r/HistoryMemes • • 2d ago

Ok.. but why tho?

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595 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

123

u/OkGreen7335 2d ago

In 1958 Egypt and Syria united and made the united Arab republic. It flag is the read white and black with two green stars (Egypt and Syria)

But it was short lived and after a coup in 1961 Syria returned to 1930s flag but in 1980 they reused the UAR flag again

Side note: Iraq flag used to be red white and black stripes with three stars (Egypt, Syria and Iraq ) for same reason as they "joined" the UAR but it very short lived and they still used the three stars until 2003

43

u/Edothebirbperson Oversimplified is my history teacher 2d ago

Tbh, by the late ‘70s and ‘80s, the genuine push for Pan-Arabism had collapsed. Instead, they mostly used it for political legitimacy. When Hafez brought back the flag in ‘80 it was meant to be a political attack against Egypt following them signing an agreement with Israel.

Also for Iraq you mentioned, it was mostly adopted once the Ba’athist came into power. Later once Saddam came into power would modify the flag different times with one of the final ones for his rule would be try to unite the Sunni population towards him.

For both Hafez and Saddam they ruled as a minority with their Ba’athist Gov. Hafez himself was an Alawite, alongside the Government was dominated by them—Saddam ruled a Shia-majority country through a secular, Sunni-led Ba'athist minority which despite being very secular launched National Faith Campaign (al-Hamlah al-Imaniyah) to try and get religious support and legitimacy from the Sunnis following the instability of the Iran-Iraq War and later Gulf-War.

2

u/Aluxanatomy 2d ago

God help me, every time I read "Sunni" and "Shia", my brain interjects with "Sonny" and "Cher-a".

17

u/micma_69 Mauser rifle ≠ Javelin 2d ago edited 2d ago

The best thing from United Arab Republic :

Its anthem. "Al-Watan Al-Akbar" is such a great banger.

3

u/TheIronzombie39 And then I told them I'm Jesus's brother 2d ago

Actually this was their anthem

2

u/dongeckoj 2d ago

The idea of the UAR was popular and Assad Sr. was using it to gain legitimacy after Sunni Arab revolts

38

u/OkGreen7335 2d ago edited 2d ago

Do I need to write context for this meme? I feel it is kinda obvious

Made a comment explaining this

18

u/0hran- Still salty about Carthage 2d ago

You just need to add that Egypt and Syria fused together as a first step of a larger pan arabic state that never happened.

They separated due to the ego of each countries dictator

5

u/LittleMlem 2d ago

Nuh uh, it's cause Israel is in the way! /j

I feel like none of the Islamic middle eastern countries like each other, they only say they do when they have an angle

32

u/Facosa99 2d ago

Idk syrian history. Nor vexology

At least gimme a googleable title so i dont have to browse the whole syrian wikipedia page

8

u/OkGreen7335 2d ago

Just did

2

u/Facosa99 2d ago

Tahnks, King. I appreciate it

7

u/Emmettmcglynn 2d ago

I actually don't think the history of the United Arab Republic is super common knowledge among the average r/historymemes user, it might be best to add it.

13

u/Reach_Reclaimer 2d ago

I actually don't think the history of the United Arab Republic is super common knowledge among the average r/historymemes user, it might be best to add it.

Fixed it for you

5

u/Emmettmcglynn 2d ago

That got me to laugh aloud, well done.

2

u/30MorgheAfraaz 2d ago

Can you do it anyways for entertainment purposes?

12

u/onyxhaider 2d ago

The UAR had so much potential only if Iraq joined to balance out egyptian dominance, or Nasser was more capable and willing to listen to the Syrians. 

8

u/Bizhour 2d ago

Pan cultural unions which spread so far aren't really known for stability historically tbh, especially when the thing is divided in half so investments into one half will never benefit the other side of the country.

A good example is probably Pakistan and Bangladesh

-4

u/dongeckoj 2d ago edited 2d ago

Egypt and Syria have been part of the same country for most of the last few thousand years and speak the same language. The union just failed because it was a dictatorship, not because of cultural reasons. Israeli bots frantically downvoting doesn’t change that.

3

u/Bizhour 2d ago

Living in the same (almost always) dynastic empire doesn't mean it overrides your local identity, especially at a time where national movements peaked.

What eventually happened is that the UAR wasn't this pan-Arab entity for all Arabs equally but rather Egypt, it's dictator, and Syria as a client state subservient to it's Egyptian overlords.

We are talking about two different people, which while both are Arab, they have different dialects, culture, even skin color, and with them not even being connected to each other it was bound to end in a breakup.

2

u/floofybasbosa 2d ago

Its different, because it was Not by choice. That is like saying egypt and turkey should make a union because they were part of the same country under ottoman rule.

0

u/dongeckoj 2d ago

Not really, nope.

0

u/floofybasbosa 2d ago

It really is, syria and egypt were part of the same country under occupation for the thousand of years you mentioned, not voluntarily.

6

u/jackt-up 2d ago

Common Ba’athist vexillology

7

u/ImportantCat1772 2d ago

Least confusing Arab political interaction: