ABSTRACT
Syria emerged from World War One with its economy and social fabric shattered. It had little say in the new dispensation sanctioned under a League of Nations Mandate entrusted to France. In response to French attempts to break the country into ethnic or confessional states, the 1925 revolt began among the Druze but soon enveloped much of the country. While suppressed by the second half of 1926, distrust remained as France manipulated the democratic agenda the Mandate professed. When the Vichy authorities began to aid the German war effort in 1941, Allied forces took control of Syria and Lebanon and hastened the transition to independence in 1946. The new democratic framework had little time to settle in before it faced the pressures of events sparked by the 1948 battle for Palestine. After a succession of military coups, Syria came under Baath party rule in 1970 but faced underground opposition from Islamist supporters, later to re-emerge with popular demonstrations beginning in 2011 seeking to challenge Assad family rule.
