1948 Guides Verts Map of Lebanon

This is a 1948 Guides Verts map of Lebanon, published to promote tourism. The map received little circulation and was used by few tourists due to the outbreak, in the same year, of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

A Closer Look

The map depicts Lebanon and western Syria east of Damascus. Cities, towns, and villages are labeled throughout, with Beirut, Tripoli, and Sidon prominently illustrated. Roads and railroads wind their way across the region. An oil pipeline enters Lebanon from the north after passing through Syria and ends on the Lebanese coast just north of Tripoli. Colors indicate elevation. An inset in the lower-right corner depicts the Lebanese coast from Sarafand to the border with Palestine (Israel), including Tyre.

Lebanon and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

When war broke out between the newly-declared Israeli state and its Arab neighbors in May 1948, Lebanon had only been independent for 3 years. Its military was small and divided between the predominantly Christian officer corps and the enlisted Muslims and numbered, at most, 3,500 men, including support troops. Lebanon's government was not enthusiastic about a war with Israel, and the Christian majority in the Lebanese government did not want to fight the new Jewish state. Nonetheless, due to membership in the Arab League, Lebanon declared war on Israel on May 15, 1948, along with the 6 other members. Lebanese troops fought one battle in the Galilee region and were ordered not to fire on Israeli forces unless fired upon while on guard duty on the border. In the end, the Israelis pushed the Lebanese out of Galilee. Subsequently, the Israelis occupied all of Galilee (which had been part of the Palestinian state under the United Nations Partition Plan) and even invaded southern Lebanon. An armistice was signed on March 23, 1949. By that time, 110,000 Palestinian refugees had fled to Lebanon and lived in camps established by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. This refugee crisis played a role in the instability in Lebanon during the following decades, which culminated in the 1975 - 1990 Lebanese Civil War.

Publication History and Census

This map was printed by L'Imprimerie Catholique in Beyrouth and published as part of the Guides Verts series by the Librairie Universelle in 1948. We note 5 examples in OCLC: Pennsylvania State University, Brigham Young University, the National Library of Scotland, the University of Birmingham, and the University of Balamand.