Unit 8: The Collapse of Empires in the Middle East and Asia
World War I fundamentally disrupted the European world order and ultimately led to the rise of fascism in the form of Adolph Hitler (1889–1945) in Germany and Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) in Italy. Just as Napoleon had before him, Hilter took advantage of the political and economic instability to push German nationalists on the need to conquer Europe. Meanwhile, Japan moved into mainland Asia, and England and France carved up the remains of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. The Zionist movement began to gain momentum, but the atrocities holocaust convinced the world of the need to create a separate Jewish homeland in 1945.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 14 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- evaluate the key role the Ottoman Empire played in the area we now call the Middle East;
- explain the role European and American imperialism played in the formation of the Middle East;
- describe how World War I affected the rise of nationalism and and fascism in Europe prior to World War II;
- provide an overview of the key alliances, ideologies, and events of World War II;
- explain how the atrocities of the Holocaust led to increased recognition of human rights and the creation of the United Nations;
- explain the conflicting interests and perspectives at play in the creation of the State of Israel in Palestine; and
- describe the role imperialism and nationalism have played in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East.
8.1: The End of the Ottoman Empire and Reorganization of the Middle East
The Middle East is home to Sumer, the world's oldest recognized civilization founded between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Mesopotamia region of the Fertile Crescent from 4500–4000 B.C. The early population (the Ubaid people) was notable for their farming communities, raising cattle, weaving textiles, and working with carpentry and pottery. This region later became the home of the Babylonian (c. 1895–539 B.C.), Achaemenid or Persian (550–329 B.C.), and Sassanian (212–651) empires.
When Islam began to spread in the 7th century, the Middle East, parts of Africa, and India fell under Islamic control. Islamic rulers (caliphs) established vast empires (caliphates). As we have discussed, the Islamic Caliphates were great centers of learning and science. The last widely recognized caliphate was the Ottoman Empire which spread its hegemony over Turkey and the Middle East between 1299–1924.As you examine this map, pay attention to how far the Ottoman Empire stretched into Europe and Africa.
The Ottoman Empire (1299–1922) was one of the mightiest and longest-serving dynasties in world history. This Islamic superpower ruled large areas of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa for more than 600 years. It provided great regional stability and security and led significant achievements in the arts, science, religion, and culture. In 1453, Mehmed II the Conqueror ended the 1,000-year reign of the Byzantine Empire when he led the Ottoman Turks to seize the ancient city of Constantinople. Sultan Mehmed renamed the city Istanbul and made it the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul became a dominant center for international trade and culture.
The Ottomans provided a strategic gateway for trade between Europe and Asia. Trade caravans traversed overland from Asia across the Middle East to ports in Istanbul. The Ottomans' control as intermediaries began to wane as European explorers started to sail around Africa into the Indian Ocean. The Ottoman Empire eventually began to fall apart, coupled with poor leadership and inflation.
As you read this article, think about the interplay between military power, trade, religion, and culture in the Ottoman Empire.In 1683, Ottoman hegemony declined in eastern Europe due to a failed siege against the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I in the Battle of Vienna. Greece revolted and gained independence in 1830. After Russia defeated the Ottomans in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the empire lost Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria during the Congress of Berlin in 1878. During the two Balkan Wars (1912–1913) against Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia, the Ottoman Empire lost nearly all its territories in Europe.
In 1915, historians believe Turkish leaders killed about 1.5 million Armenians living in present-day Turkey. Around 100,000 to 200,000 Armenian women and children were forcibly converted to Islam and integrated into Muslim households. The Armenian Genocide was perhaps the most controversial and damning event associated with the Ottomans – it is illegal to talk about these events in Turkey.
Watch this video about the Armenian Genocide.Read this text. Pay attention to the key reasons the Ottoman Empire rose to power and why they began to decline.
Before the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the European powers were operating in the Middle East as they had in Asia. Beginning in the 1500s, Great Britain, France, and Russia vied to secure trading and commercial rights in the Middle East. Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798. Great Britain painted a picture of the Middle East as an exotic land with depraved, despotic rulers who languished in their luxuries. They used the concept of the White man's burden to justify spreading into the region.
