Mandate system:
Decision of the allies to distribute the colonies of defeated powers, supervised by the League of Nations. The purpose of this was to create independent democratic states, ensure the well being of the people, and promote development. Colonies that were more advanced were more likely to gain independence faster (for example Palestine, Syria, Lebanon), while colonies that were less advance were less likely to gain independence soon (for example, African colonies were distributed between UK, France, and Belgium). Other underdeveloped countries were given to the countries that had colonized them. If the countries in power went against the system, they would be subjected to an international body.

Impact:
  • Some countries, like Japan, treated its colonies as their own territory, which was against the mandate system
  • Controversy over the distribution decisions, especially because most land went to UK and France (already in possession of the worlds largest empires at the time)
  • Unhappy Italians, who did not get the land they had been promised, or even any territories at all, even though they had been on the winning side of the war
  • Arabs in the Middle East were also unhappy because they didn't get independence even though they had helped the UK conquer the Ottoman Empire
  • Controversy over the UK's decision to use the Balfour Declaration (1917), which gave the British temporary control over Palestine to make Palestine a "national home for the Jewish people"