ABSTRACT
The defeat of the Ottoman empire and the prostration of Iran meant that the European powers, for the first time, had a free hand to impose what settlement they liked upon the Near East. Further, whereas in the past the European powers had been restrained by their own rivalries, the removal of Russia, Germany and Austria from the scene left only Britain, France and Italy directly concerned, and of those powers the position of Britain was dominant because of her military strength in the Near East. It seemed that, if she chose to exercise her power, nothing could prevent Britain from rebuilding the Near East in whatever style she preferred. In fact, Britain did not impose the settlement which she desired and the structure of the Near East which emerged by 1923 was the consequence of compromises between Britain and other European states and between Europe and a resurgent Near East. The subject of this chapter is the manner in which those compromises were achieved and the significance of the new pattern which appeared.