During the 1800s, the British dubbed the Ottoman Empire the "sick man of Europe'' and pledged its support. They allied with the Ottomans against Russia during the Crimean War (1854–1856) and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). They also helped Greece secure its independence in 1830 through its close relationship with the Ottoman government. Great Britain used its influence to make inroads with the Qajar Dynasty (in today's Iran), secured trade agreements and offered financial backing to rulers in Bahrain (1880), Muscat (1891), and Kuwait (1899).
Great Britain was able to edge out Russia in the Qajar Dynasty of Iran, setting up a telegraph company and securing exclusive trading rights. In 1901, Britain had exclusive rights over Iran's oil wells and founded the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) in 1909. These vast oil fields were essential to its success in World War I.
Examine this map of oil concessions in Iran.As you read this article, make a timeline of the different regimes in Iran since the Qajar Dynasty. How did British intervention affect Iran's development?
Great Britain and Russia also competed for control of Afghanistan, strategically located connecting south, central, and east Asia. Great Britain invaded Afghanistan three times in its attempts to outmaneuver Russia. After the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842), Britain set up an embassy in Kabul and began to oversee Afghan foreign policy.
After the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880), Russia and Great Britain drew Afghanistan's present-day boundaries. Britain invaded a third time when Afghanistan declared its independence in May 1919, but the Afghan people had to wait until this short conflict ended three months later before Afghanistan was duly recognized as a sovereign country. Afghanistan was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the new Soviet Union in 1919.
Watch this video that describes the history of European involvement in Afghanistan.In 1881, a nationalist movement threatened English hegemony in Egypt. This led to the direct invasion of Alexandria in Egypt and the absorption of Egypt into the British Empire until 1956. Some historians point to British actions in Egypt as the catalyst for its future interests in Africa and Asia.
Read this article which describes how urbanism impacted the British occupation of Egypt. How did British interest in control over the Nile River and Suez Canal lead to the Scramble for Africa?Compare these maps from 1880 and 1913. Notice Egypt's physical location, which shows why Great Britain was interested in Egypt as a strategic gateway to Africa and Asia.
8.2: World War I and the Growth of Nationalism and Zionism
During World War I, the Ottoman Empire allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary because it was eager to extinguish British control from its dominions. However, after the Allies (United Kingdom, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, United States) defeated the Central Powers (Germany, Austria Hungary, Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria) in 1918, Britain, France, Greece, and Russia took it upon themselves to divide the Ottoman territories up.
The empire was essentially wiped off the map with the signing of the Armistice of Mudros (1918), which ended fighting in the Middle East between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire. Interestingly, Britain and Russia had occupied Iran during the war because they feared it would join the Central Powers – Britain took the southern and central regions of Iran with its oil fields, while Russia took the north. This direct occupation led to a great famine that killed more than a quarter of the Iranian population from 1918 to 1919.Read this study on the causes of Iran's great famine. Think about how this famine contributed to anti-Western sentiment in Iran.
Let's look at three agreements that transformed the Middle East during this period: the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, and the Balfour Declaration.
The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence refers to the written conversations between Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashimi (1854–1931), the Sharif and Emir of Mecca, and Henry McMahon (1862–1932), the British High Commissioner to Egypt. During this exchange, Hussein secured British backing, including financial support and military weapons, for a rebellion against Ottoman rule. The Arab Rebellion (1916–1918) caused the Ottomans to lose Damascus, Syria.
According to the Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), Britain and France would divide the Ottoman territories in the Middle East so France would control Syria and Lebanon, while the British would take the Fertile Crescent (today's Iraq). The treaty briefly mentioned Palestine since Britain wanted to build a railroad on this strategic site.
The Balfour Declaration (1917) was Britain's announcement that it supported the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The next resource discusses this in more detail.
