Popular Front
POPULAR FRONT
The 1930s French government that was supportive of Arab nationalism.
The Popular Front government came to power in France in June 1936, under the premiership of the socialist Léon Blum, author of the Blum–Viollette Plan. Tension between the French government and Arab nationalism was alleviated by the new govern-ment's vision of its commitment in the Middle East, particularly of the French mandate over the Levant. Stalled independence negotiations with nationalists of Syria were rejuvenated, and a Franco–Syrian treaty was signed in September 1936, in which France maintained some major supervisory powers. The treaty was never ratified by France, which by June 1937 had a new government with a more conservative colonial outlook.
Bibliography
Khoury, Philip S. Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920–1945. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.
charles u. zenzie