Historic Marks

In 1920, the French Mandate established the State of Aleppo as an autonomous entity.

It was the crown jewel of the Syrian Federation, home to a diverse population of over 600,000 people including Sunni Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

Aleppo was the economic engine of the entire region. Its merchants were legendary, and the city’s trade networks were the envy of the Middle East.

It should have been a period of immense prosperity for the city’s residents. However, French authorities had other plans.

They viewed the wealthy State of Aleppo as a personal bank account for their broader colonial project.

In the very first year, the French administration forcibly removed 1.2 million French francs from the city's coffers to subsidize the much poorer Alawite State.

This move sparked immediate outrage. Merchants and local leaders watched as their capital was siphoned off to cover the expenses of other regions, all while customs tariffs were hiked on goods being exported to neighboring lands.

The frustration grew until the political tension became impossible to ignore. By January 1925, the French decided the experiment had become too complicated.

They simply dissolved the federation and merged Aleppo into a larger, centralized state.

The city’s brief run as an autonomous center ended as quickly as it had begun, leaving residents to deal with the consequences of a border redraw they never asked for.