Watch this lecture. Think about how France and Great Britain felt they had the power and right to divide the Middle East in these ways that benefited them.The Balfour Declaration directly addressed the question of Palestine and the Zionist movement. Zionism was the belief that the Jewish people deserved a homeland in Palestine. During the Roman Empire, a series of Jewish rebellions against Roman rule (60–136 A.D.) led to the destruction of Jerusalem and a great diaspora where the Jewish survivors migrated to Europe. Anti-semitism has been common in Europe since the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century. During the 1800s, the Haskalah (an intellectual movement proclaiming Jewish enlightenment) and anti-semitic persecution led many to claim that the Jewish community needed a homeland to protect the unique religious and ethnic values they had lost during the diaspora.
In the Balfour Declaration, the British government announced its support for developing a Jewish state in Palestine. Some historians believe this British support for Zionism was simply another attempt to weaken the Ottoman Empire since Palestine was part of its jurisdiction.
Read the Balfour Declaration. Why do you think Britain supported the creation of Israel in Palestine?Watch this lecture on the impact of the Balfour Declaration and the creation of Israel in Palestine. Do you think the speaker is an independent or objective observer? Why or why not?
In 1917, Great Britain captured Jerusalem and Baghdad. After the war, Britain and France actualized the Sykes-Picot Agreement at the San Remo Conference in 1920. This treaty divided the Middle East and drew the political boundaries (which still exist today) to reflect their respective spheres of influence. The League of Nations named these areas "territories", not nation-states, because the diplomatic leaders claimed the people who lived there were not "ready" to govern themselves. Great Britain and France agreed to govern these areas through a mandate system that many historians believed was another form of colonialism. Great Britain gained Palestine and Iraq, expanding its hegemony over the oil fields, while France took Syria and Lebanon.
Watch this video. How do you think Europe's partitioning of the Ottoman Empire stoked the ethnic and religious divisions plaguing the Middle East?Analyze this map. How does it compare with the illustration in the previous video?
The Treaty of Sèvres (1920) marked the official end of the Ottoman Empire. Greece received Thrace (a region in southeast Europe divided among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey), while Italy and France obtained the rights to build railways and mine coal. The Treaty of Sèvres solidified British and French control over the finances of the newly "liberated" states. However, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), known as the father of the Turks, led a resistance to the treaty, which prevented it from being implemented. Atatürk led the Turkish nationalist movement and established the Turkish republic in 1920.
Read this text. Why do you think Europe was interested in obtaining control over the spoils of the Ottoman Empire?Watch this video. Do you think the Ottoman Empire's decision to ally with the Central Powers during World War I influenced the dissolution of its empire? What do you think would have happened otherwise?
Great Britain did not fulfill its promises to Arab rebels in the Hussein-McMahon correspondence. In April 1921, the British installed Abdullah I bin Hussein (1882–1951), the brother of King Faisal I of Syria and Iraq, to become the Emir of Transjordan, part of the British mandate in Palestine (in an area not reserved for Israel). In August 1921, it asked King Faisal I of Syria (1885–1933) to become the first king of the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, which was part of its mandate. The Hashemite Kingdom was semi-independent since Britain maintained control of the oil fields and the military.
Finally, Britain installed Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashimi to rule the Hashemite Kingdom of the Hijaz (the western part of today's Saudi Arabia). However, this kingdom did not last long since a nationalist movement led by Abd al Aziz Ibn Saud (1876–1953) pushed Hussein out of power in 1924. Great Britain soon recognized Ibn Saud and his family as the rulers of this region (today's Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) with the Treaty of Jidda in 1927.
Watch this lecture about the mandate system created after World War I.Great Britain took advantage of the Russian Revolution of 1917 to push Russia out of Iran. The Anglo-Persian Agreement (1919) guaranteed British access to all Iranian oil fields, with exclusive control over Iran's military, government, transportation, and communication systems. However, the Majlis (the Iranian parliament) never ratified this agreement, and the Iranian elites, the descendants of centuries of technologically-advanced kingdoms, never accepted British control.
Meanwhile, British colonial rule provoked the sentiments of Egyptian nationalists who took advantage of a free and vibrant press. In 1919, the Egyptians asserted their right to self-determination, armed with quotes from Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), the U.S. president. British attempts to prevent Egyptian nationals from speaking at the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I led to an open revolt. In 1922 Britain granted Egypt unilateral independence. The agreement established an Egyptian parliament, but Britain continued to control Egyptian foreign policy and maintain troops in Egypt. The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 granted Egypt more independence, but separation from England was gradual.
Read this text about British involvement in Egypt. Compare this to Great Britain's actions in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.Meanwhile, the League of Nations began to transition the territory of Palestine to a Jewish state. The diplomats did not give the Palestinian population, including Muslims and Arab Christians, the same considerations of self-determination they proclaimed other states should enjoy. The Palestinian mandate provided an initial framework for the Jewish repatriation, but the non-Jewish residents (the Palestinians) became increasingly vocal about their resentment of the Zionist movement that they believed was stealing their land. In response, Great Britain issued the White Paper in 1939, a policy paper that stipulated the need to address the interests of Palestinians and Jewish settlers equally. By 1939, Hitler and the Nazi persecution of Jewish people in Europe intensified the situation in Palestine.
Read this article and review each primary source. How did the United States' position help substantiate the establishment of Israel?
8.3: Fascism in Europe
In Europe, the end of World War I contributed directly to the growth of nationalism and fascism, a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and a regimented society and economy. In 1919 at the end of World War I, the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference. They placed responsibility for the war squarely on German shoulders. The 1921 London Schedule of Payments required Germany to pay $33 billion (in today's currency) in reparations to the Allied Powers.
Watch this video about World War I. How do you think international relations and technological developments contributed to the war?
A worldwide economic depression and the burden of reparations devastated the German economy during the post-war period in the 1930s. Inflation skyrocketed, leading to mass poverty and starvation. Hitler and other nationalists were able to capitalize on the anger, resentment, and nationalism that the German people felt and directed it at toward the foreign countries demanding they pay reparations.
Watch this video on the effect of World War I on the Great Depression in Germany. How did these dire conditions contribute to the rise of fascism in Germany?Adolph Hitler (1889–1945), the radical leader of the newly-formed National Socialist German Workers' Party (the Nazi Party), rose to power during this period of financial and political chaos. Hitler had served in World War I and was jailed for leading an unsuccessful coup in Munich from 1923 to 1924. While he was in jail, he wrote Mein Kampf, a political treatise that asserted the exceptionalism of the German people as a superior race.
Hitler's antisemitic beliefs formed the backbone of the Nazi Party. These policies gradually denied Jewish people their rights as German citizens. The government soon encouraged its paramilitary forces and regular citizens to destroy Jewish businesses (such as during Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, in November 1936), forced them to live in ghettos, and eventually transported them to their deaths in forced labor concentration and extermination camps. Historians estimate the German government killed six million Jews and at least five million prisoners of war during the Holocaust.
Read this description of the Holocaust. Pay attention to the roots of antisemitism that Hitler outlined in Kampf and how he convinced his enablers to commit such crimes against humanity. Why did these camps develop? How did the concentration camps impact Europe? Can you draw any parallels to slavery and victims of the slave trade?- Hitler and the Nazi Party promised to solve the economic crisis crippling Germany. In 1933, the leaders of the German Reichstag (parliament) appointed Hitler chancellor of Germany when a single party was unable to obtain a majority. Once in power, Hitler quickly converted the democratic government of Germany into a dictatorship. In 1934, Hitler dissolved the presidency of Germany and declared himself the Führer, or the absolute leader of Germany. As Führer, Hitler had total control of the military and government and was no longer bound by the German constitution.
Watch these two videos. How was Hitler able to manipulate the democratic system to gain absolute control in democratic Germany and establish a dictatorship? What factors helped Hitler's philosophy become widespread and popular during the post-war period?
This video focuses on the ascension of Hitler following the end of World War I. Watch this video on the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany.
A similar fascist system developed in Italy, a country that had also been devastated by World War I and was reeling from an economic depression. During the two red years (1919–1921), Italians participated in numerous strikes and protests against the rising cost of living. Clashes between socialists and business people and landowners led to factory and land occupations by industrial workers and agricultural laborers.
The March on Rome in 1922 was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état Mussolini led with fascist demonstrators and Blackshirt paramilitaries. In response, King Victor Emmanuel III (1869–1947) appointed Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), the founder and leader of the National Fascist Party (PNF), prime minister in October 1922. In 1925 Mussolini solidified his power as the dictator of Italy, or Il Dulce.
