Sykes–Picot Agreement

The Briton Mark Sykes and the Frenchman François Georges-Picot drew up the scheme around the turn of 1915 and 1916, when the British in Cairo were promising the Sharif of Mecca an Arab state and France feared for its interests in Syria. The plan created a blue zone under French rule, a red zone under British rule, zones A and B for an Arab state or confederation under their influence, and a brown zone, Palestine, under international administration.

In April 1916 Russia accepted the plan in return for recognition of its claims in eastern Anatolia, and in May Paris and London formalised it in an exchange of notes. The agreement stayed secret until the Bolsheviks published it in November 1917. It clashed with the promises made to the Arabs and became a symbol of borders imposed on the Middle East by the great powers.