Lebanon (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Lebanese Republic الجمهورية اللبنانية Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum OTL equivalent: Lebanon
Flag Emblem
Anthem:  Sūrīya lak as-Salām
Location of Lebanon (in green)
Capital		Beirut
Other cities		Tripoli, Sidon, Zahle, Tyre
Official languages		Arabic
Ethnic groups		Arabs; Armenians; Kurds
Religion		Islam; Christianity; Druze
Demonym		Lebanese
Government		Unitary state; Dominant-party system; Semi-presidential republic
-	President	Assaad Hardan
-	Prime Minister	Hassan Diab
Legislature		Parliament of Lebanon
Establishment
-	Independence from France	November 26, 1941
-	Recognition of Lebanese independence	November 22, 1943
-	Greater Syrian Revolution	July 24, 1949
Population
-	estimate	4,224,000
Currency		Lebanese pound (LBP)
Time zone		EET (UTC+2)
Internet TLD		.lb
Calling code		+961

Lebanon (Arabic: لبنان Libnān or Lubnān), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah), is a country in the Middle East. It is bordered by Syria region of the United Arab Republic to the north and east and Palestine and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.

History

Ottoman Syria (1516–1918)

In 1516, the Ottoman Empire conquered Western Asia. The Ottomans reorganized Syria into one large province or eyalet. The eyalet was subdivided into several districts or sanjaks. In 1549, Syria was reorganized into two eyalets; the Eyalet of Damascus and the new Eyalet of Aleppo. The majority of historical Lebanon became part of the Eyalet of Damascus until 1660, and later became part of the Eyalet of Sidon.

Ottoman administration was such that it fostered a peaceful coexistence amongst the different sections of Syrian society for over four hundred years. Each religious minority — Shia Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Maronite, Armenian, and Jewish — constituted a millet. The religious heads of each community administered all personal status law and performed certain civil functions as well.

French expeditionary corps led by General Beaufort d'Hautpoul, landing in Beirut on August 16, 1860.

During the nineteenth century, the town of Beirut became the most important regional port, supplanting Acre farther to the south. This was mostly because Mount Lebanon became a center of silk production for export to Europe. This industry made the region wealthy, but also dependent on links to Europe. Since most of the silk went to Marseille, the French began to have a great impact in the region.

On May 22, 1860, a small group of Maronites fired on a group of Druze at the entrance to Beirut, killing one and wounding two. This sparked a torrent of violence which swept through Lebanon. France intervened on behalf of the local Christian population and Britain on behalf of the Druze after the massacres. In July 1860, with European intervention threatening, the Turkish government tried to quiet the strife, but France sent 7000 troops to Beirut and helped impose a partition: The Druze control of the territory was recognized and the Maronites were forced into an enclave. Approximately 10,000 Christians were killed by the Druzes during inter-communal violence in 1860.

Lebanese soldiers during the Mutasarrifate period

In the 1861 "Règlement Organique", Mount Lebanon was separated from Syria and reunited under a non-Lebanese Christian governor appointed by the Ottoman sultan, with the approval of the European powers. The region then became the semi-autonomous Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate. As part of the Tanzimat reforms, the eyalets becoming smaller vilayets, governed by a vali (governor). A vali was appointed by the Ottoman Sultan but with new provincial assemblies participating in administration. The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate then was incorporated under Beirut Vilayet.

During World War I, the decline of the Ottomans paved a way for the Arab nationalist movement to arise. However, the idea of Arab nationalism had virtually no impact on the majority of Arabs as they still considered themselves loyal subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Britain had been a major sponsor of Arab nationalism, primarily as a weapon to use against the power of the Ottoman Empire. In June 1916, Sharif Hussein bin Ali, the guardian of Mecca, entered into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans. The Arab Revolt against the Ottomans was finally launched on June 10, 1916.

French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon (1917–45)

Gen. Henry Gouraud (sitting, centre) during the declaration of State of Greater Lebanon with Grand Mufti of Beirut Sheikh Mustafa Naja (sitting, right) and Maronite Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek (sitting, 2nd left), 1920.

Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the British and the French divided each others' spheres of influences at the Middle East into several League of Nations mandates under the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916. The agreement gave France control over what was termed Syria and Lebanon. Northern Syria was divided into three autonomous regions by the French, with separate areas for the Alawis on the coast and the Druze in the south.

On September 1, 1920, France established the State of Greater Lebanon within the Mandate with its present boundaries after splitting few Syrian villages on the southern and western borders with Lebanon and adding them to Lebanon and with Beirut as its capital. The State of Greater Lebanon itself was created to be a safe haven for the Maronite population of Mount Lebanon. Maronites were the majority in Lebanon and managed to preserve its independence; an independence that created a unique precedent in the Arab world as Lebanon was the only Arab country in which Christians were not a minority.

The first Lebanese constitution was adopted on May 25, 1926. It established Lebanon as a republic with a bicameral parliament with Chamber of Deputies and a Senate (the latter was eventually abolished), a President, and a Council of Ministers and specified a balance of power between the various religious groups. France and the Syrian Republic under Hashim al-Atassi went into independence negotiations in Paris on March 22, 1936. It resulted to Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence that called for immediate recognition of Syrian independence with a transitional period of 25 years. Druze and Alawite regions were to joined into Syria. However, the Lebanese Republic maintained its autonomy and refused to join Syria.

World War II (1939–45)

The Italian bombers, SM.82, bombing Beirut, 1941

Following the fall of Metropolitan France on June 10, 1940, the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon was targeted by the Axis for the upcoming invasion for its key position to attack the Allied stronghold of Egypt and to make a land route to send armaments to Iran through Mesopotamia. Within a month, the Italians attacked Palestine and Syria from the air, including Beirut, inflicting multiple casualties. On April 1, 1941, a rebellion was initiated by pro-Axis Arab nationalists led by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani in the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. In order to help the rebel forces, the Italians and the Greeks launched a military campaign to Syria and Lebanon on April 15, 1941.

After the fighting between the Axis and the Allied forces ended with the Allied victory on the Battle of Beirut on May 15, 1941, the leader of Free France, Charles de Gaulle, recognized the independence of Lebanon following the various political pressures from both inside and outside Lebanon on July 7, 1941. However, that was not stopping the French from exercising their authority. Elections were held in 1943 and on November 6, 1943, the new Lebanese government unilaterally abolished the mandate. The French responded by arresting the president, the prime minister, and other cabinet members of the new government. In the face of international pressure, the French released the government officials on November 22, 1943 and accepted the independence of Lebanon. The Allies kept the region under control until the end of World War II.

Independent Lebanon (1943–present)

Riad al-Solh era (1945–49)

Riad el-Solh (1894–1971), the prime minister of Lebanon (1943–45; 1946–49) and the father of Lebanese independence.

Led by Riad al-Solh as its prime minister, Lebanon worked together to achieve its independence from France. Solh played central parts in writing the National Pact, a verbal agreement between him, a Sunni Muslim, and President Bishara al-Khury, a Maronite Christian. The two agreed to share powers between religious denominations, especially the Muslim and Christian populations of Lebanon. This compromise enabled the Lebanese to unite in pursuit of their independence together. Solh was credited as the "father of Lebanese independence."

After independence, Lebanon formally declared war on Germany, Spain, and China on February 27, 1945. On March 22, 1945, Lebanon became a member of the Arab League, followed by its participation on San Francisco Conference from April 25, 1945 to June 26, 1945 where Lebanon became one of the founding members of the United Nations. However, the French did not immediately moved out and rather dispatched its troops to Syria and Lebanon, resulted to mass anti-colonial demonstrations on two countries. On December 31, 1946, under the United Nations' pressure, the French withdrew completely from Lebanon, with the signing of the Franco-Lebanese Treaty.