Mussolini appealed to Italy's sense of nationalism. Once in power, he issued decrees to secure his power over the PNF by imprisoning anyone he suspected of being subversive to the cause. The Mussolini government propagated fascist ideologies, controlled the Italian newspapers, contended the superiority of the Italian race, and allied with Hitler in 1940 during World War II.
But in 1943, as the Americans and other Allied Powers gained control of southern Italy, the Italian government turned on Mussolini and convinced King Emmanuel III to remove him from power. Italy switched sides to join the Allies and oppose Nazi control. People rejoiced because they believed the end of Mussolini also meant the war's end. Mussolini fled to Nazi territory in northern Italy, where he remained until he was shot in 1945 during an attempt to flee to Switzerland.
Read this lesson about the rise of Mussolini and his impact on Italy. Why do you think similar leaders were able to gain power in Italy and Germany? Why were both populations susceptible to fascism?Hitler idolized Napoleon and had similar ambitions to conquer Europe and the world. He invaded Poland in 1939; Belgium, France, and Luxembourg in 1940; Greece and Yugoslavia in 1941; but failed to win Egypt from the British in 1942. Hitler famously employed a military tactic of Genghis Khan (c. 1158–1227 B.C.) called Blitzkrieg, where the German military quickly overwhelmed its enemies from the air and land. In 1940, the Axis Powers of Germany and Italy allied with Japan to further their ambitions to subject the world to fascism.
After Hitler defeated France in 1940, Great Britain stood alone against Hitler's quest for world dominance. The Soviet Union had allied with Germany at the beginning of the war but changed sides in June 1941 when Hitler attacked Soviet territory during Operation Barbarossa. Historians believe the Soviet Union lost nearly 27,000,000 civilian and military lives during World War II. The United States joined the Allies in 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The United States proved to be an essential ally – it sent American troops to the Pacific to fight Japan and Europe to fight Hitler and Mussolini.
Watch this video which provides an overview of World War II. How did the U.S. industrial and military strength contribute to the defeat of the Axis Powers?During Operation Barbarossa (1941), Hitler opened an Eastern Front against the Soviet Union to create more Lebensraum ("living space") for Germany. He wanted to use the Russians he captured to support the Axis war effort, take control of the oil reserves of the Caucasus, and acquire the agricultural resources of Ukraine and other Soviet territories. He aimed to enslave, Germanize, exterminate, or deport the Slavic people to Siberia.
Hitler wanted to succeed where Napoleon had failed in 1812. He even used a map of Napoleon's invasion as his guide. But Hitler was surprised by the bravery and perseverance of the Soviet people and their fighters. Like Napoleon before him, Russia's expansive territory stretched Hitler's armies and supply chain, while a freezing winter exhausted his military. Hitler's decision to invade Russia secured his eventual defeat.
Watch this video. How did Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union contribute to the defeat of the Nazis? How did the Soviet victory propel the Soviet Union to become a superpower at the end of World War II?Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, which led Germany to surrender on May 7, 1945. Watch this video, which provides footage of the Nazi death camps, remembrances from the relatives of its victims, and oral history from survivors and members of the U.S. military who entered the camps after the war. Note that this video includes many disturbing images of the victims of the Holocaust.
During the Nuremberg War Crime Trials (1945–1946), the International Military Tribunal prosecuted the Nazi war criminals for their crimes against humanity. These were the first international criminal courts in world history.
Watch this video where Michael Bryant examines the international resistance to protecting or policing human rights before World War II in the interest of state sovereignty. Bryant outlines the changes the international community made after World War II in light of the Holocaust. The former Allies created the United Nations (1945), the UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the European Court of Human Rights (1959), and the International Criminal Court (2003), which have enforced and prosecuted war crimes and other human rights abuses since World War II. Bryant also describes the Nuremberg Trials, which brought many Nazi leaders to justice for their crimes against humanity.
