title: Amanda Gorman

text: Gorman read her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, and is the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration in United States history. Jill Biden recommended her for the inauguration. After January 6, 2021, Gorman amended her poem's wording to address the storming of the United States Capitol. During the week before the inauguration, she told "The Washington Post" book critic Ron Charles, "My hope is that my poem will represent a moment of unity for our country" and "with my words, I'll be able to speak to a new chapter and era for our nation."


title: Amanda Gorman

text: Before her performance, Gorman told "CBS This Morning" co-host Anthony Mason: "One of the preparations that I do always whenever I perform is I say a mantra to myself, which is 'I'm the daughter of black writers. We're descended from freedom fighters who broke through chains and changed the world. They call me.' And that is the way in which I prepare myself for the duty that needs to get done." Soon after Gorman's performance at the inauguration, her two upcoming books, the poetry collection "The Hill We Climb" and a project for youth, "Change Sings: A Children's Anthem" – both scheduled for release in September 2021 – were at the top of Amazon's bestseller list. A book version of the poem "The Hill We Climb" was published in March 2021, with a foreword by Oprah Winfrey, and debuted at No. 1 on several bestseller lists, including "The New York Times" adult fiction and "USA Today". First printings of one million copies were announced for each of Gorman's three upcoming books.


title: Amanda Gorman

text: In February 2021 the Dutch writer Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, winner of the 2020 International Booker Prize, who had been chosen to translate Gorman's poem, stepped down from the assignment following criticism that the publisher had chosen a white translator. As noted by the BBC, Rijnveld's decision has "heightened the debate in the Netherlands over the ethics of translation and underlined Gorman's original sentiments of the hills that 'all other black girls' must climb." In March 2021, it was reported that the Spanish publisher Univers after hiring writer Victor Obiols to translate Gorman's poem into Catalan had relieved him of the commission after his translation was delivered and were seeking a replacement translator; as Obiols stated: "They did not question my abilities, but they were looking for a different profile, which had to be a woman, young, activist and preferably black." The request was said to have originated with the US group Viking Books. Three translators – Kubra Gumusay, Hadija Haruna-Oelker and Uda Strätling – worked together on the poem's German edition.


title: Amanda Gorman

text: IMG Models and its parent company WME signed Gorman for representation in fashion, beauty, and talent endorsements. She is represented in the publishing industry by Writers House and by the Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown and Passman law firm. Gorman was commissioned to compose an original poem to be recited at Super Bowl LV's pregame ceremony on February 7, 2021, as an introduction to the three honorary captains who would preside over the coin toss. "The Washington Post" reported that the honorary captains were essential workers "James Martin, a U.S. Marine veteran; Trimaine Davis, an educator; and Suzie Dorner, an ICU nurse manager", and that Gorman delivered the poem in their honor in a recorded video. In advance of presenting her new piece, titled "Chorus of the Captains", Gorman said: "Poetry at the Super Bowl is a feat for art and our country, because it means we're thinking imaginatively about human connection even when we feel siloed."


title: Amanda Gorman

text: Gorman made the cover of "Time" magazine's February 2021 issue. In March 2021, Gorman said she was racially profiled by a security guard near her home, and tweeted afterwards, "He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day, a threat." She later tweeted, "In a sense, he was right. I Am a Threat: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be. A threat and proud."


title: Amanda Gorman

text: Gorman, who was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the cover-story of the May edition of "Vogue" – the first poet ever to have been thus featured by the magazine – has said she has turned down $17 million in offers for endorsements that did not "speak to" her. In September 2021, it was announced that Gorman would become the first Estée Lauder "Global Changemaker", as a representative of the brand in ad campaigns and speaking events, in addition to work with the company's grantmaking program to promote literacy for girls and women. On September 13, 2021, she co-hosted the Met Gala, alongside actor Timothée Chalamet, singer Billie Eilish, and tennis player Naomi Osaka.


title: Amanda Gorman

text: In the wake of the May 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Gorman published a short poem on Twitter and encouraged action to promote gun safety, as well as penning the poem, “Hymn for the Hurting.” She continued to express her support for "Roe v. Wade" and abortion rights in a poem posted on Twitter on June 24, 2022, which includes the line, "We will not let Roe v. Wade slowly fade."


title: Amanda Gorman

text: Gorman has spoken of her early attempts at writing being "very Anne of Green Gables", until she discovered the work of Toni Morrison in middle school: "I realized then that stories could actually be about people who look like me." Observer.com reported in 2019: "It was in high school that she eventually read the poetry of other black women such as Audre Lorde and Phillis Wheatley, and started writing poems that commented on social justice issues such as intersectional feminism and race." Taking a multi disciplined view to self-expression, Gorman has spoken of the connection between fashion and poetry; in 2019, "Vogue" magazine noted that Gorman drew inspiration "from icons such as Maya Angelou, the Duchess of Sussex, and Michelle Obama", saying: "Fashion brings a distinct visual aesthetic to language. When I'm performing onstage, I'm not just thinking about my clothing, but what my Wakanda Forever T-shirt and yellow skirt is saying about my identity as a poet."


title: Amanda Gorman

text: Gorman is a Black Catholic, a member of St. Brigid Catholic Church, a Black Catholic parish in her hometown of Los Angeles.


title: Amanda Gorman

text: The day after Biden's inauguration, she appeared on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" and said that Corden was "like [her] favorite human being ever created."


title: Amanda Gorman

text: Michael Cirelli, executive director of Urban Word NYC, called her a "powerhouse" and has joked that her "bio goes out of date every two weeks."


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Marsha Hunt (born Marcia Virginia Hunt; October 17, 1917 – September 7, 2022) was an American actress, model, and activist, with a career spanning nearly 80 years. She was blacklisted by Hollywood film studio executives in the 1950s during McCarthyism.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: She appeared in many films, including "Born to the West" (1937) with John Wayne, "Pride and Prejudice" (1940) with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, "Kid Glove Killer" (1942) with Van Heflin, "Cry 'Havoc'" (1943) with Margaret Sullavan and Joan Blondell, "The Human Comedy" (1943) with Mickey Rooney, "Raw Deal" (1948) with Claire Trevor, "The Happy Time" (1952) with Charles Boyer, and Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny Got His Gun" (1971).


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: In the midst of the blacklist era, she became active in the humanitarian cause of world hunger and in her later years aided homeless shelters, supported same-sex marriage, raised awareness of climate change, and promoted peace in Third World countries.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt was born on October 17, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois, the younger of two daughters. Her parents were Earl Hunt, a lawyer and later a Social Security Administrator, and Minabel Hunt, a vocal teacher, and organist. Her elder sister, Marjorie, a teacher, died in 2002. Marcia later changed the spelling of her first name to Marsha.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt and her family were active in the Methodist church. Interviewed for a 1999 book, she said about her family:


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt's family moved to New York City when she was young, and she began performing in school plays and church functions. She graduated from the Horace Mann High School for Girls in 1934 at age 16.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt's parents wanted her to pursue a college degree, but Hunt, unable to "locate a single college or university in the land where you could major in drama before your third year", found work modeling for the John Powers Agency and began taking stage acting classes at the Theodora Irvine Studio. She was one of the highest-earning models by 1935. In May 1935, she planned on studying stage acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the United Kingdom.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Although initially reluctant to pursue a film career, in June 1935, at age 17, Hunt signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures. Paramount discovered her when she was visiting her uncle in Los Angeles and the comedian Zeppo Marx (of the Marx Brothers fame) saw a picture of her in the newspaper. She was then offered a screen test for "The Virginia Judge". At Paramount, Hunt mainly played ingenue parts. Between 1935 and 1938, she made 12 pictures at Paramount, including starring roles in "Easy to Take" (1936), "Gentle Julia" (1936), "The Accusing Finger" (1936), "Murder Goes to College" (1937), and two on "loan-out" to RKO and 20th Century Fox. In 1937, she starred opposite John Wayne, a couple of years before his breakthrough in Hollywood, in the Western film "Born to the West".


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: The studio terminated Hunt's contract in 1938, and she spent a few years starring in B-films produced by poverty row studios such as Republic Pictures and Monogram Pictures. She also headed to New York City for work in summer stock theatre shortly before winning a supporting role in MGM's "These Glamour Girls" (1939) opposite Lana Turner and Lew Ayres. The role of Betty was said to have been written especially with Hunt in mind. Other roles in major studio productions soon followed, including supporting roles as Mary Bennet in MGM's version of "Pride and Prejudice" (1940) with Laurence Olivier, and as Martha Scott's surrogate child Hope Thompson in "Cheers for Miss Bishop" (1941).