On March 2, 1947, Antoun Saadeh, the leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (الحزب السوري القومي الاجتماعي‎ al-Ḥizb al-Sūrī al-Qawmī al-'Ijtimā'ī, SSNP), returned to Lebanon from his exile in Patagonia. Established in the 1930s, the party was known for its anti-colonial stance as well as its rejection of both Lebanese nationalism and Pan-Arabism in favor of Syrian irredentism. The party was banned by the French in 1936, forcing Saadeh to self-exile to Argentina, Brazil and, later, Japan. During his exile, Saadeh established contacts with prominent Japanese Pan-Asianists, such as Matsui Iwane and Nakano Seigo. Saadeh reorganized the party after his return.

SSNP members at the rally in Beirut to welcome Saadeh's return from exile, 1947.

In May 1948, Lebanon, as a member of the Arab League, reluctantly supported the League's invasion against Israel. Although some irregular forces crossed the border from Lebanon, Beirut did not support them and was not even formally invaded Israel, only provided weapons and logistics for the irregulars. The SSNP had trained volunteers to be sent to the battlefield by November 1948, but in March 1949, Lebanon declared armistice with Israel. The SSNP irregulars were unable to join the war, but they would be used by Saadeh later to usurp the power. Saadeh blamed the leaders of Lebanon for national humiliation by Israel.

Antoun Saadeh era (1949–78)

Consolidation of power (1949–50)

Antoun Saadeh (1904–1976), the President (1949–1976) and Prime Minister of Lebanon (1949–1958).

Saadeh's militant agitations intensified and assumed anti-Zionist tone by June 1949. By the end of June, Saadeh has met with his Druze contemporary, Kamal Jumblatt, to coordinate a nation-wide revolt against the government. On July 24, 1949, the SSNP launched a coup against Riad al-Solh's government. The regions of Beqaa, dominated by the Druze, and Shuf, at the Syrian border, were controlled by the rebels within 24 hours. At Sidon, Saadeh, Jumblatt and other rebel leaders formed a revolutionary government; Saadeh was elected as its prime minister.

The revolt, however, did not go unchallenged. Beirut witnessed street battles between the rebels and the army. Members of Maronite-dominated Lebanese nationalist Kataeb Party, led by Pierre Gemayel, clashed directly against the SSNP and fought on the side of the loyalists. Only after the rebels joined by the reinforcement from the Beqaa, Beirut can be taken over by the rebel forces on July 26. Many members of previous government immediately fled to Hejaz to avoid persecutions. Immediately thereafter, all political parties were banned, the 1926 constitution was annulled and civil liberties were curtailed.

The provisional constitution of 1949, which promulgated by the Revolutionary Council, prescribed the Lebanese parliament to be indirectly elected by local councils, which in turn are elected by different constituencies of the trade and industry sectors of Lebanon. The president of the republic, elected by the parliament every six years, was given a wide range of executive powers, such as appointing and dismissing the prime minister as well as the members of judicature, with or without the parliamentary concerns. Power sharing agreement between religious denominations was also scrapped in favor of separation of state and religion.

First economic planning (1950–56)

Terraces in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, ca. 1950

In 1950, Saadeh pushed for the expropriation of unproductive lands owned by large farmers. Instead of distributing it to small farmers, the expropriated lands were cultivated by the state to boost agricultural production. Cereals and olives became major commodities for export to Argentina and neighboring Arab countries, including Nejd, Hejaz, Palestine and the Gulf States. Taxes were lowered and subsidies were given to independent farmers as stimulus to increase crop productions. By the 1960s, Lebanon has became the "breadbasket of the Levant" where almost two-fifth of its land had been cultivable, the highest proportion in the Arab world.

Among policies of the new regime was the modernization of the country's defense system. Lebanon concluded an arms deal with Japan in 1951 as signed by Foreign Minister Abdallah el-Yafi of Lebanon and Defense Minister Yamamoto Isoroku of Japan in Tokyo. Japan provided the Lebanese Armed Forces with firearms, artillery, medium tanks and military technologies manufactured in Manchuria and Taiwan. In return, Lebanon exported consumer goods, such as sugar, processed foods, cigarette, olive oil and wine, for the Japanese market. The expansion of Lebanese military with Japanese arms increased the country's defense posture by tenfold in the 1960s which was needed to maintain Lebanese independence from regional power games.

The Hasbani River and its basin area in southeastern Lebanon.

With the aggressive expansion of Lebanese agriculture, the need of water to irrigate the farms also arose. In 1953, Saadeh planned to divert the flow of Hasbani river westward starting from Wazzani to irrigate refugee settlements in Tyre. The water diversion plan provoked Israel, Palestine, Syria and Jordan at the same time as they believed it will reduce the water supply in the Jordan river. Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, warned Lebanon that the diversion plan would be a casus belli. Water diplomacy soon followed as Palestine, Syria and Jordan negotiated with Lebanon in 1954 to create joint water authority for a proposed dam in Ghajar, Syria, without involving Israel. In November 1954, Israel has mobilized its forces near the Lebanese border.

Galilee War (1956–57)

Nationalization of Suez Canal by President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt prompted Israel into possible armed conflict with the Egyptians. Although showing similar anti-Zionist rhetoric like Nasser, Saadeh was believed by the Israeli military intelligence to focus more on economic development, but nonetheless it worried for a possibility of two-front war. Several members of Israel's ruling Mapai party, such as former Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett, had warned Prime Minister Ben-Gurion not to provoke Lebanon at any cost; the tensions, however, remained. After a secret meeting between Saadeh, Defense Minister Kamal Jumblatt and the army generals, the invasion to Galilee was decided shortly after the Tripartite Invasion by the United Kingdom, France and Israel to Egypt on October 29, 1956.

Piles of rubble in Zuqaq al-Blat, Beirut, after the Israeli air raids on the city during the Galilee War, 1956.

Brief skirmishes around October 30 and November 1 between Palestinian fedayeens and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in southern Lebanon were escalated into reprisal operation by the IDF on November 3. Joined by the fedayeens from refugee settlements, the Lebanese Army retaliated the Israeli offensive as has been planned and marched across the border into northern Galilee on November 2. Israel strategically retreated from Upper Galilee on November 3, 1956. Between November 6-11, 1956, Israel had launched several air raids over Lebanon, including three to Beirut, achieving air superiority over Lebanon during the war.

After Israel has achieved its objectives in Sinai, ground forces were diverted to the north, pushing the Lebanese out of borders; Lebanese forces was evacuated from Galilee by November 13, 1956, except in the little strip 50 km south of the 1949 armistice line. Cessation of hostilities occurred on November 15, 1956 following the announcement of ceasefire by Beirut. The war, however, has elevated Saadeh's standing among the leaders of Levant states. The Hashemite countries – Hejaz, Jordan, and Palestine – considered Lebanon as the lesser of two evils, compared to Nasser's Egypt which its Pan-Arab aspiration was seen as a threat and direct rival to their existence.

Once considered as a pariah, Lebanon was welcomed back by its neighbors. After the Hashemite monarch, King Faisal, was ousted from Syria by a Pan-Arabist armed revolt in 1957, a defense pact between Lebanon, Hejaz, Jordan and Palestine was signed at Jeddah in 1958. Lebanon and Hejaz signed a riyasat agreement on September 1, 1958, enabling the Hashemite caliph a right to appoint members of Sunni religious bureaucracy in Lebanon, the first direct religious suzerainty of Hashemite Caliphate outside of the Hashemite countries. In return, Beirut received a series of financial aids from Hejaz and Jordan to fund its economic development projects.

Further readings

• Harris, W. (2012). Lebanon: A history, 600-2011. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-518112-8.
• Tibawi, A. L. (1969). A modern history of Syria, including Lebanon and Palestine. London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.
• Traboulsi, F. (2007). A history of modern Lebanon. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-2437-1.