Czechia - 1,175,000 Christians, 34% of the population.
Estonia - 310,000 Christians, 45% of the population.
Lebanon - 1,600,000-1,800,000 Christians, 38%-41% of the population.
I'm currently reading A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered (1988) by Kamal Salibi. In the first chapter he argues that it was initially the Christian minorities of historic Syria that first articulated an Arab identity and awareness. Later the British-backed Faysal would popularize the idea with Muslims in Iraq, Syria and Jordan.
Around chapter 10, after the end of WWI a Christian Lebanese delegation to Paris is lobbying for the establishment of a country of Greater Lebanon (larger than the previous autonomous mountain areas under Ottoman rule) sponsored by a mandatory France.
During the Ottoman era, they shared and ruled the mountain with the Druze, but in an expanded state they would now have to share power with Shiites and Sunnites, especially the urban classes who were a different society than the more feudal societies of the mountain.
My question is about this turnabout which isn't detailed in the book, how did it happen? How did they turn from being early proponents of Arabism and a separate non-Ottoman identity to having a narrower non-Arab Lebanist vision for the country (not only that but an active opposition to an Arab definition)?
And given their political ambitions and standing at the time, why would they want to expand the territory to include people who had a different vision of Arabism and with whom they would need to share power?
Class A Mandates have been given to France over two entities in the former Ottoman Empire. Continuing direct military rule over the mandates is not feasible, so the groundwork must be laid to transition them into self-governing systems.
Greater Lebanon
Forged from the old Lebanese Mutasarrifate, additional Syrian land was added to provide food security and self-sustainability to the mandate, though at the cost of weakening its Christian majority. It is decided to restore some of that food security to the Alawite State, transferring a slice of territory including Tripoli and Miniyeh to the Alawite State. Beirut, Tyre, and Sidon will be the economic centers of the new Greater Lebanon, with Beirut serving as the capital. [High Commissioner Gourand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Gouraud_(general)) and his civilian counterpart Robert de Caix are tasked with developing a system of government for both Lebanon and the Alawites.
In Lebanon, de Caix will appoint Charles Debbas as President of a provisional government, with a hundred-person National Assembly made of representatives chosen by various towns, cities, and villages. They will work with the French to develop a constitution, expected in 1924.
Alawite State
The Alawites are a Shia sect that were not given a millet in the old Ottoman administration. It's believed that protecting the backwards hill tribes from the Sunni majority in the rest of Syria will help to counter pan-Syrian nationalism in the area. Latakia and Tripoli will be the economic centers of the state, but only Tripoli has a railroad connection; one that heads inland. Gourand and de Caix are responsible for this territory as well, and have quickly gotten to work.
The capital of the state will be placed at Latakia. The Alawite Provisional Government will be formed, similar to Lebanon's. Latakian leader Ali Sulayman "al-Assad" will be appointed President, and a 100-person National Assembly established, pending ratification of a constitution.
During this period, France will crack down on the Sunni landholders who supported Saleh al-Ali's short-lived rebellion. The largest landholders will see their property broken up and distributed to Alawite settlers in a move to cement the pro-Fre
... keep reading on reddit β‘My understanding is that:
- The Maronite population was almost entirely concentrated in the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate and was a majority there.
- The French wanted a create a "Christian enclave" because of religious, social, and economic ties with the Maronites.
If that was the case, what was the logic in expanding Lebanon through the addition of majority-Muslim territories? I know the Maronites were technically still a plurality if Shia/Sunni Muslims and Druze are counted separately, but they were still a minority. Shouldn't it have been obvious the creation of a Maronite state was bound to fail?
We've had weekly bombings since last December. The economic situation of the country's laughable. I'm sick of it and have always wanted to travel regardless, and I look to immigrate as soon as I get my degree.
Here's a post outlining my technical abilities. In short, I'm graduating in Spring 2015 with a CompSci degree, with reasonable skills (enough to be a potential candidate for the big names in CS).
I'd love to know what I can do from now to increase my chances with those companies abroad. Specifically, I'd love to be in the Benelux, Taiwan, Russia, Greece, Boston, or Seattle, but any region mentioned in the title would be more than welcomed. Is there any interaction I can do with my recipient country's embassy from now to make the whole process easier for both myself and the company?
Thanks in advance!
To ensure Christian dominance in Greater Lebanon (today's Republic of Lebanon), was it easier or more expedient to come up with the National Pact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pact), based on the 1932 census, than to effectuate population exchanges between the Christians in Syria and the Muslims on the fringes of Greater Lebanon (outside the Mount Lebanon area) or to confine a separate Lebanon to Mount Lebanon?
Was it not feasible to make Greater Lebanon slightly smaller than it was, so that a few areas here and there in the Bekaa Valley or the Tripoli region or southern Lebanon could be annexed to Syria or become autonomous and the rest of those regions would belong to Greater Lebanon? (To further ensure a Christian majority.)