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: In 1941, Hunt signed a contract with MGM, where she remained for the next six years. While filming "Blossoms in the Dust", film director Mervyn LeRoy lauded Hunt for her heartfelt and genuine acting ability. During this period she had starring roles in 21 films, including "The Penalty" (1941) opposite Lionel Barrymore, "Panama Hattie" (1942) opposite Ann Sothern and Red Skelton, and the war drama "Pilot No. 5" (1943) in which she was cast as the love interest of Franchot Tone, and "The Valley of Decision" (1945). In 1944 she polled seventh in a list by exhibitors of "Stars of Tomorrow". She previously did a screen test to play Melanie Hamilton in "Gone with the Wind" (1939) and was told by David O. Selznick she would play the role, but to "keep it a secret for now." Three days later, it was announced that Olivia de Havilland was cast. In 1944, she appeared in "None Shall Escape", a film that is now regarded as the first about the Holocaust. She played Marja Pacierkowski, the Polish fiancée of a German Nazi officer named Wilhelm Grimm.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Disturbed by the actions of the House Committee on Unamerican Activities (HCUA), Hunt and her husband, screenwriter Robert Presnell Jr., became members of the Committee for the First Amendment in 1947. According to NPR, she was – at the time of her 100th birthday – the last surviving member of the group.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: On October 26 that same year, aged 30, Hunt took part in "Hollywood Fights Back", a star-studded radio program co-written by her husband protesting the activities of HCUA. In 2020, Hunt recalled:


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: The next day, Hunt flew with a group of about 30 actors, directors, writers, and filmmakers (including John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Danny Kaye) to Washington to protest the actions of HCUA. When she returned to Hollywood just three days later, things had changed. She was asked to denounce her activities if she wanted to find more work; she refused.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: In 1950, Hunt was named as a potential Communist or Communist sympathizer (along with 151 other actors, writers, and directors) in the anti-Communist publication "Red Channels". The publication claimed that her leanings were made evident by her supposedly subversive actions, including asking the Supreme Court to review the convictions of John Howard Lawson and Dalton Trumbo, recording a message in support of a rally organized by the Stop Censorship Committee in 1948, signing a statement in 1946 issued by the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP), and speaking at a rally organized by the Progressive Citizens of America in 1946.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: After the publication of "Red Channels" in 1950, work became scarce for Hunt and Presnell. Hunt said in 2012, "The town turned against us. Just about-face...I was appalled, hurt, shocked that journalism could be so far out in prejudice."


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: After her 1950 blacklisting, Hunt found most work in television, not film. She appeared in only a handful of films during the next eight years. She later recalled:


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: During an interview in 1995, Hunt stated that she believed producer Richard J. Collins was among those responsible for her inclusion on the blacklist. She later said:


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: In 1957, her career began to pick up. She appeared in six films during the next three years before announcing her semi-retirement in 1960.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Following her semi-retirement in 1960, Hunt appeared in small roles in five films and numerous television shows, including an episode of the medical drama "Breaking Point". In 1962, she appeared in the season-nine episode of "Gunsmoke" titled "The Glory and the Mud". In 1967, she had a leading role as Katie's Aunt Cecile in an episode of "My Three Sons" entitled "The Aunt Who Came To Dinner".


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: In 1971, she appeared in the film "Johnny Got His Gun", written by fellow blacklist member Dalton Trumbo, playing the mother of the title character, portrayed by Timothy Bottoms. It won the Grand Prix at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. On February 8, 1988, she appeared in "" in the episode "Too Short a Season" as Anne Jameson, wife of an admiral who took an age-reversing drug. In 1997, she appeared as Ethel Thayer in the Santa Susana Repertory Company's production of "On Golden Pond".


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: In 1993, her book "The Way We Wore: Styles of the 1930s and '40s and Our World Since Then" was published by Fallbrook Publishing.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: She produced the CD "Tony London: Songs From the Heart with the Page Cavanaugh Trio" which includes two of the 50 songs Hunt has composed.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt played Elizabeth Lyons in "Chloe's Prayer", a 2006 film. In 2008, Hunt appeared in a short film noir, "The Grand Inquisitor", as Hazel Reedy, the could-be widow of one of America's most infamous unapprehended serial killers.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: In 2013, Hunt debuted a clip of a song she wrote 40 years earlier titled "Here's to All Who Love" about love and same-sex marriage. Sung by "Glee" star Bill A. Jones, the clip immediately went viral. It was featured in "Marsha Hunt's Sweet Adversity", a documentary about her life. The documentary debuted at the Palm Springs and Santa Barbara International Film Festivals in January 2015.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: When she was 99 in April 2017, Hunt made a public appearance at the 2017 Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival to honor the achievements of actor and activist Ed Asner.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: In 1955, after a trip opened her eyes to the issue of hunger in the Third World, Hunt gave speeches throughout the United States, encouraging Americans to join the fight against starvation in the Third World by joining the United Nations Association. Hunt was a founder of the San Fernando Valley Mayor's Fund for the Homeless and helped to open one of the first homeless shelters in the San Fernando Valley. In 1960, she produced an hour-long telecast about refugee problems that featured stars such as Paul Newman, Jean Simmons, and Bing Crosby. She raised funds for the creation of Rose Cottage, a daycare shelter for homeless children; and served for many years on the advisory board of directors for the San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center, a large non-profit, where she advocated for adults and children affected by homelessness and mental illness. She was named honorary mayor of Sherman Oaks, California, in 1983.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt still identified as a political liberal and was very concerned with such issues as global pollution, worldwide poverty, peace in Third World nations, and population growth.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt married director Jerry Hopper, assistant head of the editing department at Paramount and later a director, on November 23, 1938. They divorced in 1943.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt married her second husband, screenwriter and radio director Robert Presnell Jr. on February 10, 1946.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt was pregnant and very sick while filming "Carnegie Hall". Her only biological child, a premature daughter, was born on July 1, 1947, and died the next day. She and her second husband later became foster parents. They remained together until his death on June 14, 1986, at age 71.


title: Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)

text: Hunt resided in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles, in a home she had owned since 1946. She died there from natural causes on September 7, 2022, at the age of 104.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: Franz Jacob Wagner (born August 27, 2001) is a German professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: Wagner, a native of Berlin, started his career with Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) club Alba Berlin. In 2019, he was named BBL Best German Young Player. Wagner has played for the German youth national teams, winning a gold medal at the 2018 Albert Schweitzer Tournament.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: Wagner was considered a four-star recruit by 247Sports and Rivals. Among the NCAA Division I programs that recruited him were Butler, Michigan, and Stanford. On July 6, 2019, Wagner committed to play college basketball for Michigan under head coach Juwan Howard. In doing so, he turned down an opportunity to sign a professional contract with Alba Berlin.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: On October 21, 2019, Wagner fractured his right wrist and was expected to miss four to six weeks. He made his season debut for the Wolverines on November 27, 2019, and finished the game with six points, three rebounds, and one block in 23 minutes in an 83–76 victory over Iowa State in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis. On December 6, Wagner posted a career-high 18 points in a 103–91 victory over Iowa in its Big Ten Conference season opener, as Michigan had six double-digit scorers, including all five starters. On March 1, 2020, Wagner posted 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double in a 63–77 loss to Ohio State. Following the regular season, he was named to the 2020 Big Ten All-Freshman team.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: During his sophomore season, Wagner posted 14 double-figure games and four 20+ point games, he averaged 13.0 points per game with 6.3 rebounds, a team-high 30 steals and a second-best 23 blocks. Following the season he was named second-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and third-team by the media. On May 4, 2021, he declared for the 2021 NBA draft forgoing his remaining college eligibility.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: In the 2018–19 season, Wagner played on a dual contract for both Alba Berlin in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), top German league, and SSV Lokomotive Bernau in the third-tier ProB league. In May 2019, he won the BBL Best Young Player Award. In Game 2 of the BBL Finals against Bayern Munich, Wagner scored a team-high 14 points, making all six of his shots. By the end of the season, he was averaging 4.6 points in 12.4 minutes per game in the BBL and played limited minutes in the EuroCup.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: Wagner was selected with the eighth pick in the 2021 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic. He and fellow lottery pick Jalen Suggs signed with the Magic on August 3. Wagner posted his first NBA double-double with a career-high 11 rebounds and 14 points as well as 6 assists on December 18 against the Brooklyn Nets. On December 27, 2021, Wagner put up a career-high 38 points in a 127–110 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Wagner was named the NBA Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in December. Wagner's second NBA double-double occurred on January 12, 2022 against the Washington Wizards when he upped his career-high assist plateau from 6 to 10 and added 14 points. This marked the first time a Magic rookie forward had ever posted 10 or more assists in a game. Following the 2021–22 NBA season he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: On November 5, 2022, Wagner scored a season-high 31 points and recorded 6 assists in a 126-123 overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: Wagner played for Germany at the 2017 FIBA U16 European Championship in Podgorica, Montenegro. In five games, he averaged 7.4 points per game as his team finished in 13th place. In 2018, Wagner averaged six points per game and helped Germany win the gold medal at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament, an under-18 competition in Mannheim, Germany. In the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship in Volos, Greece, he averaged 13 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, leading his team to 11th place. He missed one game with a back injury. In the 2022 FIBA Eurobasket Championship, he averaged 16.1 points and 4 rebounds per game, beating Poland in his home city of Berlin to take home bronze for Germany.


title: Franz Wagner (basketball)

text: Wagner is the younger brother of National Basketball Association (NBA) player Moritz Wagner who is his teammate on the Orlando Magic. Moritz played three seasons of college basketball for Michigan and was a first-round pick in the 2018 NBA draft.


title: Tricia Nixon Cox

text: Patricia Nixon Cox ( Nixon; born February 21, 1946) is the elder daughter of the 37th United States president Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, and sister to Julie Nixon Eisenhower.


title: Tricia Nixon Cox

text: In her father's public career, Cox performed a ceremonial role, in contrast to Julie's more political involvement. She accompanied him on many campaign stops and, after his inauguration, on state trips around the world.


title: Tricia Nixon Cox

text: Cox was born on February 21, 1946, at Murphy Memorial Hospital in Whittier, California. She grew up in Washington, DC, attending Horace Mann Elementary and the Sidwell Friends School. Later she attended the Chapin School in Manhattan.


