1916

Sykes–Picot Agreement

Britain and France complete the Sykes–Picot exchange of notes

The two diplomats whose names the agreement carries were not its formal signatories. The decisive papers passed between Edward Grey and Paul Cambon.

Two notes, nine days apart

The Sykes–Picot Agreement was not a single treaty signed on one day in 1916. Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot initialled a memorandum in January; French ambassador Paul Cambon sent France's note and the agreed map to London on 9 May; and British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey replied on 16 May, completing the exchange.

Grey's reply is what recorded the two governments' acceptance of the arrangements.

Nothing changed on the ground that day, and neither the Ottoman authorities nor the affected Arab populations were publicly informed.

Three legal categories, not two empires

The agreement contemplated an independent Arab state or confederation in areas A and B, but gave France priority for advisers, enterprise and loans in A, and Britain the same privileges in B. Separately it permitted French direct or indirect control in a blue coastal and Anatolian zone, and British direct or indirect control in a red Mesopotamian zone.

Most of Palestine was coloured brown and assigned to a future international administration rather than directly to Britain, which was separately accorded Haifa and Acre.

The text also regulated ports, customs, water and railways, including a British right to build and control a railway connecting Haifa with the British sphere.

What it left unsettled

Russia was consulted and assented through related diplomacy, but Italy had not been fully informed in May 1916 — the agreement's own text says Italian claims still required practical consideration. Russian claims to Constantinople, the Straits and Armenian territory came through separate wartime agreements.

The proposed zones do not correspond neatly to the later borders of Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel or Turkey, and the plan was never implemented in its original form.

Sharif Hussein bin Ali, whose representatives the text said were to be consulted about the international administration in Palestine, was not informed of the secret agreement when it was concluded; how it squares with the Hussein–McMahon correspondence remains disputed among scholars.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 1916-05-16.

What the sources leave uncertain

The agreement was not a single treaty signed by Sykes and Picot on one day. The negotiators initialled a memorandum in January; Cambon sent the French note on 9 May; Grey’s acceptance of 16 May completed the exchange.
Russia was consulted and assented through related diplomacy. Italy, however, had not been fully informed in May 1916; the agreement itself says Italian claims still required practical consideration.
Modern country names only approximate the colored zones. The proposed areas do not correspond neatly to the later borders of Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel or Turkey.