Imperialism and Nationalism in the Middle East

1
Imperialism and Nationalism in the Middle East
2
Ottoman Empire Turkish Nationalism

• Multi-cultural make-up of the Ottoman empire. All
  subjected to massacres ordered by the Red
  Sultan in response to protests against his
  tyranny
• Young Turks led the protests, promised reform and
  peace for all. Joined Germany in World War I
• Turkish Nationalism

3
Allied Triumph over the Ottoman

• British declared an official protectorate over
  Egypt
• 1916 local governor of Mexxa, encouraged by
  British, declared Arabia independent from Ottoman
  rule
• British troops seized Palestine
• 0ct 1918 with 300,000 casualties from the war,
  negotiated an armistice with the allied powers

4
Persia Qajar Dynasty (1794-1925)

• Growing western influence Russia Great
  Britain
• Discovery of oil reserves in 1908
• Division of spheres of influence
• Internal divisions
• Led to growth of indigenous Persian Nationalist
  Movement
• By 1906 Shah forced to grant a constitution based
  on a western model

5
Pahlavi Dynasty, 1925Iran, 1935

• Established by Reza Khan
• Attempted to establish a Republic
• Reforms
• Strengthened central government
• Modernized the civilian military bureaucracy
• Modern economic infrastructure
• Western educational model
• Forbade veiling in public
• Name of nation changed to Iran, 1935
• Occupied by Soviet British troops during WWII

6
Mandate System

• Iraq was assigned to the British
• Syria and Lebanon were given to the French.

7
Iraq

• Established after the collapse of the Ottoman
  Empire
• Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite population
• Occupied by British in WWI to protect oil
• Placed under British mandate in 1920
• Repressed anti-western resistance by 1921
• Oil discovered in Kirkuk in 1927
• Britain supported Syrian rule of King Faisal
  maintained heavy influence

8
Saudi Arabia

• 1920s, Ibn Saud of the Wahhabi Movement united
  Arab tribes to drive out Ottoman Rule
• Established the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1932
• Traditionally poor, Standard Oil struck oil in
  1938 at Dhahran on the Gulf.
• Arabian-American oil or ARAMCO established

9
Palestine

• British Mandate following WWI
• Zionist Movement, Theodor Herzl est. 1897
• Jewish immigration accepted in Palestine prior to
  and during WWI
• 85,000 or 10 of the population were Jewish by
  the War
• Balfour Declaration of 1917 declared Palestine a
  national home for Jews

10
Division of Palestine Creation of Jordan

• Post WWI Britian created a separate state or
  Emirate of Trans-Jordan out of the eastern
  portion of Palestine
• WWII, became the independent kingdom of Jordan
• Arab-Palestine conflict today the Apartheid
  state that exists is a product of these British
  interventions

11
Post War Era Rise of Radicalism

• British French Refusals to grant autonomy
  fueled nationalist upheavals in Africa middle
  east
• Imperial governments determined to control middle
  eastern oil fields, strategic Suez Canal the
  Persian Gulf

12
Pan-Africanism

• African leaders, alienated by European economic,
  political and cultural domination called for
  unity of all Africans
• Henry Sylvester-Williams called the first
  Pan-African Conference in London 1900
• Later held in Latin America United States