title: Tricia Nixon Cox

text: In 1964, she was presented as a debutante to high society at the prestigious International Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Edward Cox was her civilian escort at the International Debutante Ball.


title: Tricia Nixon Cox

text: She briefly attended Finch College, a now-defunct women's college, then Boston College in Boston, Massachusetts, graduating in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. At her graduation on June 14, 1968, her father served as a special guest speaker.


title: Tricia Nixon Cox

text: Tricia Nixon married Harvard Law student Edward F. Cox in a White House Rose Garden ceremony on June 12, 1971.


title: Tricia Nixon Cox

text: In a 2015 interview with Max Foster for CNN regarding an upcoming visit to the United States, Charles, then Prince of Wales recalled his first visit to the U.S. in 1970 as "the time when they were trying to marry me off to Tricia Nixon" who was three years his senior and American. Nixon had represented the U.S. government along with former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey at Charles' investiture in Caernarvon Wales one year earlier in July 1969.


title: Tricia Nixon Cox

text: She has lived a very private life in the suburbs of New York, and was a stay-at-home mother for her son, Christopher Nixon Cox, born in March 1979. Her husband is now a corporate attorney and was a chairman of the New York Republican State Committee. She serves on the boards of many medical research institutions, as well as the Richard Nixon Foundation at the Nixon Library in California.


title: Sardine

text: "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Italian island of Sardinia, around which sardines were once supposedly abundant.


title: Sardine

text: The terms "sardine" and "pilchard" are not precise, and what is meant depends on the region. The United Kingdom's Sea Fish Industry Authority, for example, classifies sardines as young pilchards. One criterion suggests fish shorter in length than are sardines, and larger fish are pilchards.


title: Sardine

text: The FAO/WHO Codex standard for canned sardines cites 21 species that may be classed as sardines. FishBase, a comprehensive database of information about fish, calls at least six species "pilchard", over a dozen just "sardine", and many more with the two basic names qualified by various adjectives.


title: Sardine

text: 'Sardine' first appeared in English in the 15th century, a loanword from French "sardine," derived from Latin "sardina", from Ancient Greek "σαρδίνη" ("sardínē") or "σαρδῖνος" ("sardínos"), said to be from the Greek "Sardò" ("Σαρδώ"), indicating the island of Sardinia. Athenaios quotes a fragmentary passage from Aristotle mentioning the fish "sardinos", referring to the sardine or pilchard. However, Sardinia is about distant from Athens; Ernest Klein in his "Etymological Dictionary of the English Language" (1971) writes, "It is hardly probable that the Greeks would have obtained fish from so far as Sardinia at a time relatively so early as that of Aristotle."


title: Sardine

text: The flesh of some sardines or pilchards is a reddish-brown colour similar to some varieties of red sardonyx or sardine stone; this word derives from "σαρδῖον" ("sardion") with a root meaning 'red' and (according to Pliny) possibly cognate with Sardis, the capital of ancient Lydia (now western Turkey) where it was obtained. However, the name may refer to the reddish-pink colour of the gemstone sard (or carnelian) known to the ancients.


title: Sardine

text: The phrase "packed like sardines" (in a tin) is recorded from 1911. The phrase "...packed up like "sardines"..." appears in "The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction" from 1841, and is a translation of "...encaissés comme des sardines" which appears in "La Femme, le mari, et l'amant" from 1829. Other early appearances of the idiom are "... packed together...like sardines in a tin-box" (1845), and "...packed...like sardines in a can..." (1854).


title: Sardine

text: Although they are not true sardines, sprats are sometimes marketed as sardines. For example, the european sprat, "Sprattus sprattus", is sometimes marketed as the "brisling sardine".


title: Sardine

text: Sardines feed almost exclusively on zooplankton, "animal plankton", and congregate wherever this is abundant.


title: Sardine

text: Typically, sardines are caught with encircling nets, particularly purse seines. Many modifications of encircling nets are used, including traps or fishing weirs. The latter are stationary enclosures composed of stakes into which schools of sardines are diverted as they swim along the coast. The fish are caught mainly at night, when they approach the surface to feed on plankton. After harvesting, the fish are submerged in brine while they are transported to shore.


title: Sardine

text: Sardines are commercially fished for a variety of uses: for bait; for immediate consumption; for drying, salting, or smoking; and for reduction into fish meal or oil. The chief use of sardines is for human consumption, but fish meal is used as animal feed, while sardine oil has many uses, including the manufacture of paint, varnish, and linoleum.


title: Sardine

text: Sardines are commonly consumed by humans. Fresh sardines are often grilled, pickled, smoked, or preserved in cans.


title: Sardine

text: Sardines are rich in vitamins and minerals. A small serving of sardines once a day can provide 13% of vitamin B; roughly one-quarter of niacin; and about 150% of the recommended daily value of vitamin B. All B vitamins help to support proper nervous system function and are used for energy metabolism, or converting food into energy. Also, sardines are high in the major minerals such as phosphorus, calcium, and potassium, and some trace minerals including iron and selenium.


title: Sardine

text: Sardines are also a natural source of marine omega-3 fatty acids, which may reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. Regular consumption of omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease. These fatty acids can also lower blood sugar levels. They are also a good source of vitamin D, calcium, vitamin B12, and protein.


title: Sardine

text: Because they are low in the food chain, sardines are very low in contaminants, such as mercury, relative to other fish commonly eaten by humans.


title: Sardine

text: Pilchard fishing and processing became a thriving industry in Cornwall, England from around 1750 to around 1880, after which it went into decline. Catches varied from year to year, and in 1871, the catch was 47,000 hogsheads, while in 1877, only 9,477 hogsheads. A hogshead contained 2,300 to 4,000 pilchards, and when filled with pressed pilchards, weighed 476 lbs. The pilchards were mostly exported to Roman Catholic countries such as Italy and Spain, where they are known as "fermades". The chief market for the oil was Bristol, where it was used on machinery.


title: Sardine

text: Since 1997, sardines from Cornwall have been sold as "Cornish sardines", and since March 2010, under EU law, Cornish sardines have Protected Geographical Status. The industry has featured in numerous works of art, particularly by Stanhope Forbes and other Newlyn School artists.


title: Sardine

text: In the United States, the sardine canning industry peaked in the 1950s. Since then, the industry has been on the decline. The canneries in Monterey Bay, in what was known as Cannery Row in Monterey County, California (where John Steinbeck's novel of the same name was set), failed in the mid-1950s. The last large sardine cannery in the United States, the Stinson Seafood plant in Prospect Harbor, Maine, closed its doors on 15 April 2010 after 135 years in operation.


title: Sardine

text: In April 2015 the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to direct NOAA Fisheries Service to halt the current commercial season in Oregon, Washington and California, because of a dramatic collapse in Pacific sardine stocks. The ban affected about 100 fishing boats with sardine permits, although far fewer were actively fishing at the time. The season normally would end June 30. The ban was expected to last for more than a year, and was still in place .


title: Sardine

text: The manner in which sardines can be packed in a can has led to the popular English language saying "packed like sardines", which is used metaphorically to describe situations where people or objects are crowded closely together. The British-Irish poet and comic Spike Milligan satirizes this in his poem "Sardine Submarine", where a sardine's mother describes the unfamiliar sight of a submarine to its offspring as "a tin full of people".


title: Sardine

text: Sardines is also the name of a children's game, where one person hides and each successive person who finds the hidden one packs into the same space until only one is left out, who becomes the next one to hide.


title: Sardine

text: Among the residents of the Mediterranean city of Marseille, the local tendency to exaggerate is linked to a folk tale about a sardine that supposedly blocked the city's port in the 18th century. It was actually blocked by a ship called the "Sartine".


title: Ashley Hamilton

text: Ashley George Hamilton (born September 30, 1974) is an American actor, comedian and singer-songwriter. He made his acting debut in the 1993 film "Beethoven's 2nd". He has since starred in films such as "Lost in Africa" (1994), "Off Key" (2001), "Lost Angeles" (2012), "Iron Man 3" (2013), and "Cats Dancing on Jupiter" (2015). He portrayed the role of Cole Deschanel in the first season of the NBC television series "Sunset Beach" (1997).


title: Ashley Hamilton

text: Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, the son of actors George Hamilton and Alana Stewart. He is the former stepson of musician Rod Stewart. At 19, Hamilton garnered media attention when he and Shannen Doherty married after knowing one another for only two weeks. The marriage lasted just five months before the couple divorced. He was then married to actress Angie Everhart from December 1996 until their divorce in March 1997.


title: Ashley Hamilton

text: In 1993, Hamilton appeared on "Saturday Night Live", and starred in the film "Beethoven's 2nd". In 1997, he briefly starred in the television series "Sunset Beach" as Cole Deschanel, but was let go only a month after the premiere.


title: Ashley Hamilton

text: In addition to his acting career, Hamilton is a singer and songwriter. He fronted the Los Angeles-based rock band Fine. In 1999 the group released their debut and only album to date, "Against the View". In June 2003, Hamilton released a single entitled "Wimmin'" which reached #27 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was co-written by British singer Robbie Williams, who also provided some of the vocals on the track. Hamilton co-wrote Williams' 2003 single "Come Undone". Hamilton also claims that he co-wrote Williams' single "She's Madonna" in 2006, but that Williams omitted his name from publishing.


title: Ashley Hamilton

text: It was announced on August 17, 2009, he would be competing in season 9 of "Dancing with the Stars". He was eliminated first from "DWTS" on September 23, 2009. Following "Dancing with the Stars", Hamilton joined the entertainment news program "Extra" as a field correspondent.


