Syria: From French Mandate to Civil War

Syria is one of the most fiercely contested territories of the modern Middle East — carved from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire as a French Mandate after 1918, partitioned to create Lebanon, mobilised and fought over in the Second World War, and torn apart by civil war and foreign intervention after 2011. These eight episodes trace that full arc: from the moment the French drew Syria’s borders and crushed its first uprising, through the wartime struggles for the Levant, to the catastrophic civil war and the dramatic collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024.

Alongside the podcast episodes below, Explaining History has published a complete written guide to the Syrian Civil War — ten detailed articles tracing the conflict from the Arab Spring uprisings to the fall of Assad. Read the Complete Guide to the Syrian Civil War →

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Part One: The French Mandate & Colonial Syria (1918–1946)

France received the Syrian Mandate at the 1920 San Remo Conference and immediately set about dividing and controlling a territory that had briefly declared itself an independent Arab kingdom. These episodes cover the creation of Lebanon out of Greater Syria, the bloody suppression of the 1925 uprising, and the wartime struggle for the Levant between Vichy France, Nazi Germany, and Britain — ending with Syrian independence in 1946.

Dividing Greater Syria: French Imperialism, Sectarianism, and the Creation of Lebanon

France carved Lebanon out of Ottoman Syria in 1920, drawing borders that embedded sectarian divisions and denied Arab nationalists the unified state they had been promised. This episode examines how French imperial strategy shaped both countries — and left a political legacy that persists to this day.

France and the Syrian Uprising 1925

In 1925, a revolt began in the Jebel Druze and spread rapidly across Syria into Damascus itself. France’s response — including the aerial bombardment of the old city — shocked international opinion but crushed the uprising. This episode examines the causes, course, and consequences of the Great Syrian Revolt.

The Mandate System: Palestine, Syria and Iraq

The League of Nations Mandate system was presented as a form of enlightened trusteeship — in practice it was a mechanism for extending British and French imperial control across the former Ottoman Arab lands. This episode examines how the Mandates for Palestine, Syria, and Iraq were constructed, contested, and ultimately failed.

Britain’s War with Nazi Germany and Vichy France in Iraq and Syria: 1941

In the summer of 1941, Britain fought two little-known campaigns — suppressing a pro-Axis coup in Iraq and then invading Vichy-held Syria and Lebanon to prevent German use of Levantine airfields. This episode examines how the Middle East became a crucial theatre of the Second World War and what the campaigns meant for Syrian and Iraqi independence.

French National Pride and Empire: 1944 — Syria and Lebanon’s Road to Independence

As the Free French sought to reassert control over their empire after liberation, Syria and Lebanon pressed for the independence they had been promised. This episode examines the tensions between French imperial prestige and the gathering force of Arab nationalism — ending in British intervention and the effective end of the French Mandate in the Levant.

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Part Two: The Syrian Civil War & the Fall of Assad (2011–2024)

Syria’s civil war began in March 2011 as part of the Arab Spring and became the defining humanitarian catastrophe of the 2010s — drawing in Russia, Iran, Turkey, the United States, and a bewildering array of armed factions. These three episodes analyse the conflict’s dynamics, Russia’s decisive military intervention from 2015, and the sudden collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024.

Making Sense of Syria

A clear-eyed overview of the Syrian conflict: its origins in the Arab Spring protests of 2011, the regime’s brutal response, the fragmentation of the opposition, the rise of ISIS, and the intervention of regional and global powers. Essential context for understanding how a popular uprising became one of the most destructive wars of the twenty-first century.

Russian Defeat in Syria

Russia’s military intervention in Syria from September 2015 saved Assad from military collapse and reasserted Russian power in the Middle East after decades of absence. But the intervention came at a cost — and Russia’s investment in Assad ultimately ended in humiliation when the regime fell in December 2024. This episode examines what Russia gained, what it lost, and what its Syrian adventure revealed about the limits of Russian power.

Special Report: Syria and the Defeat of Assad

In December 2024, Bashar al-Assad’s regime — which had survived fourteen years of civil war, foreign intervention, and international isolation — collapsed within days as rebel forces swept from Aleppo to Damascus. This special report analyses how and why the Assad government fell so rapidly, what the fall means for Syria’s neighbours and the wider Middle East, and what a post-Assad Syria might look like.

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Read More: The Complete Guide to the Syrian Civil War

Explaining History’s written Syria series covers the conflict in depth across ten articles — from the origins of Assad family rule and the outbreak of the Arab Spring, through the military campaigns, foreign interventions, and humanitarian catastrophe, to the final collapse of the regime. Read the full series at:

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