the past century. Only once the complexities and challenges of Syria’s history are understood can this pivotal country in the Middle East begin to rebuild and heal.
Author(s): David W. Lesch
Series: Polity Histories
Publisher: Polity Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 213
City: Cambridge, UK
Tags: Syria--History--20th century; Syria--History--21st century;
Cover
Front Matter
Map
Preface
1 What is Syria?
The Historical and Physical Setting
The Historical Syrian Mosaic
Notes
2 World War I
British and French Negotiations
Arab Involvement and the Sharifian Revolt
End of the War and Postwar Negotiations
Notes
3 The French Mandate
Divide and Rule
Rebellion against and Solidification of French Rule
Notes
4 Syria amid the Cold Wars
The 1954 Parliamentary Elections
The Cold Wars in the Middle East Heat Up
Notes
5 The 1967 Arab–Israeli War
The Coming of War
Syria and the War
The Aftermath
Notes
6 Syria under Hafiz al-Assad
Black September (or the Jordanian Civil War)
The 1973 Arab–Israeli War and Its Aftermath
The Effects of the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty
Assad’s Pivot
The Nature of the State
Notes
7 Bashar al-Assad in Power
Syria and Lebanon
Solidifying Power
Navigating the International Arena
Note
8 The Syrian Uprising and Civil War
Bashar Faces the Protests
Civil War
Notes
Further Reading
Index
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