Full Description
The system established by the League of Nations after World War One to administer the former colonies and territories of Germany and the Ottoman Empire. Under the Mandate System, Britain and France took control of territories in the Middle East (Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon) and Africa (Tanganyika, Cameroon, Togo, Rwanda-Burundi), nominally as trustees acting in the interests of the inhabitants rather than as colonial powers. In practice, the mandate territories were administered as colonies.
Critical Perspective
The Mandate System was colonialism with better public relations. The fiction that Britain and France were temporary administrators preparing territories for self-determination was contradicted at every step by their actual policies: Jewish immigration to Palestine against the wishes of the Arab majority; the drawing of borders in Iraq and Syria to serve strategic interests; the suppression of revolts. The system’s greatest legacy was the set of unresolved conflicts it created — most enduringly the Israel-Palestine question.
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