Battle of Maysalun

Coordinates: 33°35′44″N 36°3′53″E / 33.59556°N 36.06472°E / 33.59556; 36.06472
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Battle of Maysalun
معركة ميسلون
Part of the
Anti-Lebanon Mountains
, Syria
Result French victory
Belligerents French Third Republic France SyriaCommanders and leaders
Henri Gouraud
French Third Republic Mariano Goybet
Yusuf al-Azma †
Hassan al-Hindi
Militia commanders:
Muhammad al-Ashmar
Yasin Kiwan †Strength 12,000 troops
(backed by tanks and aircraft) 1,400–4,000 regulars
Bedouin cavalrymen
civilian volunteersCasualties and losses 42 killed
152 wounded
14 missing
(French claim)[1] ~150 killed
~1,500 wounded
(French claim)[1]

The Battle of Maysalun (

Anti-Lebanon Mountains, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Damascus
.

In October 1918,

mandate.[2]

The Battle of Maysalun ensued as French forces set out from Lebanon to assert control over Damascus and topple Faisal's government. With remnants of the Syrian army and local volunteers, Faisal's war minister, General Yusuf al-Azma, set out to confront them. The better-equipped French troops, led by General Mariano Goybet, defeated al-Azma, who was killed in action. The French entered Damascus the following day, encountering little resistance. Soon afterward, Faisal was expelled from Syria. Despite the Syrian army's decisive defeat, the battle is viewed in Syria and the rest of the Arab world as a symbol of courageous resistance against a stronger, imperial power.

Background

See also:
French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon

On 30 October 1918, towards the end of

Sykes-Picot Agreement.[4]

King Faisal (center) and War Minister Yusuf al-Azma (left, in front of Faisal), 1920

To ensure his throne in Syria, Faisal attended the January 1919

Paris Conference, where he was not recognized by the French government as the sovereign ruler of Syria; Faisal called for Syrian sovereignty under his rule,[4] but the European powers attending the conference called for European mandates to be established over the former Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire.[5] In the US-led June 1919 King–Crane Commission, which published its conclusions in 1922, the commission determined that the people of Syria overwhelmingly rejected French rule. Furthermore, Emir Faisal stated to the commission that "French rule would mean certain death to Syrians as a distinguished people".[6]

French forces commanded by General

Shia Muslim rebels opposed to the French presence, Gouraud held the Arab government responsible and demanded that it apologize, which it did not. In response, Gouraud violated his agreement with al-Said and occupied Baalbek. The French deployment along the Syrian coast and the Beqaa Valley provoked unrest throughout Syria and sharpened political divisions between the political camp calling for confronting the French and the camp preferring compromise.[7]

On 8 March 1920, the

Zeid, which led to around 200 deaths.[15] Al-Azma, who staunchly opposed surrender, implored Faisal to allow him and the remnants of his army to confront the French.[16]

Prelude

On 22 July, Faisal dispatched Education Minister

Hejaz Railway.[21]

Cousse's message confirmed the fears of Faisal's cabinet that Gouraud was intent on taking over Syria by force. The cabinet subsequently rejected Gouraud's ultimatum and issued a largely symbolic appeal to the international community to end the French advance.[17] On 23 July, al-Azma set out from Damascus with his motley force of army regulars and volunteers, which was divided into northern, central and southern columns each headed by camel cavalry units.[22] French forces launched their offensive towards Khan Maysalun and Wadi al-Qarn shortly after dawn on 24 July, at 5:00,[22] while Syrian forces were waiting at their positions overlooking the low end of Wadi al-Qarn.[23]

Combatants and arms

French forces

General Mariano Goybet commanded French forces during the battle

Estimates of the combined size of the French

Tirailleurs (Riflemen) Regiment, the Senegalese Division, the African Light Infantry Regiment and the Moroccan Spahi Regiment.[24] A number of Maronite volunteers from Mount Lebanon reportedly joined the French forces as well.[25] The Army of the Levant was equipped with field and mountain artillery batteries and 155mm guns,[24] and backed by tanks and fighter bombers.[15] The commander of the French forces was General Mariano Goybet.[24]

Syrian forces

Syrian forces consisted of remnants of the Arab Army assembled by General al-Azma, including soldiers from General Hassan al-Hindi's disbanded Anjar-based garrison, disbanded units from Damascus and Bedouin camel cavalry; most Arab Army units had been disbanded days prior to the battle by order of King Faisal as part of his acceptance of General Gouraud's terms.[13] In addition to Arab Army troops, numerous civilian volunteers and militiamen from Damascus joined al-Azma's forces.[15] Estimates put the number of Syrian soldiers and irregulars at around 4,000,[1] while historian Eliezer Tauber asserts that al-Azma recruited 3,000 soldiers and volunteers, of whom only 1,400 participated in the battle.[26] According to historian Michael Provence, the "quarters of Damascus had been emptied of young men as crowds walked west, some armed only with swords or sticks, to meet the mechanized French column".[27]

Commander of the Syrian forces at Maysalun, War Minister Yusuf al-Azma died during the battle.

