Sykes-Picot Agreement

(noun)

A secret agreement, signed in 1916, between the governments of the United Kingdom and France with the assent of Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control of the Middle East should the Central Powers be defeated in World War I.

Related Terms

(noun)

A secret agreement, signed in 1916, between the governments of the United Kingdom and France with the assent of Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control of the Middle East should the Central Powers be defeated in World War I. It eventually led to friendship with America in the region and subsequent oil deals that still today involve the U.S. in Middle Eastern politics.

Related Terms

Examples of Sykes-Picot Agreement in the following topics:

  • The Sykes-Picot Agreement

  • The Paris Peace Conference

    • In light of the previously secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, a 1916 treaty regarding European spheres of influence in the regions, and following the adoption of the mandate system on the Arab province of the former Ottoman lands, the conference heard statements from competing Zionist and Arab claimants.

  • Conclusion: The Legacy of WWI

    • Wilson's speech translated many of the principles of Progressivism that had produced American domestic reform into foreign policy encompassing free trade, open agreements, democracy, and self-determination.
    • The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret arrangement between the United Kingdom and France in 1916, with Russia offering its assent, under which the western powers would take control over the defeated Ottoman Empire’s territory in Arabia, what today is considered the Middle East.
    • Following World War I, America was considered a friend to the region rather than a colonizer like the European nations that carved it up through Sykes-Picot, resulting in deals with American oil companies to develop the region’s resources.