Timeline of Ottoman Syria History - Events - 20th Century

20th Century

  • 30 October 1918: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The British Sinai and Palestine Campaign officially ends with the signing of the Armistice of Mudros and, shortly thereafter, the Ottoman Empire is dissolved.
  • 3 October 1918 - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The forces of the Arab revolt led by Prince Faysal enter Damascus. In 1920 Prince Faysal becomes the king of the Arab Kingdom of Syria for a short period.
  • 1 October 1918 - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: A combined Arab and British force occupy Damascus.
  • 23 September - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: British occupation of Haifa is completed.
  • 19 September–1 October 1918 - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Megiddo
  • 14 July 1918 - Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Abu Tellul
  • June 1918 - First meeting between the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and the son of the Sharif of Mecca Hashemite Prince Faisal, who led the Arab forces in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, which takes place in Faisal's headquarters in Aqaba in an attempt to establish favourable relations between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East.
  • 4 April 1918 - The first edition of the Hebrew-language daily newspaper "Haaretz" is published, sponsored by the British military government in Palestine.
  • 1918: Forces of the Arab Revolt enter Damascus accompanied by British troops, ending 400 years of Ottoman rule.
  • 8 December-26 December 26, 1917: The British Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Jerusalem - The Ottomans are defeated by the British forces at the Battle of Jerusalem. The British Army's General Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot, in a reference to the entrance of Caliph Umar in 637.
  • 15 November 1917: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: British troops capture Tel Aviv and Jaffa.
  • 2 November 1917: The Balfour Declaration is published in which the British Government declares its support for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.
  • 31 October-7 November 1917: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Third Battle of Gaza - British forces capture Gaza and break the Turkish defensive line in southern Palestine.
  • 31 October 1917: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Beersheba - Australian and New Zealand cavalry troops capture Beersheba from the Turks.
  • 6 July 1917: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Turks, and incorporate the territory into the Kingdom of Hejaz, under the rule of Prince Faisal. The capture of Aqaba helps open supply lines from Egypt to the Arab and British forces in the field further north in Transjordan and Palestine, and more importantly alleviate a threat of a Turkish offensive against the strategically important Suez Canal.
  • 19 April 1917: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Second Battle of Gaza - Turkey repels British assault on Gaza-Beersheba line.
  • 6 April 1917: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: The Tel Aviv and Jaffa deportation - The Ottoman authorities deport the entire civilian population of Jaffa and Tel Aviv pursuant to the order from Ahmed Jamal Pasha, the military governor of Ottoman Syria during the First World War. Although the Muslim evacuees are allowed to return before long, the Jewish evacuees were not able to return until after the British conquest of Palestine.
  • 26 March 1917: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: First Battle of Gaza - British fail to advance into Palestine after 17,000 Turkish troops block their advance.
  • 9 January 1917: Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Battle of Rafa - British Empire forces defeat the Turks in Rafah and complete the re-conquest of the Sinai Peninsula.
  • 1916: The Mutasarrifiyet of Mount Lebanon is abolished.
  • June 1916: Grand Sharif Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca who shared with his fellow Arabs a strong dislike for his Ottoman overlords, enters into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans and soon thereafter commences what would become known as The Great Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule.
  • 16 May 1916: Britain and France conclude the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, which defines their respective spheres of influence and control in Western Asia after the expected demise of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. It was largely a trade agreement with a large area set aside for indirect control through an Arab state or a confederation of Arab states.
  • March–October 1915: The 1915 locust plague breaks out in the Palestine region.
  • 28 January–3 February 1915: The British Sinai and Palestine Campaign: First Suez Offensive - A battle between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire in which the Turks fail in their attempt to capture or destroy the Suez Canal and are forced to withdraw their forces. The canal was vital to the British war effort.
  • 1915-1917: Famine in Syria resulting in up to 500,000 deaths due to severe shortage of supplies.
  • 1914: Ottomans fight on the side of the Central Powers in World War I.
  • 11 April 1909: Tel Aviv was founded on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa.
  • 1 September 1908: The Hejaz Railway opens.
  • 1901: The Jewish National Fund was founded at the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel with the aim of buying and developing land in the Palestine region of Ottoman Syria for Jewish settlement.
  • 1900-1908: Hejaz Railway: construction of Railroad Damascus-Medina.

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