The Sykes-Picot agreement is a treaty which was secretly signed by Great Britain (Mark Sykes) and France (François Georges-Picot) on May 19, 1916. The treaty stated that most of the Arab lands under the Ottoman Empire rule were to be divided into British and French spheres of influence after the end of World War I. What is crucially important, the agreement neglected the future growth of Arab nationalism, which at that same moment the British government and military were working to use to their advantage against the Turks.

When the war broke out in 1914, Britain, France, and Russia held numerous discussions concerning the destiny of the Ottoman Empire, which was on the side of Germany and Central Powers at that time. In March 1915, Britain signed a secret agreement with Russia: it would give Russia the Ottoman capital of Constantinople and control over the Dardanelles and the Gallipoli peninsula. In return, Russia had to agree to British claims regarding the Former Ottoman Empire and central Persia (saying nothing of oil-rich Mesopotamia). As a result, the Turks saw no way out except for joining forces with Germany and Austria Hungary in 1914.^[1]