title: Ashley Hamilton

text: Since 2007, Hamilton has been performing stand-up comedy at the Hollywood Improv, The Comedy Store, & Room 5 in Los Angeles. In 2013, he appeared as the character Jack Taggert in the Marvel superhero film "Iron Man 3". Hamilton also recorded the cover of Sly Fox's Let's Go All the Way along with supergroup The Wondergirls and Robbie Williams for Iron Man 3.


title: Biosafety level

text: A biosafety level (BSL), or pathogen/protection level, is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4). In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have specified these levels. In the European Union, the same biosafety levels are defined in a directive. In Canada the four levels are known as Containment Levels. Facilities with these designations are also sometimes given as P1 through P4 (for pathogen or protection level), as in the term "P3 laboratory".


title: Biosafety level

text: At the lowest level of biosafety, precautions may consist of regular hand-washing and minimal protective equipment. At higher biosafety levels, precautions may include airflow systems, multiple containment rooms, sealed containers, positive pressure personnel suits, established protocols for all procedures, extensive personnel training, and high levels of security to control access to the facility. Health Canada reports that world-wide until 1999 there were recorded over 5,000 cases of accidental laboratory infections and 190 deaths.


title: Biosafety level

text: The first prototype Class III (maximum containment) biosafety cabinet was fashioned in 1943 by Hubert Kaempf Jr., then a U.S. Army soldier, under the direction of Arnold G. Wedum, Director (1944–69) of Industrial Health and Safety at the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories, Camp Detrick, Maryland. Kaempf was tired of his MP duties at Detrick and was able to transfer to the sheet metal department working with the contractor, the H.K. Ferguson Co.


title: Biosafety level

text: On 18 April 1955, fourteen representatives met at Camp Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. The meeting was to share knowledge and experiences regarding biosafety, chemical, radiological, and industrial safety issues that were common to the operations at the three principal biological warfare (BW) laboratories of the U.S. Army. Because of the potential implication of the work conducted at biological warfare laboratories, the conferences were restricted to top level security clearances. Beginning in 1957, these conferences were planned to include non-classified sessions as well as classified sessions to enable broader sharing of biological safety information. It was not until 1964, however, that conferences were held in a government installation not associated with a biological warfare program.


title: Biosafety level

text: Over the next ten years, the biological safety conferences grew to include representatives from all federal agencies that sponsored or conducted research with pathogenic microorganisms. By 1966, it began to include representatives from universities, private laboratories, hospitals, and industrial complexes. Throughout the 1970s, participation in the conferences continued to expand and by 1983 discussions began regarding the creation of a formal organization. The American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) was officially established in 1984 and a constitution and bylaws were drafted the same year. As of 2008, ABSA includes some 1,600 members in its professional association.


title: Biosafety level

text: In 1977, Jim Peacock of the Australian Academy of Science asked Bill Snowdon, then chief of the CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) if he could have the newly released United States' National Institutes of Health and the British equivalent requirements for the development of infrastructure for bio-containment reviewed by AAHL personnel with a view to recommending the adoption of one of them by Australian authorities. The review was carried out by CSIRO AAHL Project Manager Bill Curnow and CSIRO Engineer Arthur Jenkins. They drafted outcomes for each of the levels of security. AAHL was notionally classified as "substantially beyond P4". These were adopted by the Australian Academy of Science and became the basis for Australian legislation. It opened in 1985 costing $185 million, built on Corio Oval. The Australian Animal Health Laboratory is a Class 4/ P4 Laboratory.


title: Biosafety level

text: Biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) is suitable for work with well-characterized agents which do not cause disease in healthy humans. In general, these agents should pose minimal potential hazard to laboratory personnel and the environment. At this level, precautions are limited relative to other levels. Laboratory personnel must wash their hands upon entering and exiting the lab. Research with these agents may be performed on standard open laboratory benches without the use of special containment equipment. However, eating and drinking are generally prohibited in laboratory areas. Potentially infectious material must be decontaminated before disposal, either by adding a chemical such as bleach or isopropanol or by packaging for decontamination elsewhere. Personal protective equipment is only required for circumstances where personnel might be exposed to hazardous material. BSL-1 laboratories must have a door which can be locked to limit access to the lab. However, it is not necessary for BSL-1 labs to be isolated from the general building.


title: Biosafety level

text: This level of biosafety is appropriate for work with several kinds of microorganisms including non-pathogenic strains of "Escherichia coli" and "Staphylococcus", "Bacillus subtilis", "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" and other organisms not suspected to contribute to human disease. Due to the relative ease and safety of maintaining a BSL-1 laboratory, these are the types of laboratories generally used as teaching spaces for high schools and colleges.


title: Biosafety level

text: At this level, all precautions used at Biosafety Level 1 are followed, and some additional precautions are taken. BSL-2 differs from BSL-1 in that:


title: Biosafety level

text: Biosafety level 2 is suitable for work involving agents of moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment. This includes various microbes that cause mild disease to humans, or are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting. Examples include hepatitis A, B, and C viruses, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), pathogenic strains of "Escherichia coli" and "Staphylococcus", "Salmonella", "Plasmodium falciparum", and "Toxoplasma gondii". Prions, the infectious agents that transmit prion diseases such as vCJD, may be handled under Biosafety Level 2 or higher.


title: Biosafety level

text: Biosafety level 3 is appropriate for work involving microbes which can cause serious and potentially lethal disease via the inhalation route. This type of work can be done in clinical, diagnostic, teaching, research, or production facilities. Here, the precautions undertaken in BSL-1 and BSL-2 labs are followed, as well as additional measures including:


title: Biosafety level

text: In addition, the facility which houses the BSL-3 laboratory must have certain features to ensure appropriate containment. The entrance to the laboratory must be separated from areas of the building with unrestricted traffic flow. Additionally, the laboratory must be behind two sets of self-closing doors (to reduce the risk of aerosols escaping). The construction of the laboratory is such that it can be easily cleaned. Carpets are not permitted, and any seams in the floors, walls, and ceilings are sealed to allow for easy cleaning and decontamination. Additionally, windows must be sealed, and a ventilation system installed which forces air to flow from the "clean" areas of the lab to the areas where infectious agents are handled. Air from the laboratory must be filtered before it can be recirculated.


title: Biosafety level

text: A 2015 study by "USA Today" journalists identified more than 200 lab sites in the U.S. that were accredited biosafety levels 3 or 4. The Proceedings of a Workshop on "Developing Norms for the Provision of Biological Laboratories in Low-Resource Contexts" provides a list of BSL-3 laboratories in those countries.


title: Biosafety level

text: Biosafety level 3 is commonly used for research and diagnostic work involving various microbes which can be transmitted by aerosols and/or cause severe disease. These include "Francisella tularensis", "Mycobacterium tuberculosis", "Chlamydia psittaci", Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Eastern equine encephalitis virus, SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV, "Coxiella burnetii", Rift Valley fever virus, "Rickettsia rickettsii", several species of "Brucella", chikungunya, yellow fever virus, West Nile virus, "Yersinia pestis", and SARS-CoV-2.


title: Biosafety level

text: Biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) is the highest level of biosafety precautions, and is appropriate for work with agents that could easily be aerosol-transmitted within the laboratory and cause severe to fatal disease in humans for which there are no available vaccines or treatments. BSL-4 laboratories are generally set up to be either cabinet laboratories or protective-suit laboratories. In cabinet laboratories, all work must be done within a class III biosafety cabinet. Materials leaving the cabinet must be decontaminated by passing through an autoclave or a tank of disinfectant. The cabinets themselves are required to have seamless edges to allow for easy cleaning. Additionally, the cabinet and all materials within must be free of sharp edges in order to reduce the risk of damage to the gloves. In a protective-suit laboratory, all work must be done in a class II biosafety cabinet by personnel wearing a positive pressure suit. In order to exit the BSL-4 laboratory, personnel must pass through a chemical shower for decontamination, then a room for removing the positive-pressure suit, followed by a personal shower. Entry into the BSL-4 laboratory is restricted to trained and authorized individuals, and all persons entering and exiting the laboratory must be recorded.


title: Biosafety level

text: As with BSL-3 laboratories, BSL-4 laboratories must be separated from areas that receive unrestricted traffic. Additionally airflow is tightly controlled to ensure that air always flows from "clean" areas of the lab to areas where work with infectious agents is being performed. The entrance to the BSL-4 lab must also employ airlocks to minimize the possibility that aerosols from the lab could be removed from the lab. All laboratory waste, including filtered air, water, and trash must also be decontaminated before it can leave the facility.


title: Biosafety level

text: Biosafety level 4 laboratories are used for diagnostic work and research on easily transmitted pathogens which can cause fatal disease. These include a number of viruses known to cause viral hemorrhagic fever such as Marburg virus, Ebola virus, Lassa virus, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. Other pathogens handled at BSL-4 include Hendra virus, Nipah virus, and some flaviviruses. Additionally, poorly characterized pathogens which appear closely related to dangerous pathogens are often handled at this level until sufficient data are obtained either to confirm continued work at this level, or to permit working with them at a lower level. This level is also used for work with Variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox, though this work is only performed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, United States, and the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Koltsovo, Russia.


