Discuss the effects of Allied diplomacy and the Paris peace treaties on the Middle East to 1923.

The question requires that candidates offer a considered and balanced review of the effects of both Allied diplomacy and the Paris peace treaties on the Middle East to 1923. Candidates may offer equal coverage of Allied diplomacy and the peace treaties or they may prioritize the discussion of one over the other. However, both must be a feature of the response. Candidates may refer to the effects of wartime Allied diplomacy such as the Sykes–Picot Agreement (the focus of which was the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire), the Balfour Declaration (which supported the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East), and the Hussein–McMahon correspondence. The Paris peace treaties may include, the Treaty of Sèvres (superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne). Their impact on several areas in the Middle East should be considered, including Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.

The question required that candidates offer a considered and balanced review of the effects of both Allied diplomacy and the Paris peace treaties on the Middle East up to 1923. This question was very popular and there were some very strong responses, showing very good subject knowledge of the period. The largest weakness of many responses was the failure to discuss Turkey as part of the Middle East. This was a major omission. In addition, a number of responses gave a lot of attention to Palestine at the expense of a broader understanding of the Middle Eastern issues created by allied diplomacy in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.