Transcript Ottoman Empire & Turkish Nationalism

Imperialism and Nationalism in
the Middle East
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
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
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
Pahlavi Dynasty, 1925
Iran, 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
Mandate System
• Iraq was
assigned to the
British
• Syria and
Lebanon were
given to the
French.
Iraq
• Established after the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire
– Kurdish, Sunni and Shi’ite 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
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
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
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
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
Pan-Africanism
• African leaders, alienated by European
economic, political and cultural domination
called for unity of all Africans
• Henry Sylvester-Williams called the first PanAfrican Conference in London 1900
• Later held in Latin America & United States