title: Biosafety level

text: Sample-return missions that bring back to Earth samples obtained from a Category V body must be curated at facilities rated BSL-4. Because the existing BSL-4 facilities in the world do not provide the level of cleanliness necessary to such pristine samples, there is a need to design a facility dedicated to curation of restricted (potentially biohazardous) extraterrestrial materials. The systems of such facilities must be able to contain unknown biohazards, as the sizes of any putative alien microorganisms are unknown. Ideally, it should filter particles down to 10 nanometers, and release of a particle 50 nanometers or larger is unacceptable under any circumstance. There has been a number of studies designing to various levels of details for such a facility, but so far, there are no clear plans to build a facility in the US, in Europe, or elsewhere in the world.


title: Biosafety level

text: Because NASA and ESA are collaborating on the Mars Sample Return campaign, due to return samples from Mars in the early 2030s, the need for a Sample Receiving Facility (SRF) is becoming more pressing. An SRF is expected to take 7 to 10 years from design to completion, and an additional two years is recommended for the staff to become proficient and accustomed to the facilities.


title: Biosafety level

text: According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published on 4 October 2007, a total of 1,356 CDC/USDA registered BSL-3 facilities were identified throughout the United States. Approximately 36% of these laboratories are located in academia. 15 BSL-4 facilities were identified in the U.S. in 2007, including nine at federal labs. As of May 2021, there are 42 BSL-4 facilities in operation around the world, with a further 17 planned or under construction.


title: Biosafety level

text: A North Carolina Mosquito & Vector Control Association (NCMVCA) study highlighted safety concerns. In the United States, laboratories can be funded by federal, state, private, non-profit, or academically. The last accounts for 72% of the funding.


title: Biosafety level

text: High-containment labs that are registered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Select Agent Program must adhere to Department of Defense standards. Since BSL3 and 4 laboratories in the United States are regulated by either the CDC or USDA or another federal agency (depending on the pathogens they handle), no single federal agency is responsible for regulating or tracking the number of these labs. U.S. high-containment laboratories that handle pathogens which are declared as "select agents" must be inspected periodically by the CDC or USDA, adhere to certain standards, and maintain ongoing education on biosecurity and biosafety policies as mandated by law.


title: Gustave Doré

text: Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, as a printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engravings, especially those illustrating classic books, including 241 illustrating the Bible. These achieved great international success, and he is the best-known artist in this printmaking technique, although his role was normally as the designer only; at the height of his career some 40 block-cutters were employed to cut his drawings onto the wooden printing blocks, usually also signing the image.


title: Gustave Doré

text: In all he created some 10,000 illustrations, the most important of which were "duplicated in electrotype shells that were printed ... on cylinder presses", allowing very large print runs as steel engravings, "hypnotizing the widest public ever captured by a major illustrator", and being published simultaneously in many countries. The drawings given to the block-cutters were often surprisingly sketch-like and free.


title: Gustave Doré

text: Although he lacked the usual training in an academy, his paintings were successful during his lifetime, but at least his early paintings of religious and mythological subjects, some extremely large, now tend to be regarded as "grandiloquent and of little merit". From the late 1860s onwards, he painted smaller landscapes and costumed genre scenes.


title: Gustave Doré

text: Doré was born in Strasbourg on 6 January 1832. By age 5 he was a prodigy artist, creating drawings that were mature beyond his years. Seven years later, he began carving in stone. At the age of 15, Doré began his career working as a caricaturist for the French paper "Le journal pour rire". The illustrations of J. J. Grandville have been noted as an influence on his work. Wood-engraving was his primary method at this time. In the late 1840s and early 1850s, he made several text comics, like "Les Travaux d'Hercule" (1847), "Trois artistes incompris et mécontents" (1851), "Les Dés-agréments d'un voyage d'agrément" (1851) and "L'Histoire de la Sainte Russie" (1854). Doré subsequently went on to win commissions to depict scenes from books by Cervantes, Rabelais, Balzac, Milton, and Dante. He also illustrated "Gargantua et Pantagruel" in 1854.


title: Gustave Doré

text: In 1853 Doré was asked to illustrate the works of Lord Byron. This commission was followed by additional work for British publishers, including a new illustrated Bible. In 1856 he produced 12 folio-size illustrations of "The Legend of The Wandering Jew", which propagated longstanding antisemitic views of the time, for a short poem which Pierre-Jean de Béranger had derived from a novel of Eugène Sue of 1845.


title: Gustave Doré

text: In the 1860s he illustrated a French edition of Cervantes's "Don Quixote", and his depictions of the knight and his squire, Sancho Panza, became so famous that they influenced subsequent readers, artists, and stage and film directors' ideas of the physical "look" of the two characters. Doré also illustrated an oversized edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", an endeavor that earned him 30,000 francs from publisher Harper & Brothers in 1883.


title: Gustave Doré

text: Doré's illustrations for the Bible (1866) were a great success, and in 1867 Doré had a major exhibition of his work in London. This exhibition led to the foundation of the Doré Gallery in Bond Street, London. In 1869, Blanchard Jerrold, the son of Douglas William Jerrold, suggested that they work together to produce a comprehensive portrait of London. Jerrold had obtained the idea from "The Microcosm of London" produced by Rudolph Ackermann, William Pyne, and Thomas Rowlandson (published in three volumes from 1808 to 1810). Doré signed a five-year contract with the publishers Grant & Co that involved his staying in London for three months a year, and he received the vast sum of £10,000 a year for the project. Doré was celebrated for his paintings in his day, but his woodcuts and engravings, like those he did for Jerrold, are where he excelled as an artist with an individual vision.


title: Gustave Doré

text: The completed book "", with 180 wood engravings, was published in 1872. It enjoyed commercial and popular success, but the work was disliked by some contemporary British critics, as it appeared to focus on the poverty that existed in parts of London. Doré was accused by "The Art Journal" of "inventing rather than copying". The "Westminster Review" claimed that "Doré gives us sketches in which the commonest, the vulgarest external features are set down". But they impressed Vincent van Gogh, who painted a version of the "Prisoners' Round" in 1890, the year of his death. The book was a financial success, however, and Doré received commissions from other British publishers.


title: Gustave Doré

text: Doré's later work included illustrations for new editions of Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", Milton's "Paradise Lost", Tennyson's "Idylls of the King", "The Works of Thomas Hood", and "The Divine Comedy". Doré's work also appeared in the weekly newspaper "The Illustrated London News".


title: Gustave Doré

text: Doré never married and, following the death of his father in 1849, he continued to live with his mother, illustrating books until his death in Paris on January 23, 1883, following a short illness. At the time of his death, he was working on illustrations for an edition of Shakespeare's plays.


title: Gustave Doré

text: Doré was a prolific artist; thus the following list of works is not complete and it does not include his paintings, sculptures, and many of his journal illustrations:


title: Gustave Doré

text: H.P. Lovecraft drew inspiration from Dore's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" illustrations in his formative years.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Sykes–Picot Agreement () was a 1916 secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France, with assent from the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, to define their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The agreement was based on the premise that the Triple Entente would achieve success in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I and formed part of a series of secret agreements contemplating its partition. The primary negotiations leading to the agreement took place between 23 November 1915 and 3 January 1916, on which date the British and French diplomats, Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot, initialled an agreed memorandum. The agreement was ratified by their respective governments on 9 and 16 May 1916.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The agreement effectively divided the Ottoman provinces outside the Arabian Peninsula into areas of British and French control and influence. The British- and French-controlled countries were divided by the Sykes–Picot line. The agreement allocated to the UK control of what is today southern Israel and Palestine, Jordan and southern Iraq, and an additional small area that included the ports of Haifa and Acre to allow access to the Mediterranean. France was to control southeastern Turkey, the Kurdistan Region, Syria and Lebanon.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: As a result of the included Sazonov–Paléologue Agreement, Russia was to get Western Armenia in addition to Constantinople and the Turkish Straits already promised under the 1915 Constantinople Agreement. Italy assented to the agreement in 1917 via the Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and received southern Anatolia. The Palestine region, with a smaller area than the later Mandatory Palestine, was to fall under an "international administration".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The agreement was initially used directly as the basis for the 1918 Anglo–French Modus Vivendi, which provided a framework for the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration in the Levant. More broadly it was to lead, indirectly, to the subsequent partitioning of the Ottoman Empire following Ottoman defeat in 1918. Shortly after the war, the French ceded Palestine and Mosul to the British. Mandates in the Levant and Mesopotamia were assigned at the April 1920 San Remo conference following the Sykes–Picot framework; the British Mandate for Palestine ran until 1948, the British Mandate for Mesopotamia was to be replaced by a similar treaty with Mandatory Iraq, and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon lasted until 1946. The Anatolian parts of the agreement were assigned by the August 1920 Treaty of Sèvres; however, these ambitions were thwarted by the 1919–23 Turkish War of Independence and the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The agreement is seen by many as a turning point in Western and Arab relations. It reneged upon the UK's promises to Arabs regarding a national Arab homeland in the area of Greater Syria in exchange for supporting the British against the Ottoman Empire. The agreement, along with others, was made public by the Bolsheviks in Moscow on 23 November 1917 and repeated in "The Manchester Guardian" on 26 November 1917, such that "the British were embarrassed, the Arabs dismayed and the Turks delighted". The agreement's legacy has led to much resentment in the region, among Arabs in particular but also among Kurds who were denied an independent state.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In the Constantinople Agreement of 18 March 1915, following the start of naval operations in the run up to the Gallipoli campaign the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Sazonov, wrote to the French and UK ambassadors and staked a claim to Constantinople and the Dardanelles. In a series of diplomatic exchanges over five weeks, the UK and France both agreed, while putting forward their own claims, to an increased sphere of influence in Iran in the case of the UK and to an annexation of Syria (including Palestine) and Cilicia for France. The UK and French claims were both agreed, all sides also agreeing that the exact governance of the Holy Places was to be left for later settlement. Were it not for the Russian Revolutions of 1917, Constantinople and the Straits could have been given to Russia upon the Allied victory. This agreement and the Sykes–Picot Agreement were complementary, as France and Britain first had to satisfy Russia in order to finalize the partitioning of the Middle East.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In the Treaty of London of 26 April 1915, Article 9 included commitments regarding Italian participation in any partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The article stated: "If France, Great Britain and Russia occupy any territories in Turkey in Asia during the course of the war, the Mediterranean region bordering on the Province of Adalia within the limits indicated above shall be reserved to Italy, who shall be entitled to occupy it."


