Secret agreement signed in 1916 between France and the United Kingdom providing for the division of the Middle East at the end of the First World War
The Sykes–Picot Agreement secretly divided Ottoman territories between Britain and France, shaping the modern borders of the Middle East and fueling lasting regional resentment.
Key Facts
- Date ratified (France)
- 9 May 1916
- Date ratified (UK)
- 16 May 1916
- Primary negotiators
- Mark Sykes (UK) and François Georges-Picot (France)
- Negotiations period
- 23 November 1915 – 3 January 1916
- Made public by
- Bolsheviks, 23 November 1917
- Mandate era end
- French Mandate ended 1946; British Mandate for Palestine ended 1948
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During World War I, Britain and France anticipated the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and sought to secure their respective imperial interests in the region. Britain had also made competing promises to Arab leaders via the McMahon–Hussein correspondence, creating a need for a secret inter-Allied arrangement to reconcile conflicting ambitions before any Ottoman defeat was finalized.
Between November 1915 and January 1916, British diplomat Mark Sykes and French diplomat François Georges-Picot negotiated a secret memorandum dividing anticipated Ottoman territories into British and French spheres of control and influence. Ratified by both governments in May 1916, and assented to by Russia and Italy, the agreement allocated Iraq, Jordan, and southern Palestine to Britain, while France received Syria, Lebanon, and southeastern Turkey.
The agreement provided the framework for post-war League of Nations mandates assigned at the 1920 San Remo conference and shaped the modern state boundaries of the Middle East. When the Bolsheviks published it in November 1917, it caused significant diplomatic embarrassment and deepened Arab distrust of Western powers. Its legacy contributed to prolonged regional instability, and Arab and Kurdish grievances over denied self-determination persist to the present day.
Political Outcome
The Ottoman territories were partitioned into British and French spheres of influence, forming the basis for post-war League of Nations mandates that defined modern Middle Eastern borders.
Ottoman Empire controlled the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia
Britain and France assumed mandatory control over former Ottoman Arab territories under League of Nations mandates