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A Line in the Sand
- Britain, France and the struggle that shaped the Middle East
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 15 hrs and 7 mins
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A Line in the Sand
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Summary
In 1916, in the middle of the First World War, two men secretly agreed to divide the Middle East between them. Sir Mark Sykes was a visionary politician; François Georges-Picot a diplomat with a grudge. The deal they struck, which was designed to relieve tensions that threatened to engulf the Entente Cordiale, drew a line in the sand from the Mediterranean to the Persian frontier. Territory north of that stark line would go to France; land south of it, to Britain. Against the odds their pact survived the war to form the basis for the postwar division of the region into five new countries Britain and France would rule. The creation of Britain's 'mandates' of Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq, and France's in Lebanon and Syria, made the two powers uneasy neighbours for the following 30 years.
Through a stellar cast of politicians, diplomats, spies and soldiers, including T. E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle, A Line in the Sand vividly tells the story of the short but crucial era when Britain and France ruled the Middle East. It explains exactly how the old antagonism between these two powers inflamed the more familiar modern rivalry between the Arabs and the Jews and ultimately led to war between the British and the French in 1941 and between the Arabs and the Jews in 1948.
In 1946, after many years of intrigue and espionage, Britain finally succeeded in ousting France from Lebanon and Syria and hoped that, having done so, it would be able to cling on to Palestine. Using newly declassified papers from the British and French archives, James Barr brings this overlooked clandestine struggle back to life and reveals, for the first time, the stunning way in which the French finally got their revenge.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Dennis Sommers
- 21-10-23
It had to be written!
We pray for peace and even world leaders talk facilely about a two-state solution: evidently that ship has sailed.
Two weeks after the pogrom and living through news of the retribution I ask: ‘what could justice look like, and clearly the first step must be one of the deepest and most soul-searching repentance on the part of western movers and shakers acknowledging the parts our governments have played in this appalling shambles- shambles originally being the part of a city where blood and guts were to be found strewn everywhere around after the butchers had done their work. This is probably the most shocking audiobook I have read: nobody spared; balanced and fair in distributing the unbearable burden of guilt. What zI learn with utter disbelief is that every atrocity that has confronted us in the news of late- every act of terror and cruelty perpetrated in the last two weeks and for decades previous - has its precedent in what Barr has so vividly documented here.
What has always struck me in all this is that when equally horrific massacres are reported in the news, no campaigning organisation gets sympathetic coverage as regularly as the Zionist cause: what this audiobook makes clear is that everything that has happened in the past fortnight has its precedent in very recent history: European and American history! After all, persecution of Jews has been a predominantly aEurooesn phenomenon, and at base what moral authority could any western power claim particularly in the light of the crusades, for seeking to usePalestine as a scapegoat for our own guilt? The book poses this question from every legitimate angle and the answer it implies is perfectly clear.
Read the Hebrew Bible and see that the Philistines were around 2.000 years ago too!
What is terrible to even think about is the theory of Shlomo Sands in his best-selling book in Israel ‘the invention of the Jewish people,’
that the people we call Palestinians may, in reality, have been Jewish originally themselves: it’s another book, but the idea that these could just be the same people fighting one another, is the worst of all nightmares, though history tells us that the most vicious wars are civil ones!
So we pray for peace and justice: what do they look like? Perhaps the horrors and intrigues recounted in this book could form a basis if the world can be brought to own up to them and be honestly willing to help make amends.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Terrapinstation
- 29-01-22
Essential reading
A seismic leap for forward for anyone wanting to comprehend the complex chaos of the Middle East.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- sue davies
- 02-04-21
A real eye opener
A mind blowing account of the turmoil in the ME caused by outsiders, much of which, you don't learn in school! Every party involved should be ashamed of their actions that caused so much disruption that continues to this day. Great narration. I have one dispute to make about the Mufti of Jerusalem "aiding" Hitler, as this wasn't the case.He wanted a German "Balfour Declaration" for the Arabs, but was turned down.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Bill Furrows
- 06-12-19
Interesting but dry
What should have been an interesting and fascinating insight into this world and this time, was made incredibly difficult by the flat dry reading. Because of this, my mind wandered, and I struggled with remaining engaged.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Stop the lights
- 03-07-22
Well explained insight - i only knew the outine
Having grown up many generations after the period in question and having just studied secondary school history of the first and second world wars this book is a great insight into the "levant" region now commonly known as the middle east.
It eloquently charts the tit for tat tactics of two former world powers vying for lands and oil in the middle east to loose their foreign colonys in the region and finally culminates with the setting up of the state of Israel with the support of the superpower of the USA and the rejection of British Rule in Palestine much to the satisfaction of France as they had been expelled some years earlier from Syria by local elections where the British backed nationalist candidates.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Hoops
- 07-01-19
Very few emerge with glory.
No wonder Middle-East such a mess. All sides equally to blame. Great book, well narrated.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mohammed Abdul-Hamid
- 08-07-19
Eloquent and well formed
A well written book with great detail. Highly enjoyable listen. A must for anyone interested in this period.
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15 people found this helpful
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- David Roberts
- 14-02-20
Food for thought
An Oriental understanding, yet very descriptive, an excellent listen that fills many gaps - providing a brilliant introduction to the M.E of that time. Highly recommend.
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2 people found this helpful
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- We love Amazon!
- 31-05-20
superb.
helpful in clarifying how the uk and France have some capability in creating the current conflict in Palestine\Israel.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dr. John P. O'Dwyer
- 18-04-22
wow. brilliant
Life is becomes almost always more surprising w things you learn. This book is a real light in the darkness. Thank you so much James Barr. I am humbly educated by your opus
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