Britsko-francúzska vojna v Levante roku 1941

The 1941 Allied Campaign on the Levant

Autor: SORBY Karol

SORBY, Karol, ml.: Britsko-francúzska vojna v Levante roku 1941

SORBY, Karol, ml.: The 1941 Allied Campaign on the Levant. 

Vojenská história, 1, 17, 2013, pp. 56-70.

The author in his research paper addresses the issue of the Near East’s contemporary history. On this subject has already published a number of scientific studies. The published paper loosely builds on his previous study of the 1941 “Anglo-Iraqi War,” published in Military History in 2008. This is a very interesting topic, one which has not been paid any attention so far in our historiography. It concerns an interesting series of events when the Arabs (especially in Iraq and Syria), after more than two decades of colonial oppression by the British and the French, tried to take advantage of their weakened positions in the face of the blitz victories (in 1940) of the German Army over the Allies in the spring of 1941 and finally gained much-desired independence. It follows from the context that their strength was not sufficient, despite the weakening of British and French troops. However, Germany’s assistance, on which they counted, was only symbolic, because at that time the German Army was at the peak of preparations for an attack on the USSR. Vichy France’s alliance with Germany, however, threatened the British positions in the Near East, so after “pacifying” Iraq in May 1941, British troops decided to beat the Vichy French Army in the Levant and thereby bring Syria and Lebanon under their control, despite the protests of the Free French Movement. The author of the published study smoothly brings together the different facets of this multi-layered problem, combining them into a coherent and comprehensible whole and providing experts and other readers with a clear picture of the events on this peripheral battlefield of WWII.

Keywords: Military History. World War II. Levant. 1941

Ročník: 17 | Číslo: 1/2013 | Stránky: 56-70