Antiquity
Excavations made in the city of Ebla, in northern Syria, have shown that the civilization in Syria is one of the oldest on Earth. Approximately 10,000 years ago, the region saw livestock and agriculture appear for the first time in the world, followed by ceramics and obsidian tools that evidence the beginning of commercial relations. Cities like Haoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic and Bronze Age.
Excavations at Ebla by Italian archaeologists led by Professor Paolo Matthiae uncovered a large empire stretching from the Red Sea to northern Anatolia and eastern Iraq. [1] The city appears to have been founded in 3000 BC and the empire gradually spread through trade with the cities of Sumer and Akkad, as well as other towns to the northwest. The discovery of gifts made by the pharaohs confirmed Ebla’s relations with Egypt.
The Ebla civilization was probably conquered by Sargon of Acad around the year 2260 BC ; the city was restored as the nation of the Amorites a few centuries later and flourished in the early second millennium BC until it was conquered by the Hittites.
Invasions
According to Youremailverifier, Syria was successively occupied in the 2nd century BC by the Canaanites, Phoenicians and Arameans, until finally the Persians dominated the region. Among the achievements of the Canaanites is the invention of the alphabet with the first Canaanite linear writing system or «proto-alphabet», which dates back to 1600 BC and was found in Ugarit, on the Mediterranean coast of present-day Syria, in 1928., and has 30 signs. They also built boats suitable for the open sea, manufactured ceramics and textiles, expanded and systematized geographical knowledge, and carried out the first circumnavigation of Africa.
Later Alexander the Great took control that later passed to the Greeks, Romans and Byzantines. During Roman rule the city of Antioquia was the third largest city in the empire after Rome and Alexandria.
Around the year 640 Syria was conquered by the army led by Khalid Ibn al-Walid, forming part of the Islamic Empire. In the second half of the 7th century the Umayyad dynasty, then rulers of the empire, placed the capital in Damascus, dividing the country into four districts: Damascus, Homs, Palestine and Jordan. The country then was conquered by Egypt and even parts of the Syrian coasts were under the power of the Frankish lords during the crusades of the still XII.
Destroyed by the Mongols, Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th to the 20th century, finding itself cut off from world affairs. During that period the economy was stagnant while the country was extremely poor and saw its population decrease by almost 30%.
With the end of World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire as an ally of Germany, the plans of the Triple Entente powers were put in place to dissolve the Ottoman territory. The secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, which established the division of the Middle East between France and Great Britain, allowed the former to occupy the territories of present-day Syria and its coastal area that would become Lebanon. [2] Initial oil discoveries in the Mosul region just before the end of the war led to a new negotiation in 1918 and France had to cede part of the occupied territory to “Zone B”, or zone of British influence.
French occupation
In 1920 and for a few months, Faisal I of Hashemite, who would later become king of Iraq, dominated some regions of Syria. This domain was extinguished very soon, after the Battle of Maysalun between Syrian Arab forces and French regular troops. French troops occupied Syria and later at the San Remo Conference, the territorial divisions previously agreed between France and the United Kingdom in the previous Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919 were ratified and legalized. In this way, Syria and Lebanon were under French mandate, at the same time that they were separated from each other. [3]
In 1925 Sultan al-Atrash led a revolt that encompassed Syria and parts of Lebanon. On August 23, 1925, the sultan officially declared the revolution against France, in what is considered the most important rebellion against the French mandate, since it encompassed the whole of Syria and witnessed fierce battles between rebel troops and the French. Fighting soon began in Damascus, Homs and Hama. Al-Atrash won several battles against the French at the beginning of the revolution, most notably the Battle of Al-Kabir on July 21, 1925, the Battle of Al-Mazra’a el August 2, 1925, and the battles of Salkhad, and Almsifarh Suwayda.
In response, France sent thousands of soldiers with modern weapons to fight the badly armed rebels, which dramatically altered the results and allowed the French to regain many cities, although the resistance lasted until the spring of 1927. In 1928 elections are organized in which he obtains the majority in the National Assembly, the National Bloc, made up of Arab-Syrian nationalists. [4] In that same year, a nationalist Constitution was drawn up, inspired by the Iraqi Constitution of 1925, which established a parliamentary republic with dual executive bodies. The French High Commissariat vetoed some articles, considering that the role of France as a metropolis was questioned, and in 1930 the French Republic presents a Constitution for the Syrian State similar to the one presented by the nationalists in 1928, which would be in force until the end of the French mandate. In 1936 the French government headed by the Popular Front, decided to negotiate with the Syrian nationalists and in September of that year a treaty was signed that set a three-year term for the end of French control and a 25-year alliance between both nations. [4]
In 1936 elections and former Prime Minister held under the reign of King Faisal, Hashim el-Atassi, is elected as the first president under the new constitution. Despite this, the treaty signed in that year never came into force, since the French side did not ratify it and Syria was under the control of Vichy France until the British and Free French occupied the country in the campaign. from Syria and Lebanon, in July 1941. [4]
Syria proclaimed its independence in 1941, but it was not until January 1, 1944 that it was recognized as an independent republic. Continued pressure from Syrian nationalist groups and British pressure, forced the French to evacuate their troops in April of 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had formed during the occupation.
Coups d’état and international conflicts
In a period of just ten years (1946 – 1956) Syria had 20 different cabinets and four separate constitutions. In 1948 the country became involved in the Arab-Israeli war, joining other Arab states that tried to prevent the occupation of a part of Palestine by Israel. [5] The army suffered a humiliating defeat, one of the main factors in Colonel Hosni al-Zaim’s coup, the first of a series of three, during the same year. A few months after the first coup, al-Zaim is overthrown by General Sami Hinnawi, who in turn is deposed on December 19. of 1949 by Colonel Adib Shicakli. The new government prohibits multipartism and dissolves the Assembly.
Between 1958 and 1961 Syria and Egypt signed a political alliance, announced on February 1, 1958 by Syrian President Shukri al-Quwatli and Egyptian Gamal Abdel Nasser, operating the two states and creating the United Arab Republic. [6] On September 28, 1961, a military coup led by Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi was carried out and the new government dissolved the union with Egypt and restored the Syrian Arab Republic. After a year and a half of instability, a group of civil and military officials assumed power through a new coup, on March 8. from 1963. [4] The coup was led by members of the Baath Party and led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar.
In April of 1964 an interim constitution that established a sovereign, democratic, popular and socialist Republic is promulgated. The 23 of February of 1966 a group of army officers imprisoned President Hafiz, dissolved the cabinet and repealing the provisional Constitution, leaving power in the hands of the radical faction, who would govern until 1970.
In April 1967, tensions between Israel and Syria erupted, resulting in a major air battle in which six Syrian aircraft were shot down. [5] By the end of 1948 a demilitarized zone had been created between Syria and Israel, as well as the establishment of a joint armistice commission between the two nations. In 1967 the Israeli government used a series of provocations to finally launch an invasion, the so-called Six Day War, against all its neighboring countries. The result of this conflict was the illegal occupation of, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, the latter region, belonging to Syria.
During an interview in 1976, the Zionist general Moshe Dayan acknowledged that all the clashes had been provoked by Israel. [7]
In November of 1970, Hafez el-Assad to won power through the corrective movement, creating an organizational infrastructure for his government to consolidate control.