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: While Sykes and Picot were in negotiations, discussions were proceeding in parallel between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, and Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner to Egypt (the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence). Their correspondence comprised ten letters exchanged from July 1915 to March 1916, in which the British government agreed to recognize Arab independence after the war in exchange for the Sharif of Mecca launching the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The area of Arab independence was defined to be "bounded on the North by Mersina and Adana up to 37 degrees of latitude, on which degree fall Birijik, Urfa, Mardin, Midiat, Jerizat (Ibn ʿUma), Amadia, up to the border of Persia; on the east by the borders of Persia up to the Gulf of Basra; on the South by the Indian Ocean, with the exception of the position of Aden to remain as it is; on the west by the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea up to Mersina", with the exception of "portions of Syria" lying to the west of "the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Hussein's reply of 1 January to McMahon's 14 December 1915 was received at the Foreign Office, McMahon's cover stating:


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Satisfactory as it may be to note his general acceptance for the time being of the proposed relations of France with Arabia, his reference to the future of those relations adumbrates a source of trouble which it will be wise not to ignore. I have on more than one occasion brought to the notice of His Majesty's Government the deep antipathy with which the Arabs regard the prospect of French Administration of any portion of Arab territory. In this lies considerable danger to our future relations with France, because difficult and even impossible though it may be to convince France of her mistake, if we do not endeavour to do so by warning her of the real state of Arab feeling, we may hereafter be accused of instigating or encouraging the opposition to the French, which the Arabs now threaten and will assuredly give.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: After discussions, Grey instructed that the French be informed of the situation, although Paul Cambon did not take the agreement that seriously.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 21 October 1915, Grey met Cambon and suggested France appoint a representative to discuss the future borders of Syria as Britain wished to back the creation of an independent Arab state. At this point Grey was faced with competing claims from the French and from Hussein and the day before had sent a telegram to Cairo telling the High Commissioner to be as vague as possible in his next letter to the Sharif when discussing the northwestern, Syrian, corner of the territory Hussein claimed and left McMahon with "discretion in the matter as it is urgent and there is not time to discuss an exact formula", adding, "If something more precise than this is required you can give it."


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The first meeting of the British interdepartmental committee headed by Sir Arthur Nicolson with François Georges-Picot took place on 23 November 1915. Picot informed the Nicolson committee that France claimed the possession of land starting from where the Taurus Mountains approach the sea in Cilicia, following the Taurus Mountains and the mountains further East, so as to include Diyarbekir, Mosul and Erbil, and then returning to Deir ez-Zor on the Euphrates and from there southwards along the desert border, finishing eventually at the Egyptian frontier. Picot, however, added that he was prepared "to propose to the French government to throw Mosul into the Arab pool, if we did so in the case of Baghdad".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: A second meeting of the Nicolson committee with Picot took place on 21 December 1915 wherein Picot said that he had obtained permission to agree to the towns of Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Damascus being included in the Arab dominions to be administered by the Arabs. Although the French had scaled back their demands to some extent, the British also claimed to want to include Lebanon in the future Arab State and this meeting also ended at an impasse.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On Tuesday 28 December, Mark Sykes informed Gilbert Clayton that he had "been given the Picot negotiations". Sykes and Picot entered into "almost daily" private discussions over the six-day period; no documents survive from these discussions.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On Monday 3 January 1916, they agreed and initialled a joint memorandum containing what was to become known as the Sykes–Picot Agreement. They had agreed to compromise on the two primary areas of difference—they split the Mosul Vilayet in two at the Little Zab river, with the French taking the northern part (Mosul and Erbil) and the British taking the southern part (Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah), and Palestine was to be placed under an "international administration, the form of which is to be decided upon after consultation with Russia, and subsequently in consultation with the other allies, and the representatives of the sheriff of Mecca."


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The memorandum was forwarded to the Foreign Office and circulated for comments. On 16 January, Sykes told the Foreign office that he had spoken to Picot and that he thought Paris would be able to agree. An interdepartmental conference was convened by Nicolson on 21 January. Following the meeting, a final draft agreement was circulated to the cabinet on 2 February, the War Committee considered it on the 3rd and finally at a meeting on the 4th between Bonar Law, Chamberlain, Lord Kitchener and others it was decided that:


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: M. Picot may inform his government that the acceptance of the whole project would entail the abdication of considerable British interests, but provided that the cooperation of the Arabs is secured, and that the Arabs fulfil the conditions and obtain the towns of Homs, Hama, Damascus and Aleppo, the British Government would not object to the arrangement. But, as the Blue Area extends so far Eastwards, and affects Russian interests, it would be absolutely essential that, before anything was concluded, the consent of Russia was obtained.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Picot was informed and five days later Cambon told Nicolson that "the French government were in accord with the proposals concerning the Arab question".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Later, in February and March, Sykes and Picot acted as advisors to Sir George Buchanan and the French ambassador respectively, during negotiations with Sazonov.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Eventually, Russia having agreed on 26 April 1916, the final terms were sent by Paul Cambon, the French Ambassador in London, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Edward Grey, on 9 May 1916, and ratified in Grey's reply on 16 May 1916.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In the chain of agreements between France, Russia and Britain, the Russian claims were assented to first: France confirmed their agreement on 26 April and Britain on 23 May, with formal sanction on 23 October. The Anglo-French agreement was confirmed in an exchange of letters on 9 May and 16 May.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In a meeting in a railway car at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne on 19 April 1917, a tentative agreement was reached between British and French Prime Ministers, David Lloyd George and Alexandre Ribot, and the Italian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Paolo Boselli and Sidney Sonnino; to settle the Italian interest in the Ottoman Empire—specifically article 9 of the Treaty of London. The agreement was needed by the Allies to secure the position of Italian forces in the Middle East.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The goal was to balance the military power drops at the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I as Russian (Tsarist) forces were pulling out of the Caucasus campaign, even though they were replaced with the forces of what would be called the First Republic of Armenia. It was clear to the Italians that the area allotted to them may not be easily given up by the Turkish Empire, such that the British Prime Minister proposed a vague formula for post-war adjustment should the actual post-war allocation not appear to be balanced.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The agreement was drafted and negotiated by the countries' diplomats over the coming months, and signed by the allies between 18 August and 26 September 1917. Russia was not represented in this agreement as the Tsarist regime was in the midst of a revolution. The lack of Russian consent to the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne agreement was subsequently used by the British at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference to invalidate it, a position that greatly incensed the Italian government.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Vereté describes how a dispute with the Ottoman Empire over the Eastern boundary of Egypt ended in 1906 when the borders were redrawn along the Rafa-Aqaba line and subsequently the fear of an attack on Egypt led to an increased strategic importance of "The hinterland of Sinai, western and eastern Palestine at least up to the Acre-Dar'a line".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Palestine was discussed between various members of the British Civil Service. Lord Kitchener, the recently appointed Secretary of State for War had been recalled from his position as Consul-General in Egypt; his secretary Oswald FitzGerald discussed the matter with Ronald Storrs, the Oriental Secretary in Cairo, who wrote on 28 December 1914: "the inclusion of a part of Palestine in the Egyptian Protectorate [with Jerusalem as a free city could be] a possible solution... [This would make] Jewish infiltration into Palestine... less obvious and annoying to the susceptibilities of the Moslem and even certain elements in the Christian world"


