Timeline of Islamic Unrest and Realignment in the Middle East (1916-1918)

1916	Sykes-Picot Agreement divides Middle East into spheres of British and French influence.
1916	Start of Arab revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule.
1917	British capture Baghdad.
1917	Jewish Telegraphic Agency is founded.
1917	Four-hundred years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest.
1917	The Balfour Declaration favors Jewish Palestinian State.
1917	As WWI comes closer to Tel-Aviv and Jaffa, the Turkish Governer of Jaffa orders all Jews to leave Tel-Aviv and Jaffa.
1917	Jews granted full rights in Russia.
1917	Russian Revolution breaks out, heavy fighting in the South and West, where over 3 million Jews live. Over 2000 pogroms took place, claiming the lives of up to 200,000 Jews in the next three years.
1917	The United States declared war on Germany. Appoximately 250,000 Jewish soldiers (20% of whom were volunteers) served in the U.S. Army, roughy 5.7% while Jews only made up 3.25% of the general American population.
1917	The Jewish Welfare Board is created and serves the social and religious requirements of Jewish soldiers; expands after the war.
1917	355,000 people chose representatives for the first American Jewish Congress.
1917	Over 2,700 men volunteer for the new Jewish Legion of the British Army which fought in Transjordan, among other places.
1917	Vladamir Ilyich Lenin and Leon Trotsky ousted Kerensky and took over the Russian government.
1917	British General Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Turks, ending Ottoman rule.
1918	Damascus taken by T.E. Lawrence and Arabs.