The “Great Syria” Project in the Middle East Politics and Propaganda of the Third Reich during the Second World War (1939-1942)
The article is devoted to study of "Great Syria" in the Middle East policy and propaganda of the Third Reich during the World War II (1939-1942). This study is based on the analysis of published and unpublished documents from the German archives. With the outbreak of World War II (and, in particular, after the following the defeat of France in 1940), the Middle East policy of the Third Reich increased in activity, which was aimed at disruption of the dominant position of the British Empire in the Middle East. German propaganda in the region focused on the fact that after the end of World War I Great Britain and France did not grant independence to the Arabs, but established their own colonial domination in the region in the form of the mandates system. In this regard German diplomats sought, with a view to propaganda, to build alternative versions of the political organization of the Arab world that would provide for the creation of a unified Arab state. Focusing on these projects makes it possible to see what "mental maps" of the Middle East and the Arab world existed in the minds of German diplomats. In addition, since summer of 1941 began to be planned the German offensive in the Middle East the question of the organization of a "new order" in the Arab world received not only propaganda but also a practical dimension. One of the options for the creation of a unified Arab state was the project "Great Syria". However, although the diplomats of the Third Reich created in their imagination rather radical projects for the political transformation of the Arab world, for a number of reasons (political and ideological) they showed restraint and caution in their practical steps and propaganda in the region. One reason for this caution was the need to take into account the position of Italy, as well as the positions of other actors (Vichy France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia). Although at that time were offered and discussed different versions of the organization of the "new order" in the Arab world, there is a noticeable similarity in all German projects. In particular, the narrative of all authors of such projects presupposed the presence of one or several factors, the use of which, they believed, would lead to the collapse of the British Empire in the Middle East. In an effort to present a political alternative to British domination in the region for propaganda purposes, German diplomats, in fact, recognized the success of the British colonial experience in the Middle East and intended to capitalize it in German politics in the region. The author declares no conflicts of interests.
Keywords
“Great Syria”,
propaganda,
Third Reich,
World War II,
Middle EastAuthors
| Sherstyukov Sergey A. | National Research University Higher School of Economics | ssherstyukov@hse.ru |
Всего: 1
References
Наумкин В. Компьютерные джихадисты Ближнего Востока. URL: http://russiancouncil.ru/analytics-and-comments/analytics/kompyuternyedzhikhadisty-blizhnego-vostoka/ (дата обращения: 16.04. 2018).
Pipes D. Greater Syria: the History of an Ambition. New York : Oxford University Press, 1992. 240 p.
Наумкин В. Нужно ли присоединять Россию к соглашению Сайкса-Пико? URL: http://russiancouncil.ru/analytics-and-comments/analytics/nuzhnoli-prisoedinyat-rossiyu-k-soglasheniyu-sayksa-piko/ (дата обращения: 16.04. 2018).
The Balfour Declaration. November 2, 1917. URL: http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/the%20balfour%20declaration.aspx (accessed: 16.04. 2018)
Barr J. A Line in the Sand. Britain, France and the Struggle that shaped the Middle-East. London : Simon & Schuster, 2011. 464 p.
Letters between Hussein Ibn Ali and Sir Henry Mcmahon. URL: https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Letters_between_Hussein_Ibn_Ali_and_Sir_Henry_Mcmahon (accessed: 16.04. 2018)
Остерхаммель Ю. Трансформация мира: история XIX века. Главы из книги // Ab Imperio. 2011. № 3. С. 21-140.
Алимова А.Н. Антун Сааде и идеология пансирианизма // Ислам в современном мире. 2018. № 14 (1). C. 209-222.
Bosworth C.E. Al-Sham // Encyclopaedia of Islam : 12 vols. / ed. by C.E. Bosworth, E. Van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs, G. Lecomte et al. Leiden : E.J. Brill, 1995. Vol. VIII: Ned-Sam. P. 261-281.
Masalha N. Faisal's Pan-Arabism, 1921-33 // Middle Eastern Studies. 1991. Vol. 27 (4). P. 679-693.
Motadel D. The Muslim world in the Second World War // The Cambridge History of the Second World War / R. Bosworth, J.A. Maiolo (eds.). Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2015. P. 605-626.
Arielli N. Fascist Italy and the Middle East, 1933-40. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 257 p.
Mauro P. Politica islamica e propaganda fascista in Siria e Libano (1932-1940) : Doctoral Thesis. Universita' degli Studi di Cagliari, 2012. 329 p.
Dieterich R. Germany's Relations with Iraq and Transjordan from the Weimar Republic to the End of the Second World War // Middle Eastern Studies. 2005. Vol. 41 (4). P. 463-479.
Nicosia F.R. Arab Nationalism and National Socialist Germany, 1933-1939 Ideological and Strategic Incompatibility // The International Journal of Middle East Studies. 1980. Vol. 12. P. 351-372.
Nicosia F.R. Nazi Germany and the Arab World. New York : Cambridge University Press, 2015. 301 p.
Bundesarchiv. Potsdam. Auswartiges Amt. Fro 14882.
Шерстюков С.А. «Арабский вопрос» во внешней политике Третьего рейха / под науч. ред. О.Ю. Курныкина. Барнаул : Изд-во Алт. ун-та, 2014. 146 с.
Пир-Будагова Э.П. История Сирии. ХХ век / Ин-т востоковедения РАН. М. : ИВ РАН, 2015. 392 с.
Tibawi A.L. A Modern History of Syria (Including Lebanon and Palestine). Macmillan : St Martin's Press, 1969. 441 p.
Akten zur deutschen auswartigen Politik 1918-1945. (ADAP). Serie D: 1937-1945. [S.l.], 1964. Bd. 11. S. 2.
ADAP. Serie D: 1937-1945. Frankfurt a. M., 1963. Bd. 12. S. 1.
Hopp G. Der Koran als «Geheime Reichssache». Bruchstucke deutscher Islampolitik zwischen 1938 und 1945 // Gnosisforschung und Religionsge-schichte : Festschrift fur Kurt Rudolph zum 65. Geburtstag / Hrsg. H. PreiBler, H. Seiwert. Marburg : Diagonal-Verlag, 1994. S. 435-446.
Hitler's Muslim stop-gaps.Interview with historian David Motadel. URL: https://en.qantara.de/content/interview-with-historian-david-motadel-hitlers-muslim-stop-gaps (accessed: 16.04. 2018)
Bundesarchiv. Potsdam. Auswartiges Amt. Nr. 611174.
Eichholtz D. Krieg um Ol. Ein Erdolimperium als deutsches Kriegsziel 1938-1943. Leipzig : Leipziger Universitatsverlag, 2006. 141 S.
Тайны дипломатии Третьего рейха: германские дипломаты, руководители зарубежных военных миссий, военные и полицейские атташе в советском плену : документы из следственных дел, 1944-1955 / отв. ред. В.С. Христофоров; вступ. ст., сост. В.Г. Макарова, B.C. Христофорова; коммент. В.Г. Макарова. М. : МФД, 2011. 880 с.
Bundesarchiv. Potsdam. Auswartiges Amt. F. 13300.
