Nazism in retreat: the fading of an option and the battle for independence (1941–1945) Collaboration in exile, new allies, and the

The occupation of Damascus and Beirut by British and Free French troops and the cessation of hostilities on 14 July 1941 put an end to Vichy rule in the Levant and marked a setback for German infl uence. Yet traces of National Socialist thought and politics hardly disappeared, even if their context had signifi cantly altered. In the light of the Allied occupation, the ideological premises and strategic considerations that in the past had guided local politics profoundly shifted during the years running up to the end of the war. Persistent confl icts between Free France and Great Britain and the emergence of the Soviet Union and the United States as major political players in the region provided additional options to local actors; the hasty retreat of the diplomatic and military personal of the Axis over the Turkish-Syrian border most visibly symbolized these changes.