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: After the Constantinople agreement, the French approached the British with a view to working out their mutual desiderata and the British, on 8 April 1915, set up the De Bunsen Committee to consider British options. Zionism was not considered by the report of the committee, submitted in June 1915, which concluded that, in case of the partition or zones of influence options, there should be a British sphere of influence that included Palestine while accepting that there were relevant French and Russian as well as Islamic interests in Jerusalem and the Holy Places.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Mark Sykes was dispatched on instructions of the War Office at the beginning of June to discuss the committee's findings with the British authorities in the Near and Middle East and at the same time to study the situation on the spot. He went to Athens, Gallipoli, Sofia, Cairo, Aden, Cairo a second time and then to India coming back to Basra in September and a third time to Cairo in November (where he was apprised of the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence) before returning home on 8 December and finally delivering his report to the War Committee on 16 December.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In his introduction to a 2016 Symposium on the subject of Sykes–Picot, law professor Anghie notes that much of the agreement is given over to "commercial and trade arrangements, to access to ports and the construction of railways".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Loevy makes a similar point in respect of sections 4 to 8 of the agreement and refers to British and French practicing "Ottoman colonial development as insiders" and that this experience acted as a road map for the later wartime negotiations. Khalidi point to the negotiations between Britain and France in 1913 and 1914 with respect to the Homs–Baghdad railway as well as the pre-war agreements that both empires made with Germany over other regions of the Middle East, as laying "a clear basis" for their later spheres of influence under the agreement.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In his doctoral thesis, Gibson discusses the part played by oil in British strategic thinking at the time and mentions the Mosul vilayet as the largest potential oilfield and France's agreement in 1918 to agree to its inclusion in the Iraq Mandate (the Clemenceau Lloyd George Agreement) in exchange for "a share of the oil and British support elsewhere".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Hussein's letter of 18 February 1916 appealed to McMahon for £50,000 in gold plus weapons, ammunition and food claiming that Feisal was awaiting the arrival of "not less than 100,000 people" for the planned revolt and McMahon's reply of 10 March 1916 confirmed the British agreement to the requests and concluded the ten letters of the correspondence. In April and May, there were discussions initiated by Sykes as to the merits of a meeting to include Picot and the Arabs to mesh the desiderata of both sides. At the same time, logistics in relation to the promised revolt were being dealt with and there was a rising level of impatience for action to be taken by Hussein. Finally, at the end of April, McMahon was advised of the terms of Sykes–Picot and he and Grey agreed that these would not be disclosed to the Arabs.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Arab revolt was officially initiated by Hussein at Mecca on 10 June 1916 although his sons 'Ali and Faisal had already initiated operations at Medina starting on 5 June. The timing had been brought forward by Hussein and, according to Cairo, "Neither he nor we were at all ready in early June, 1916, and it was only with the greatest of difficulty that a minimum of sufficient assistance in material could be scraped together to ensure initial success."


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Colonel Édouard Brémond was dispatched to Arabia in September 1916 as head of the French military mission to the Arabs. According to Cairo, Brémond was intent on containing the revolt so that the Arabs might not in any way threaten French interests in Syria. These concerns were not taken up in London, British-French cooperation was thought paramount and Cairo made aware of that. (Wingate was informed in late November that "it would seem desirable to impress upon your subordinates the need for the most loyal cooperation with the French whom His Majesty's Government do not suspect of ulterior designs in the Hijaz".)


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: As 1916 drew to a close, the Asquith government which had been under increasing pressure and criticism mainly due to its conduct of the war, gave way on 6 December to David Lloyd George who had been critical of the war effort and had succeeded Kitchener as Secretary of State for War after his untimely death in June. Lloyd George had wanted to make the destruction of the Ottoman Empire a major British war aim, and two days after taking office told Robertson that he wanted a major victory, preferably the capture of Jerusalem, to impress British public opinion. The EEF were, at the time, in defensive mode at a line on the eastern edge of the Sinai at El Arish and 15 miles from the borders of Ottoman Palestine. Lloyd George "at once" consulted his War Cabinet about a "further campaign into Palestine when El Arish had been secured". Pressure from Lloyd George (over the reservations of Chief of the General Staff) resulted in the capture of Rafa and the arrival of British forces at the borders of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Lloyd George set up a new small War Cabinet initially comprising Lords Curzon and Milner, Bonar Law, Arthur Henderson and himself; Hankey became the Secretary with Sykes, Ormsby-Gore and Amery as assistants. Although Arthur Balfour replaced Grey as Foreign Secretary, his exclusion from the War Cabinet and the activist stance of its members weakened his influence over foreign policy.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The French chose Picot as French High Commissioner for the soon to be occupied territory of Syria and Palestine. The British appointed Sykes as Chief Political Officer to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. On 3 April 1917, Sykes met with Lloyd George, Curzon and Hankey to receive his instructions in this regard, namely to keep the French onside while pressing for a British Palestine. First Sykes in early May and then Picot and Sykes together visited the Hejaz later in May to discuss the agreement with Faisal and Hussein. Hussein was persuaded to agree to a formula to the effect that the French would pursue the same policy in Syria as the British in Baghdad; since Hussein believed that Baghdad would be part of the Arab State, that had eventually satisfied him. Later reports from participants expressed doubts about the precise nature of the discussions and the degree to which Hussein had really been informed as to the terms of Sykes–Picot.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Italy's participation in the war, governed by the Treaty of London, eventually led to the Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in April 1917; at this conference, Lloyd George had raised the question of a British protectorate of Palestine and the idea "had been very coldly received" by the French and the Italians. The War Cabinet, reviewing this conference on 25 April, "inclined to the view that sooner or later the Sykes–Picot Agreement might have to be reconsidered ... No action should be taken at present in this matter".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In between the meetings with Hussein, Sykes had informed London that "the sooner French Military Mission is removed from Hedjaz the better" and then Lord Bertie was instructed to request the same from the French on the grounds that the mission was hostile to the Arab cause and which "cannot but prejudice Allied relations and policy in the Hedjaz and may even affect whole future of French relations with the Arabs". After the French response to this, on 31 May 1917, William Ormsby-Gore wrote:


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The British Government, in authorising the letters despatched to King Hussein [Sharif of Mecca] before the outbreak of the revolt by Sir Henry McMahon, would seem to raise a doubt as to whether our pledges to King Hussein as head of the Arab nation are consistent with French intentions to make not only Syria but Upper Mesopotamia another Tunis. If our support of King Hussein and the other Arabian leaders of less distinguished origin and prestige means anything it means that we are prepared to recognize the full sovereign independence of the Arabs of Arabia and Syria. It would seem time to acquaint the French Government with our detailed pledges to King Hussein, and to make it clear to the latter whether he or someone else is to be the ruler of Damascus, which is the one possible capital for an Arab State, which could command the obedience of the other Arabian Emirs.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In a further sign of British discontent with Sykes–Picot, in August, Sykes penned a "Memorandum on the Asia Minor Agreement" that was tantamount to advocating its renegotiation else that it be made clear to the French that they "make good—that is to say that if they cannot make a military effort compatible with their policy they should modify their policy". After many discussions, Sykes was directed to conclude with Picot an agreement or supplement to Sykes–Picot ("Projet d'Arrangement") covering the "future status of the Hejaz and Arabia" and this was achieved by the end of September. However, by the end of the year, the agreement had yet to be ratified by the French Government.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Balfour Declaration along with its potential claim in Palestine was in the meantime issued on 2 November and the British entered Jerusalem on 9 December, with Allenby on foot 2 days later accompanied by representatives of the French and Italian detachments.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Russian claims in the Ottoman Empire were denied following the Bolshevik Revolution and the Bolsheviks released a copy of the Sykes–Picot Agreement (as well as other treaties). They revealed full texts in "Izvestia" and "Pravda" on 23 November 1917; subsequently, "The Manchester Guardian" printed the texts on 26 November 1917. That caused great embarrassment to the allies and growing distrust between them and the Arabs. Earlier, in April, the Zionists had confirmed the details of the Agreement with the British government.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had rejected all secret agreements made between the Allies and promoted open diplomacy as well as ideas about self-determination. On 22 November 1917, Leon Trotsky addressed a note to the ambassadors at Petrograd "containing proposals for a truce and a democratic peace without annexation and without indemnities, based on the principle of the independence of nations, and of their right to determine the nature of their own development themselves". Peace negotiations with the Quadruple Alliance—Germany, Austria–Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey—started at Brest–Litovsk one month later. On behalf of the Quadruple Alliance, Count Czernin, replied on 25 December that the "question of State allegiance of national groups which possess no State independence" should be solved by "every State with its peoples independently in a constitutional manner", and that "the right of minorities forms an essential component part of the constitutional right of peoples to self-determination".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In his turn, Lloyd George delivered a speech on war aims on 5 January, including references to the right of self-determination and "consent of the governed" as well as to secret treaties and the changed circumstances regarding them. Three days later, Wilson weighed in with his Fourteen Points, the twelfth being that "the Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 23 December 1917, Sykes (who had been sent to France in mid-December to see what was happening with the Projet d'Arrangement) and a representative of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs had delivered public addresses to the Central Syrian Committee at Paris in Paris on the non-Turkish elements of the Ottoman Empire, including liberated Jerusalem. Sykes had stated that the accomplished fact of the independence of the Hejaz rendered it almost impossible that an effective and real autonomy should be refused to Syria. However, the minutes also record that the Syrian Arabs in Egypt were not happy with developments and absent a clearer, less ambiguous statement in regard to the future of Syria and Mesopotamia then the Allies as well as the King of the Hedjaz would lose much Arab support.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Sykes was the author of the Hogarth Message a secret January 1918 message to Hussein following his request for an explanation of the Balfour Declaration and the Bassett Letter was a letter (also secret) dated 8 February 1918 from the British Government to Hussein following his request for an explanation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The failure of the Projet d'Arrangement reflected poorly on Sykes and following on from the doubts about his explanations of Sykes–Picot to Hussein the previous year, weakened his credibility on Middle Eastern affairs throughout 1918. Still (at his own request, now Acting Adviser on Arabian and Palestine Affairs at the Foreign Office) he continued his criticism of Sykes–Picot, minuting on 16 February that "the Anglo–French Agreement of 1916 in regard to Asia Minor should come up for reconsideration" and then on 3 March, writing to Clayton, "the stipulations in regard to the red and blue areas can only be regarded as quite contrary to the spirit of every ministerial speech that has been made for the last three months".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 28 March 1918 the first meeting of the newly formed Eastern Committee was held, chaired by Curzon.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In May, Clayton told Balfour that Picot had, in response to a suggestion that the agreement was moot, "allowed that considerable revision was required in view of changes that had taken place in the situation since agreement was drawn up", but nevertheless considered that "agreement holds, at any rate principle".


