ABSTRACT
The opportunity of rounding off that policy came with the War of 1914, when France could invest her interests in Syria with a new meaning. Syria could thus be termed a region of special French interests, and the interests France wanted there far exceeded those she already had. Allied agreements of 1916 therefore protected the traditional and secular interests of France in Syria. The Sykes-Picot agreement of May of that year gave her control of all Syria and Cilicia, with the hinterland to beyond the Tigris. France was to provide an organic statute for Syria, and, in particular, was to safeguard local autonomies. The question of organization therefore arose, and was complicated by the presence of various racial and religious antagonisms. Syria has less than three million people in its 60,000 square miles, but these are so divided in race and religion as almost to defy analysis.
