? Meet your new favorite daily sneaker—Vessi is waterproof, ultra-comfy, and fits every part of your routine. Visit https://vessi.com/gk and enjoy 15% off your first pair at checkout!
In this video I explore what the Middle East could have looked like if U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's post-WWI vision had become reality. We look at his Fourteen Points, especially point XII, and how his ideas clashed with the British and French plans already in motion, like the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement. I break down how Wilson hoped to create new countries based on ethnic and national lines, rather than colonial interests, and how this vision played out at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. I explain the proposed creation of an international zone over the Dardanelles and Constantinople, and dive into the potential independence of places like Smyrna, Pontus, Greater Armenia (Wilsonian Armenia), and a Free Kurdistan. We also look at what happened instead: how Turkey kept the straits and crushed many of these plans through the War of Independence, how the British and French carved up Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt under mandates, and how Wilson’s ideas were mostly sidelined by European imperialism and American isolationism. The video covers other interesting “what-ifs” like a League of Nations-administered strait, a Kurdish homeland across four countries, and why the Armenian and Pontic Greek states never came to be. This is a deep dive into alternative history, the real plans for these borders, and the reasons they never came to life.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 What If The Middle-East Looked Different?
00:31 What The British & French Wanted vs What Wilson Wanted
01:33 Which Countries Were Proposed?
02:52 Vessi
04:42 The Unfollowed Treaty of Sèvres
05:07 What Actually Happened?
06:11 Constantinople / Dardanelles Strait
07:17 An Independent or Greek Smyrna
08:02 Greek and Turkish Population Exchanges
08:32 Republic of Pontus
09:41 Greater Armenia
10:32 A Free Kurdistan
11:37 A Modern Mesopotamia
12:29 Syria & Lebanon
12:41 Palestine, Egypt & Cyprus
12:49 United Arabia
13:30 Summary
13:37 Patreon Credits
❤️ Become a member on Patreon & get your name in the credits + exclusive content! https://www.patreon.com/generalknowledge
Stay up to date on more content from me:
? Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@general.knowledge.yt
? Twitter: https://twitter.com/GKonYoutube
?️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genknowledge/
▶ Join the Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/f4neAVWZfF
▶ Business Contact: gilfamc@gmail.com
#GeneralKnowledge