100 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 23:1

The Great Syrian Revolt and the
Rise of Arab Nationalism

Michael Provence
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005. 209 pages.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Any reader of Michael
Provence’s study of the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925 might be forgiven such
cynicism. Here is a fine and well-documented example of an earlier attempt
by a western power to come to grips with the Middle East – with unfortu-
nate results. It involved foreigners infallibly confident in themselves and
their mission, compliant local elites out for self-aggrandizement, insurgents
preaching religious-inflected nationalism, the gulf between all three, and the
ensuing horror. The Great Syrian Revolt was a pivotal event both for Syria
and for Arabs at large. It allowed the former to conceptualize themselves as
a nation while serving as an exemplar for the latter, thereby playing a form-
ative role in the development of national consciousness in the region. By
influencing the Baathist movement two decades later, it had ramifications
far beyond its failure. 

Provence devotes much of the first chapter to staking out interesting the-
oretical ground. Rejecting the notion of insurrection as being largely a bat-
tle of ideas directed by intellectuals, he argues persuasively for an approach
to the rebellion centered on a rural, rather than an urban, setting and for a
casus belli founded on French misrule and economic relations between dif-
fering classes of Syrian society. His central thesis is that the grain trade
between the Druze in the fertile Hawran region of southern Syria and
middle-class merchants, mostly from the Maydan quarter of Damascus, was
the central axis upon which the revolt turned. 

Such an approach has its drawbacks, namely, the paucity of documen-
tary evidence from contemporary rural Syria. Much of the latter half of the
first chapter is devoted to this difficulty. In casting a judicious eye over the
range of primary source material, both French and Arabic, Provence pre-



sents a plausible defense of his approach by arguing that a distinct ethos can
still be uncovered among the rebels. This ethos can be recognized as an
imprint in official French documentation recording the revolt’s suppression,
in the insurgents’ memoirs and letters, and in the colonial-era Arabic lan-
guage press. Although, as the author freely admits, the resultant picture is
untidy and cluttered, the shape of nationalist history and consciousness can
be clearly discerned.

Relations between the Druze and the merchants date to the 1860s, when
the Druze fled Mount Lebanon after a conflict with the Maronite Christians
provoked Ottoman intervention. The two groups quickly became allies –
often against Ottoman officials attempting to exploit the grain trade – so that
by the start of the French Mandate in Syria in 1920, they were comfortably
linked. Clumsy French attempts to divide Syria, as well as the colonial
administration’s disdain for the Druze, contributed to a sense of increasing
aggravation. Additional tinder came in 1923, when the French ignored the
so-called Druze Charter of Independence they had agreed upon in 1922 and
instituted high-handed direct rule over the Hawran. Ironically, the vanished
Ottoman government provided the final spark: Faced with imperial over-
stretch and decline, the empire attempted to bring such intractable areas as
the Hawran under its aegis through state education by channeling ambitious
young men from the countryside into state military academies. Men like
Fawzi al-Qawuqji and Sultan al-Atrash, leading lights in the 1925 revolt,
thus became literate and seasoned at Ottoman expense while picking up new
ideas as they served throughout the empire.

Provence devotes his second and third chapters to sketching the Haw-
rani Druze’s socioeconomic history, the backgrounds of the most important
rebel leaders, and the revolt’s context. Although no outstanding personalities
dominate the scene, Provence effectively conveys the largely rural inspira-
tion for the revolt. This impression is confirmed in the later chapters, in
which the author traces the revolt’s spread into the cities, its propaganda,
its support among the Syrian populace, and its gradual destruction at the
hands of the French colonial authorities. All of this happened during a
period in which the urban rebels were largely in exile. Although such impor-
tant urban figures as `Abd al-Rahman al-Shahbandar inevitably come across
far more strongly than the rural leaders, Provence is adept at sticking to his
thesis.

That said, the book does suffer from some omissions. While the author
makes much of cooperation across sectarian lines, he provides scant infor-
mation. There are some tantalizing hints of Jewish involvement in the rebel-

Book Reviews 101



102 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 23:1

lion, but no details are offered. In addition, it would have been helpful to
know something about the role of religious authorities in the countryside as
well. For example, how did local ulama’ and priests respond to pressure for
support from the French authorities and from the rebels? How active were
religious figures in promoting cooperation? Two prominent rebel leaders are
described as combining popular nationalism with religious fervor, but no
information as to what such a mixture entailed is offered. 

However, this is an otherwise excellent historical work based on an
unconventional but convincing approach, one that Provence defends and
supports surpassingly well. His analysis of the revolt’s influence on present
day Baathist Syria is superb and strongly validates his thesis. Provence has
also done a superlative job in amassing supporting documentation, espe-
cially correspondence from and between rebel leaders and even seven pho-
tos from the period, all of which provide an unexpected degree of insight
into the rebels and the long-ignored brutalities the war inflicted on the
Syrians. Anyone wishing to understand Syrian history or learn something of
value about nascent Arab nationalism will profit from this book. 

Timothy Giannuzzi
M.A. Candidate, Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations

University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada