Jamil al-Ulshi (17 January 1883 – 25 March 1951) ( ar, جميل الألشي) was a Syrian politician, two-time prime minister of Syria and acting head of state (17 January – 25 March 1943) during the

French Mandate The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (french: Mandat pour la Syrie et le Liban; ar, الانتداب الفرنسي على سوريا ولبنان, al-intidāb al-fransi 'ala suriya wa-lubnān) (1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate fou ...

era.

Biography

He was born and raised in Damascus, and educated in the Ottoman Military Academy in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. He defected from the Ottoman army and joined the

Arab revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On ...

under the leadership of

Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi ( ar, الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, al-Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī; 1 May 18544 June 1931) was an Arab leader from the Banu Hashim clan who was the Sharif and Emir of Mecca from 1908 and, after procl ...

. After the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was a member of a six-man committee charged with discharging executive authority in Syria until the Kingdom of Syria was proclaimed under

Faisal I Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi ( ar, فيصل الأول بن الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, ''Faysal el-Evvel bin al-Ḥusayn bin Alī el-Hâşimî''; 20 May 1885 – 8 September 1933) was King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria ...

, after which, in October 1918, he was appointed private chamberlain to the new monarch. However, the kingdom was dissolved by the French, who imposed their mandate on Syria in July 1920 and exiled Faisal (see Sykes-Picot Agreement and

San Remo conference The San Remo conference was an international meeting of the post-World War I Allied Supreme Council as an outgrowth of the Paris Peace Conference, held at Villa Devachan in Sanremo, Italy, from 19 to 26 April 1920. The San Remo Resolution pas ...

). Ulshi remained behind and participated in successive pro-French and French-appointed puppet governments, occupying several high posts in the cabinet, becoming acting Prime Minister on 6 September 1920. He rapidly gained a reputation for subservience to the French and nepotism, appointing several family members to high government posts. The French mandate authorities subdivided Syria into independent and semi-independent zones and annexed large areas to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, enraging Syrian nationalists, and several revolts broke out across the country. Ulshi became increasingly unpopular when he did nothing to oppose these measures, and raised no objections to the severe French military response to the revolts. He was forced to resign on 30 November 1920. He remained a political outcast until 1928, when he was able to return to the cabinet as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

when his longtime ally Taj al-Din al-Hasani became Prime minister; he held this post until August 1930, when he retired. He came out of retirement in September 1941 to become an advisor to Hasani when the latter assumed the presidency. Hasani asked Ulshi to form a government in January 1943. He did so, giving several posts to nationalist politicians to appease the opposition. However Hasani died that same month, and Ulshi became acting president as well as prime minister. His tenure was marred by widespread public anger and rioting at high prices and taxes imposed to aid the unpopular French war effort in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. He was again forced to resign, and disappeared from public life until his death eight years later.

References

* Sami Moubayed ''Steel & Silk: Men and Women Who Shaped Syria 1900–2000'' (Cune Press, Seattle, 2005) . {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulshi, Jamil al 1883 births 1951 deaths Arabs from the Ottoman Empire 20th-century Syrian politicians Political people from the Ottoman Empire Presidents of Syria Prime Ministers of Syria Syrian ministers of finance Syrian ministers of defense Syrian Freemasons