Lebanon, officially theRepublic of Lebanon, is a country in theLevant region ofWest Asia. Situated at the crossroads of theMediterranean Basin and theArabian Peninsula, it is bordered bySyria to the north and east,Israel to the south, and theMediterranean Sea to the west;Cyprus lies a short distance from the coastline. Lebanon has a population of more than five million and an area of 10,452 square kilometres (4,036 sq mi).Beirut is the country's capital and largest city.
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Extent of Ali Bey and Zahir's territory between 1768 and 1774 and Russian naval movements in the Levant, based on the accounts of Sauveur Lusignan, a contemporary historian
Russia, led byCatherine the Great, was pressing the Ottomans in Europe. Ali took advantage of the Empire's preoccupation with Russia to declare Egypt's independence; in 1771 he sent an army led byMuhammad Bey Abu al-Dhahab to occupy Ottoman territory in the Levant. Abu al-Dhahab unexpectedly returned to challenge Ali for control of Egypt. Ali requested Russian military assistance against both his rival and the Ottomans. When this aid, in the form of a small Russiansquadron, arrived in the region, Ali had already fled Egypt and taken refuge inAcre, the power base of his ally,Zahir al-Umar. After helping repel an Ottoman offensive onSidon, the Russian squadron sailed for Beirut. They bombarded the town in June 1772 and occupied it from 23 to 28 June.
Ali requested further assistance from Russia to recover Egypt from Abu al-Dhahab. The Russians had recently entered a period of truce with the Ottomans, constraining their involvement in the region. They did, however, promise Ali a large squadron. Impatient, Ali set out for Egypt with a small force that was defeated nearCairo; he was imprisoned and died a few days later. When the Russian squadron arrived in June 1773 and learned of Ali's fate, its commander allied with Zahir and theDruze chieftainYusuf Shihab. The latter had agreed to pay the Russians a tribute in exchange for their liberation of Beirut fromJazzar Pasha, Shihab's insubordinate vassal whom he had recently appointed as governor of the town. The bombardment of the town began on 2 August, and Jazzar surrendered after two months, on October10. A few hundred Albanian mercenaries were left as occupiers. (Full article...)
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The McMahon–Hussein letter of 24 October 1915.George Antonius—who had been the first to publish the correspondence in full—described this letter as "by far the most important in the whole correspondence, and may perhaps be regarded as the most important international document in the history of the Arab national movement... is still invoked as the main piece of evidence on which the Arabs accuse Great Britain of having broken faith with them."
Following the publication of the November 1917Balfour Declaration (a letter written by British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild, a wealthy and prominent leader in the British Jewish community), which promised a national home for the Jews in Palestine, and the subsequent leaking of the secret 1916Sykes–Picot Agreement in whichBritain and France proposed to split and occupy parts of the territory, the Sharif and other Arab leaders considered the agreements made in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence to have been violated. Hussein refused to ratify the 1919Treaty of Versailles and, in response to a 1921British proposal to sign a treaty accepting the Mandate system, stated that he could not be expected to "affix his name to a document assigning Palestine to the Zionists and Syria to foreigners". A further British attempt to reach a treaty failed in 1923–24, with negotiations suspended in March 1924; within six months, the British withdrew their support in favour of theircentral Arabian allyIbn Saud, who proceeded toconquer Hussein's kingdom. (Full article...)
Image 6Portrait of Fakhreddine while he was in Tuscany, stating "Faccardino grand emir dei Drusi" translated as "Fakhreddine: great emir of the Druze" (fromHistory of Lebanon)
Image 10Sidewalk Cafes are a trademark of the BCD (fromCulture of Lebanon)
Image 11Map showing power balance in Lebanon, 1976: Dark Green – controlled by Syria; Purple – controlled byMaronite groups; Light Green – controlled byPalestinian militias (fromHistory of Lebanon)
Image 24Aftermath of the 4 August 2020 Beirut explosion (fromHistory of Lebanon)
Image 25Flag as drawn and approved by the members of the Lebanese parliament during the declaration of independence in 1943 (fromHistory of Lebanon)
Image 26Map showing power balance in Lebanon, 1983: Green – controlled by Syria, purple – controlled by Christian groups, yellow – controlled by Israel, blue – controlled by the United Nations (fromHistory of Lebanon)
Image 27Csontváry Kosztka, Tivadar - Pilgrimage to the Cedars of Lebanon (fromCulture of Lebanon)
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