Part of the civilian militia units were assembled and led by Yasin Kiwan, a Damascene merchant, Abd al-Qadir Kiwan, the former imam of the Umayyad Mosque, and Shaykh Hamdi al-Juwajani, a Muslim scholar. Yasin and Abd al-Qadir were killed during the battle.[28] Shaykh Muhammad al-Ashmar also participated in the battle with 40–50 of his men from the Midan quarter of Damascus. Other Muslim preachers and scholars from Damascus, including Tawfiq al-Darra (ex-mufti of the Ottoman Fifth Army), Sa'id al-Barhani (preacher at the Tuba Mosque), Muhammad al-Fahl (scholar from the Qalbaqjiyya Madrasa) and Ali Daqqar (preacher at the Sinan Pasha Mosque) also participated in the battle.[29]

The Syrians were equipped with rifles discarded by retreating Ottoman soldiers during World War I and those used by the Sharifian Army's Bedouin cavalry during the 1916 Arab Revolt. The Syrians also possessed a number of machine guns and about 15 artillery pieces. According to various versions, ammunition was low, with 120–250 bullets per rifle, 45 bullets per machine gun, and 50–80 shells per cannon. Part of this ammunition was also unusable because many bullet and rifle types did not correspond to each other.[12]

Battle

The first clashes took place at 6:30 when French tanks stormed the central position of the Syrian defensive line while French cavalry and infantry units assaulted the Syrians' northern and southern positions.[17] The camel cavalry were the first Syrian units to engage the French.[22] Syrian forces initially put up stiff resistance along the front,[22][30] but lacked coordination between their different units.[22] Early in the clashes, Syrian artillery fire inflicted casualties on a battery of French soldiers.[23] French tanks faced heavy fire as they attempted to gain ground against the Syrians.[23] However, French artillery took a toll on Syrian forces and by 8:30 the French had broken the Syrians' central trench.[22] At one point in the first few hours of the clashes,[30] Syrian forces managed to briefly pin down two Senegalese companies that were relatively isolated on the French right flank.[23] The losses inflicted on the two Senegalese units represented roughly half of the French army's total casualties.[23] Nonetheless, by 10:00, the battle was effectively over, having turned decisively in favor of the French.[30]

At 10:30, French forces reached al-Azma's headquarters, unhindered by the mines laid en route by the Syrians.[22] Little information is known about the battle from the Syrian side.[23] According to one version, when French forces were about 100 meters in the distance, al-Azma rushed to a Syrian artilleryman stationed near him and ordered him to open fire. However, before any shells could be fired, a French tank unit spotted al-Azma and gunned him down by machine gun.[22] In another account, al-Azma had attempted to mine the trenches as the French forces approached his position, but was shot down by the French before he could set off the charges.[30] Al-Azma's death marked the end of the battle, although intermittent clashes continued until 13:30.[22] Surviving Syrian fighters were bombed from the air and harried by the French as they retreated toward Damascus.[30]

After the battle, General Gouraud addressed General Goybet as follows:

GENERAL ORDER No. 22

Aley, 24 July 1920

"The General is deeply happy to address his congratulations to General Goybet and his valiant troops: 415th of line, 2nd Algerian sharpshooters, 11th and 10th Senegalese sharpshooters, light-infantry-men of Africa, Moroccan trooper regiment, batteries of African groups, batteries of 155, 314, company of tanks, bombardment groups and squadrons who in the hard fight of 24 of July, have broken the resistance of the enemy who defied us for 8 months ... They have engraved a glorious page in the history of our country." – General Gouraud

Aftermath

See also:
Siege of Damascus (1920)
King Faisal was expelled from Syria by the French following their occupation of Damascus

Initial estimates of the casualties which claimed 2,000 Syrian dead and 800 French casualties turned out to be exaggerated.[22] The French Army claimed 42 of its soldiers were killed, 152 wounded and 14 missing in action, while around 150 Syrian fighters were killed and 1,500 wounded.[1] King Faisal observed the battle unfold from the village of al-Hamah, and as it became apparent that the Syrians had been routed, he and his cabinet, with the exception of Interior Minister Ala al-Din al-Durubi, who had quietly secured a deal with the French, departed for al-Kiswah, a town located at the southern approaches of Damascus.[30]