8.4: The Effect of World War II on the Middle East
World War II left Europe scarred and devastated. Extensive fighting and bombing in England, France, Germany, and Italy left the continent economically and politically fractured. More than six million Jews, in addition to political dissidents, the disabled, homosexuals, and gypsies, were killed in the Nazi death camps. The war also disrupted colonial holdings across the globe, as revolutions for independence in India and China pushed the European powers out of Asia. Nationalist movements in Africa began to gain momentum. In Indochina, Cambodia and Laos gained their independence from France. Vietnam had to wait for the conclusion of a deadly and controversial war to gain its independence from the United States in 1975.
Read this text on the various agreements and their effects on how the world developed after the war.
In 1945, the weary combatants of World War II created the United Nations. This intergovernmental organization would provide an international forum to help maintain peace, resolve disputes, and foster cooperation. Based on the principles of its predecessor, the League of Nations, a central goal of the United Nations was to prevent a third world war. Representatives of the five Allied Powers – the United States, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the Republic of China – would form the main governing and decision-making body.
The group began by redrawing the political boundaries and dividing the territories of the Axis Powers. However, they had learned from the mistakes of World War I. Rather than impose reparations or destroy the countries they defeated, the Allies aimed to rebuild Europe, Germany, and Japan as democratic nation-states. In 1948, the United States enacted the Marshall Plan to provide more than $13 billion in economic recovery programs to Western European economies after World War II. From July 1945 to June 1946, the United States also shipped 16.5 million tons of food to Europe and Japan.
The United States and the Soviet Union maintained most of the previous boundaries of Europe but created two separate spheres of influence that would divide eastern and western Europe. The United States occupied Japan, while the Soviet Union and the United States divided Korea into communist North Korea and democratic South Korea. These boundaries were cemented during the Korean War (1950–1953).
Read this lesson on the goals and objectives of the United Nations.At the end of World War II, Zionist groups in Palestine escalated their attacks on British soldiers who were there to police the mandate they had controlled since 1916. In 1947 the British government agreed to relinquish its control of this mandate to the United Nations, and in 1948 the United Nations officially recognized the independent state of Israel. Many issues that predated the official creation of Israel remained. While Jewish settlers had purchased several tracts of land from Arabs in the region, many non-Jewish Palestinians lost their traditional farmland, homes, and possessions.
In May 1948, Arab forces from Egypt, Syria, and Iraq invaded Israel. During this one-year conflict, more than 700,000 Palestinians fled Israel as refugees. The new state of Israel did not grant equal rights to the Palestinians who remained and subjected them to a state of martial law. The friction and infighting among the Israelis, Palestinians, and the surrounding Arab states persists to this day.
Watch this video. Think about how World War II and the Holocaust influenced the formation of Israel and how it has led to internal and external conflict with its neighbors.
Independence, Wars, Revolutions, Foreign Influences, Lebanon Protests
In Unit 7, we discussed post-World War II independence movements in India and Southeast Asia. Let's take a brief look at some nationalist movements in the Middle East that took advantage of the devastation (and distraction) the war brought to the powers of Great Britain and France.
Watch this video on the history of Lebanon. Remember that Britain and France had drawn the political boundaries for these countries to reflect their own economic interests. Many of these boundaries ignored the political, social, and religious divisions that had delineated the national and familial ties of the former kingdoms in this region. How did these arbitrary colonial divisions lead to political instability that followed independence?Remember that Britain had retained control of the Suez Canal zone when it granted Egypt independence in 1922. In 1952, a coup overthrew the Egyptian monarchy and established the modern Republic of Egypt with a new parliament. In June 1956, the last British troops left Egypt, but a crisis resulted when the Egyptian government nationalized the Suez Canal and directed its revenue to the state of Egypt.
Great Britain, France, and Israel threatened to invade the canal zone in response. But the United States and Soviet Union, the two post-war superpowers, interceded to prevent any conflict. Britain ceded its control of the Suez Canal to the newly-established government. The week-long Suez Crisis of 1956 signaled a shift in geopolitical dominance from Europe to the United States and the Soviet Union, each of which would continue to involve themselves in Middle East politics.
Read this text. Make a timeline of how Egypt evolved and changed throughout the 20th century. Consider the impact of the mandate system and how European imperialism influenced the post-independence Egyptian government.After a coup d'etat in 1921, Reza Pahlavi (1878–1944) became Iran's prime minister. In 1925, Iran's constituent assembly deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar, the Shah of Iran from 1909–1925, and amended Iran's 1906 constitution to allow Reza Pahlavi to become the new Shah of Iran. In August 1941, the Allies invaded Iran and forced Reza Shah Pahlavi to abdicate in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980).
In 1952, Mohammed Mossadegh (1882–1967), Iran's newly-appointed prime minister, successfully removed British control from the area and nationalized the Iranian oil fields. The United States backed a military coup to overthrow Mossadegh in 1953. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was initially criticized for his weakness, continued to reign and eventually solidified his power over his opponents.
The Iranian Revolution in 1978–1979 shares many similarities with the revolutions we have studied. However, in Iran's case, religion played a central role. The Iranian Revolution was not prompted by a financial crisis or a major rebellion of the underclass or peasantry. Religious and political groups who opposed the Shah preferred to work within the legal system. Others emphasized the cultural difference between the rule of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the teachings of Islam. These two perspectives clashed during the Iranian Revolution.
During the late 1970s, a broad coalition of religious leaders, students, and middle-class Iranians would challenge the secular authoritarian rule of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who they criticized for using Iran's natural resources unfairly, prioritizing Western interests, and torturing dissidents. After forcing the Shah to flee the country in 1979, Iran's theocratic leaders appointed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989) as the new supreme religious leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khomeini consolidated his power by arresting and persecuting members of the secular political groups that had initially supported the revolution. Like the Shah and many revolutionary predecessors, Khomeini did not tolerate any political or social dissent.
While Sunni Muslims dominate most of the Islamic world, Shi'a Muslims are in the majority in Iran. The two religious groups live peacefully side-by-side in some places, but conflict has erupted into violence in many others. In Iran, Sunni Muslims do not recognize Khomeini as their primary religious leader.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Iraq, a coup d'etat in 1958 overthrew the Hashemite monarchy. Iraq evolved under a series of military and civilian governments until 1979, when the United States backed the rise of a new dictator, Saddam Hussein (1937–2006). This area was strategically important to the United States and the Soviet Union due to its proximity to the Persian Gulf and rich oil fields. The dynamic changed when the Cold War ended during the 1990s. Hussein's government fell out of favor when it invaded Kuwait in 1990. After the World Trade Center in New York City was bombed in 2001, the United States deposed, arrested, and executed Hussein in 2003. The United States occupied Iraq until 2009.
Watch this lecture on U.S. interests in the Middle East. How did Cold War politics prompt the United States to intervene in the Middle East? What was the long-term impact of its involvement?Kuwait secured its independence in 1961, followed by Qatar, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates) during the next ten years.
Read this overview and policy analysis of U.S. involvement in the Middle East. In what ways did European imperialism, followed by the United States and Soviet intervention, promote anti-Western sentiment?The state of Syria offers a cautionary tale in the Middle East. Watch this video that describes the many internal and external factions involved in the Syrian Civil War, which has rocked the country since March 2011.
A major cause of this war goes back to the borders the British and French drew after World War I, which did not align with the many political and religious divisions among the people who lived within their boundaries. Many of these same boundaries and divisions remain to this day. In Syria, the population eventually rose to protest the totalitarian rule of Bashar al-Assad (1965– ). Assad's regime was not only brutally oppressive, but it did not represent the interests of the majority Sunni Muslim community. Although their circumstances differ, the countries of Libya and Yemen are also embroiled in civil wars that have devastated their populations and involve similar external entanglements.Is there such a thing as a just rebellion? In this lecture, Stephen Chan discusses the concept of just rebellion in light of the Islamic extremism and jihad (a struggle or fight against the enemies of Islam), which we have seen recently in the Middle East. The speaker discusses Wahhabism, an extreme puritanical form of Islam that provided a foundation for several of today's militant and extremist Islamic groups. These include al Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS), and the Taliban. Do you think the Enlightenment thinkers would have been supporters of this type of rebellion? Is this type of rebellion "just"?
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