Table of Contents

Volume 1. 1840–1854: starts at the end of the rule of Bashir II in 1840, records conflicts between Christians and Druzes, the partition in 1842 of the Lebanon into Druze and Christian sections, the Ottoman policy of fomenting strife in order to increase control, and the reflections of the British on the French governance in the Lebanon. Volume 2. 1855–1866: describes how foreign intervention transformed social and political struggle into civil war culminating in the Druze massacres of about 10,000 Christians in 1860; records the attempts at negotiations for peace through the Turkish authorities; describes the situation for the Druzes in the aftermath of the civil war; and presents the work of the Syrian Commission to introduce good governance in the Lebanon in order to avoid a repeat of the tragedy of 1860. Volume 3. 1866–1926: traces late 19th-century tensions; covers the dispute in 1879 in the Hauran over conscription; describes the arrival of Turkish troops in Lebanon in 1910 and the following campaign against the Druzes; explores the fears of the Druzes of the pro-French Maronites following the withdrawal of the British Army after the First World War; records Druze reaction to the French Mandate; records the quashing of the movement for an independent Jebel Druze Emirate by the French; and reveals the repression of the Jebel Druze by the French and the subsequent Druze Revolt of 1925/6. Volume 4. 1927–1974: reviews the leading Druze families and their disputes; includes British military reports at the time of the Second World War; records Druze unrest following 1947 Syrian elections; records the position of the Druzes with regard to Palestine, following the Second World War; reveals pension provisions made for officers of the Druze Regiments by the British Government; and records the position of the Druzes within Israel towards the middle of the 20th century.

Promotional Information

Political despatches, correspondence and reports, which describe events affecting the Druzes of Syria and Lebanon from 1840–1974.