Скачать или смотреть Why Churchill Feared Syria: The Levant’s Uneasy Summer of 1940

In the summer of 1940, a quiet port in the Levant woke to a new reality: it no longer knew which France governed it. This is the story of Operation Exporter, the brutal 1941 campaign where the British Empire and the Free French were forced to invade their own former allies to prevent a Nazi foothold in the Middle East.

Chapters

00:00 - Two Frances: The Levant’s Uneasy Summer of 1940
02:15 - The Vulnerable Flank: Why Churchill Feared Syria
04:34 - German Planes in Aleppo: The Spark of 1941
06:49 - Operation Exporter: The Multi-Pronged Invasion Plan
09:03 - The Iraq Connection: Rashid Ali and the Axis Doorway
14:30 - June 8, 1941: Crossing the Palestine Frontier *
17:55 - Frenchman vs Frenchman: The Battle for Legitimacy
21:46 - The Drive to Damascus: The Fall of the Syrian Seat
25:17 - Siege of Beirut: Naval Blockades and Mountain Warfare *
28:34 - Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre: A Bitter Victory
33:23 - 11 November 1943: The Arrest of the Lebanese Government
41:13 - The Final Break: The 1945 Damascus Crisis
45:51 - 1946 Withdrawal: The End of the Mandate Era

Do you think the British were right to invade Syria based purely on the possibility of a German presence, or was this a strategic overreach that permanently damaged relations with France? Let's discuss in the comments.

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