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The British issued the Declaration to the Seven on 16 June, the first British pronouncement to the Arabs advancing the principle of national self-determination.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 30 September 1918, supporters of the Arab Revolt in Damascus declared a government loyal to the Sharif of Mecca. He had been declared King of the Arabs by a handful of religious leaders and other notables in Mecca.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Arab and British armies entered Damascus on 1 October 1918, and on 3 October 1918 Ali Rida al-Rikabi was appointed Military Governor of Occupied Enemy Territory Administration East. Faisal entered Damascus on 4 October and appointed Rikabi Chief of the Council of Directors (i.e. prime minister) of Syria.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 5 October, with the permission of General Allenby, Faisal announced the establishment of a fully and absolutely independent Arab constitutional government. Faisal announced it would be an Arab government based on justice and equality for all Arabs regardless of religion.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Anglo-French Declaration of November 1918 pledged that Great Britain and France would "assist in the establishment of indigenous Governments and administrations in Syria and Mesopotamia" by "setting up of national governments and administrations deriving their authority from the free exercise of the initiative and choice of the indigenous populations". The French had reluctantly agreed to issue the declaration at the insistence of the British. Minutes of a British War Cabinet meeting reveal that the British had cited the laws of conquest and military occupation to avoid sharing the administration with the French under a civilian regime. The British stressed that the terms of the Anglo–French declaration had superseded the Sykes–Picot Agreement in order to justify fresh negotiations over the allocation of the territories of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Palestine.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: George Curzon said the Great Powers were still committed to the Règlement Organique agreement, which concerned governance and non-intervention in the affairs of the Maronite, Orthodox Christian, Druze and Muslim communities, regarding the Beirut Vilayet of June 1861 and September 1864, and added that the rights granted to France in what is today modern Syria and parts of Turkey under Sykes–Picot were incompatible with that agreement.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 30 October, the Ottoman Empire had signed the Armistice of Mudros. On 2 November, the British occupied the Mosul Vilayet which led to the territorial dispute known as the Mosul Question.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: At the French embassy in London on Sunday 1 December, David Lloyd George and Clemenceau had a private and undocumented meeting where the latter surrendered French rights to Mosul (the city of Mosul and South to the Little Zab) and to Palestine that had been given by the Sykes–Picot Agreement. Although Lloyd George and others have suggested that nothing was given in return, according to Ian Rutledge and James Barr, Lloyd George promised at least one or even all of, support for French claims on the Ruhr, that when oil production in Mosul began, France would receive a share and that Sykes–Picot obligation would be maintained as regards Syria.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Eastern Committee met nine times in November and December to draft a set of resolutions on British policy for the benefit of the negotiators.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 21 October, the War Cabinet asked Smuts to prepare the peace brief in summary form and he asked Erle Richards to carry out this task resulting in a "P-memo" for use by the Peace Conference delegates. The conclusions of the Eastern Committee at page 4 of the P-memo included as objectives the cancellation of Sykes–Picot and supporting the Arabs in their claim to a state with capital at Damascus (in line with the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence).


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: At the Peace Conference, which officially opened on 18 January, the Big Four (initially, a "Council of Ten" comprising two delegates each from Britain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan) agreed, on 30 January, the outlines of a Mandate system (including three levels of Mandate) later to become Article 22 of the League Covenant. The Big Four would later decide which communities, under what conditions and which Mandatory.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Minutes taken during a meeting of The Big Four held in Paris on 20 March 1919 and attended by Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando as well as Lloyd George and Arthur Balfour, explained the British and French points of view concerning the agreement. It was the first topic brought up during the discussion of Syria and Turkey, and formed the focus of all discussions thereafter.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Anglo-French Declaration was read into the minutes, Pichon commenting that it showed the disinterested position of both governments in regard to the Arabs and Lloyd George that it was "more important than all the old agreements". Pichon went on to mention a proposed scheme of agreement of 15 February based on the private agreement reached between Clemenceau and Lloyd George the previous December. (According to Lieshout, just before Faisal made his presentation to the conference on the 6th, Clemenceau handed Lloyd George a proposal which appears to cover the same subject matter; Lieshout having accessed related British materials dated the 6th whereas the date in the minutes is unsourced.)


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In the subsequent discussions, France staked its claim to Syria (and its mandate) while the British sought to carve out the Arab areas of zones A and B arguing that France had implicitly accepted such an arrangement even though it was the British that had entered into the arrangement with the Arabs.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Wilson intervened and stressed the principle of consent of the governed whether it be Syria or Mesopotamia, that he thought the issues involved the peace of the world and were not necessarily just a matter between France and Britain. He suggested that an Inter-Allied Commission be formed and sent out to find out the wishes of local inhabitants in the region. The discussion concluded with Wilson agreeing to draft a Terms of Reference to the commission.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 21 April, Faisal left for the East. Before he left, on 17 April Clemenceau sent a draft letter, in which the French government declared that they recognized "the right of Syria to independence in the form of a federation of autonomous governments in agreement with the traditions and wishes of the populations", and claimed that Faisal had recognized "that France is the Power qualified to render Syria the assistance of various advisors necessary to introduce order and realise the progress demanded by the Syrian populations" and on 20 April, Faisal assured Clemenceau that he had been "Deeply impressed by the disinterested friendliness of your statements to me while I was in Paris, and must thank you for having been the first to suggest the dispatch of the inter-allied Commission, which is to leave shortly for the East to ascertain the wishes of the local peoples as to the future organisation of their country. I am sure that the people of Syria will know how to show you their gratitude."


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Meanwhile, as of late May, the standoff between the French and the British as to disposition of forces continued, the French continued to press for a replacement of British by French troops in Syria amid arguments about precise geographical limits of same and in general the relationship suffered; after the meeting on the 21st, Lloyd George had written to Clemenceau and cancelled the Long–Bérenger Oil Agreement (a revised version of which had been agreed at the end of April) claiming to have known nothing about it and not wanting it to become an issue while Clemenceau claimed that had not been the subject of any argument. There were also discussions as to what precisely had been agreed or not at the private meeting between Clemenceau and Lloyd George the previous December.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In June 1919, the American King–Crane Commission arrived in Syria to inquire into local public opinion about the future of the country. After many vicissitudes, "mired in confusion and intrigue", "Lloyd George had second thoughts...", the French and British had declined to participate.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Syrian National Congress had been convened in May 1919 to consider the future of Greater Syria and to present Arab views contained in a 2 July resolution to the King-Crane Commission.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: The Peace treaty with Germany was signed on 28 June and with the departure of Wilson and Lloyd George from Paris, the result was that the Turkey/Syria question was effectively placed on hold.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 15 September, the British handed out an Aide Memoire (which had been discussed privately two days before between Lloyd George and Clemenceau ) whereby the British would withdraw their troops to Palestine and Mesopotamia and hand over Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo to Faisal's forces. While accepting the withdrawal, Clemenceau continued to insist on the Sykes–Picot agreement as being the basis for all discussions.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: On 18 September, Faisal arrived in London and the next day and on the 23rd had lengthy meetings with Lloyd George who explained the Aide Memoire and British position. Lloyd George explained that he was "in the position of a man who had inherited two sets of engagements, those to King Hussein and those to the French", Faisal noting that the arrangement "seemed to be based on the 1916 agreement between the British and the French". Clemenceau, replying in respect of the Aide Memoire, refused to move on Syria and said that the matter should be left for the French to handle directly with Faisal.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Faisal arrived in Paris on 20 October and eventually on 6 January 1920 Faisal accepted a French mandate "for the whole of Syria", while France in return consented "to the formation of an Arab state that included Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo, and was to be administered by the Emir with the assistance of French advisers" (acknowledged "the right of Syrians to unite to govern themselves as an independent nation".). In the meantime, British forces withdrew from Damascus on 26 November.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: Faisal returned to Damascus on 16 January and Millerand took over from Clemenceau on the 20th. A Syrian National Congress meeting in Damascus declared an independent state of Syria on 8 March 1920. The new state intended to include portions of Syria, Palestine, and northern Mesopotamia. Faisal was declared the head of State. At the same time Prince Zeid, Faisal's brother, was declared Regent of Mesopotamia.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In April 1920, the San Remo conference handed out Class A mandates over Syria to France, and Iraq and Palestine to Britain. The same conference ratified an oil agreement reached at a London conference on 12 February, based on a slightly different version of the Long Berenger agreement previously initialled in London on 21 December.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: France had decided to govern Syria directly, and took action to enforce the French Mandate of Syria before the terms had been accepted by the Council of the League of Nations. The French issued an ultimatum and intervened militarily at the Battle of Maysalun in June 1920. They deposed the indigenous Arab government, and removed King Faisal from Damascus in August 1920. Great Britain also appointed a High Commissioner and established their own mandatory regime in Palestine, without first obtaining approval from the Council of the League of Nations, or obtaining the formal cession of the territory from the former sovereign, Turkey.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: In November 1914, the British had occupied Basra. According to the report of the de Bunsen Committee, British interests in Mesopotamia were defined by the need to protect the western flank of India and protect commercial interests including oil. The British also became concerned about the Berlin–Baghdad railway. Although never ratified, the British had also initialled the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913.


title: Sykes–Picot Agreement

text: As part of the Mesopotamian campaign, on 11 March 1917, the British entered Baghdad, the Armistice of Mudros was signed on 30 October 1918 although the British continued their advance, entering Mosul on 2 November.