French forces had captured

besieged and captured Damascus on 25 July. Within a short time, the majority of Faisal's forces fled or surrendered to the French, although parties of Arab groups opposed to French rule continued to resist before being quickly defeated.[12] King Faisal returned to Damascus on 25 July and asked al-Durubi to form a government, although al-Durubi had already decided on the composition of his cabinet, which was confirmed by the French. General Gouraud condemned Faisal's rule in Syria, accusing him of having "dragged the country to within an inch of destruction", and stating that because of this, it was "utterly impossible for him to remain in the country".[31] Faisal denounced Gouraud's statement and insisted that he remained the sovereign head of Syria whose authority he was "granted by the Syrian people".[31]

Although he verbally dismissed the French order expelling him and his family from Syria, Faisal departed Damascus on 27 July with only one of his cabinet members, al-Husri.[31] He initially traveled south to Daraa in the Hauran region where he gained the allegiance of local tribal leaders.[32] However, a French ultimatum to the tribal leaders to expel Faisal or face the bombardment of their encampments compelled Faisal to head west to Haifa in British-held Palestine on 1 August and avoid further bloodshed. Faisal's departure from Syria marked an end to his goal of establishing and leading an Arab state in Syria.[33]

Legacy

The French took control of the territory that became the

Jabal al-Druze State for the Druze in Hauran, the Alawite State for the Alawites in the Syrian coastal mountains and the states of Damascus and Aleppo.[34] Gouraud reportedly went to the tomb of Saladin, kicked it, and said:[35]

Awake, Saladin. We have returned. My presence here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent.

Although the Syrians were decisively defeated, the Battle of Maysalun "has gone down in Arab history as a synonym for heroism and hopeless courage against huge odds, as well as for treachery and betrayal", according to Iraqi historian Ali al-Allawi.[30] According to British journalist Robert Fisk, the Battle of Maysalun was "a struggle which every Syrian learns at school but about which almost every Westerner is ignorant".[36] Historian Tareq Y. Ismael wrote that following the battle, the "Syrian resistance at Khan Maysalun soon took on epic proportions. It was viewed as an Arab attempt to stop the imperial avalanche." He also states that the Syrians' defeat caused popular attitudes in the Arab world that exist until the present day which hold that the Western world dishonors the commitments it makes to the Arab people and "oppresses anyone who stands in the way of its imperial designs."[37] Sati' al-Husri, a major pan-Arabist thinker, asserted that the battle was "one of the most important events in the modern history of the Arab nation."[38] The event is annually commemorated by Syrians, during which thousands visit the grave of al-Azma in Maysalun.[38]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Khoury 1987, p. 97.
  2. ISBN 978-0-275-97470-1
    .
  3. ^ Allawi 2014, pp. 60–61.
  4. ^ a b Moubayed 2012, pp. 8–9.
  5. ^ Moubayed 2012, p. 14.
  6. ^ Moubayed 2012, p. 16.
  7. ^ Allawi, 2014, p. 285.
  8. ^ Baker 1979, p. 161.
  9. ^ Baker 1979, p. 162.
  10. ^ Baker 1979, p. 163.
  11. ^ Moubayed 2006, p. 44.
  12. ^ a b c Tauber 1995, p. 215.
  13. ^ a b c Allawi 2014, p. 288.
  14. ^ Tauber 2013, p. 34.
  15. ^ a b c d e Allawi 2014, p. 289.
  16. ^ Moubayed 2006, p. 45.
  17. ^ a b c Allawi 2014, p. 290.
  18. ^ a b c Russell 1985, p. 187.
  19. ^ Russel 1985, p. 186.
  20. ISBN 9780465025046.[permanent dead link
    ]
  21. ^ Russel 1985, p. 246.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Tauber 1995, p. 218.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Russell 1985, p. 189.
  24. ^ a b c Husri 1966, p. 172.
  25. ISBN 9781860649127
    .
  26. ^ Tauber 1995, p. 216.
  27. ^ Provence 2011, p. 218.
  28. ^ Gelvin 1998, p. 115.
  29. ^ Gelvin 1998, pp. 115–116.
  30. ^ a b c d e f g h Allawi 2014, p. 291.
  31. ^ a b c Allawi 2014, p. 292.
  32. ^ Allawi 2014, p. 293.
  33. ^ Allawi 2014, p. 294.
  34. ^ McHugo 2013, p. 122.
  35. ISBN 9780393061994
    . Awake, Saladin. We have returned.
  36. ^ Fisk 2007, p. 1003.
  37. ^ Ismael 2014, p. 57.
  38. ^ a b Sorek 2015, p. 32.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Moubayed, Sami M. The Politics of Damascus 1920–1946. Urban Notables and the French Mandate (Dar Tlass, 1999)

33°35′44″N 36°3′53″E / 33.59556°N 36.06472°E / 33.59556; 36.06472

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