Salah Eldin Bazinah
Question 1- Summarize the promises and agreements that the Allies made with Italy, Japan, the Arabs and the Jewish
community in order to gain their participation on the Allied side. Briefly describe how the participation of each aided the Allies.
I. Introduction
II. The promises and agreements made.
A. Promises made to Italy.
1. Italy was too worried to join the Central Powers due to Austrian expansion in the Balkans. However, due to the
policy of the conservative government at that time, Italy decided to join the Allies.
2. The Italians were promised, the northern regions of Trentino and South Tyrol, the port of Trieste, Istria and half
of the Dalmatian Coast, which would give Italy control of the Adriatic.
3. Italy was also promised some of Germany’s African colonies.
4. After these promises were made, being an ally to Allies was appealing and on April 26 th, 1915, the Italian
government signed the Treaty of London. One month later Italy declared war on Austria. These territorial gains
were part of the Treaty of London.
B. Promises made to Japan.
1. After Japan had defeated Russia in 1905 it presented a threat to European colonies.
2. Britain and Japan, together, carried out an attack on the German province of Kiachow on the Chinese Coast.
3. In 1917, the Allies formally recognized the Japan’s claims to the German Pacific islands, which it already
conquered, and to German trading rights in Kiachow.
4. After the recognition of Japanese claims, Japan joined the Allies.
C. Promises made to the Arabs.
1. The Sykes-Picot agreement proposed an independent Confederation of Arab States in which Britain and France
would have “certain rights”.
o This would, therefore, encourage the Arab subjects of Turkey to revolt against their rulers (The Turks);
and join the Allies, since they would gain freedom.
2. The Hussein-McMahon correspondence enlisted the Arabs in the War. This Hussein-McMahon correspondence
was the exchange of letters, in July 1915, between Hussein ibn Ali, Sharif of Mecca, and Sir Henry McMahon,
High Commissioner for Egypt, in which Hussein informed McMahon of Arab participation in the War against the
Turks.
o The letters that were exchanged between McMahon and Hussein outlined the areas that Britain was
prepared to give up to the Arabs.
3. The assistance of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) also gave hope to the Arabs. In 1916, Lawrence joined
King Faisal’s forces and planned a full-scale revolt of the tribes. His guerrilla warfare was successful in defeating
some of the Ottoman forces in the Middle East. This greatly assisted the Allies.
D. Promises made to the Jewish community.
1. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 was a declaration made by the British Foreign Minister, Arthur Balfour.
o This declaration was the British government’s support of the idea of a Jewish national home in the
Middle East. This Jewish state would be in the area of Palestine, however, the British would guard “the
rights of the non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.
o The Allies of Britain and the Jewish community greatly supported this declaration.
2. This declaration was made so that the Jewish communities in Europe and America would push their countries in
supporting the British cause against Germany with financial aid and low interest loans.
III. The importance of these countries to the Allies.
A. Italy’s importance.
1. The Allies valued Italy’s intervention.
o It kept Austrian divisions pinned down in the Isonzo area and the Dolomites, making the Austrian
Empire more dependent on Germany’s assistance, which helped Russia indirectly.
o The Italian Navy also prevented the Austrian ships from leaving the Adriatic and German vessels in the
Mediterranean. Even though there was no unity in the Italian army, they still helped the Allies by
distracting the Austrian army.
2. However, in 1917, Britain and France had to send some of their troops to Italy since the Italians were close to a
defeat. This was a burden to the Allies. Still, Italy was an important factor in the Austrian defeat, which helped
the Allies in defeating the Central Powers.
B. Japan’s importance.
1. After declaring war on Germany in 1914, Japan attacked Germany’s Asiatic possessions.
o In October it had occupied most of Germany’s islands in the Pacific and was besieging the heavily
fortified garrison at Kiachow. The Germans were not able to defend their colonies, and, therefore, they
surrendered to the Japanese. Therefore, they distracted the German army from the Western Front; this
did not have a major importance from the Japanese side, since Austria or New Zealand could have
easily conquered these colonies.
C. The Arab’s importance.
1. The Arabs assisted the Allies in campaigns against Turkey.
o The British had guerrilla assistance from the Anti-Turkish Movement, led by T.E. Lawrence and Sharif
Hussein of Mecca.
D. The Jewish importance.
1.
The Allies had the belief that if they promised the Jewish community a homeland after the War, these Jewish
communities would push their governments to support the Allies’ cause against Germany and the Central
Powers.
2.
Another aim of the Balfour Declaration was that if Britain supported a Jewish homeland in Palestine, then
American and British Jewish bankers would give loans to the British government during the War. Which was
successful.
IV. Conclusion. *(For more information refer to Chp. 2 Pg. 20, 22-23 and Chp. 4 Pg. 62)