Anthony Zanontian - History of Middle East

8/14/2019 Anthony Zanontian - History of Middle East

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The Middle East

Informal Discussion and Presentation on:

A Short History of the Middle Eastby

Anthony Zanontian


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Early History Medieval Arab Empire

Emergence of Islam in the 7th century

The middle east came under Muslim control after its founding in 622

Arab Empires ruled until the 13th century All of the conquests were consolidated in one century

Within three decades after Mohammeds death most of the middle east wereconquered by Muslim Armies

Dramatic expansion and unity Beginnings of political discord

Who had the legitimate claim to lead the Muslim state?

25 years after of the prophets death this dispute took place His son in law, Ali, was 1st designated as Caliph but then there was a rival claim Political division in the Muslim community

Alis claim was backed by a group of followers who came to be known as thePartisans, Shi, The Shiites. The partitions of Ali.

This political difference among the Muslims gradually transformed into areligious one. Shiite-Sunni Rivalry


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History of WesternInvolvement Early Western involvement

Financial penetration Modernization required funds. The governments lost control over import taxes.

Thus there was need for money

Europe was giving loans to the Ottomans Loans came with strings and high interest rates.

Cycle of indebt ness Egypt had to contract their biggest loans for the Suez Canal,

which led to the bankruptcy of the Egyptian government. All middle eastern government ultimately defaulted in the payment of

these loans and the Europeans stepped in politically and military.

Encroachments on the sovereignty of the Middle Eastern states.Europeans entered Egypts parliament and colonized Egypt.

Cultural penetration European culture was adopted but not imposed ie. dress, furniture, music


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WWI and the Middle East

The renewed European domination lead to the dismemberment of

ottoman territories. There were treaty agreements between England and leaders of Gulf

Leaders.

By 1907 the Russians and the British had divided Iran into twospheres of influence. Succession movements lead to the shrinkage ofottoman territories. Balkan wars of 1913 for independence. By 1914the Ottoman Empire shrank.

Triple Entente- The Russians, the British and the French allianceduring WWI.

WWI is often referred to the European war but this overshadows therole of the Ottoman Empire in WWI.

Why couldnt they be neutral?

Ifthe ottomans were faced with the triple entente and they knewthere would be a scramble for their territories. oThey tried to at first join the triple entente. Then when denied

Ottomans turned to the central powers, Germany Austria and Hungary.


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WWI and the Middle East

Germany was known as a non-imperialist power and also the ottomansbelieve that the Germans could win the war.

The sultan caliph called it a holy war, a jihad. They declared it a holy war a jihad against the entente powers.

The ottoman sultan became to be known as a caliph, the leader of

Islam. The country became much more Muslim after Christian territories

were lost. And it would allow the people to rally with the ottomans.

It was also a try to rally countries in north Africa againstcolonization

The ottoman defenses in and around Arabia were weak in the

red sea. The holy cities of Islam are on the red sea coast.These areas were exposed at the outbreak of the war.


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Sharif Hussayn and those Darn Brits Sharif of Mecca Hussayn was asked by Istanbul to endorse the holy

war.

They were from the Hashim family, who are believed to be directdescendents of Muhammed.

Sharif Hussayn refused to endorse the jihad because he feared Britishattacks because the British had heavy naval power around Arabia.

Yet, Sharif Hussayn engaged in a series of communications with theBritish authorities in Egypt.

There was an exchange of letters between the British high commissioner,McMahon.

The British promised to Hussayn the leadership of an Arab state

This state would extend in Arab territories between Egypt and eastern Arabia. Sharif Hussayn agreed. He was just a local man of influence in Mecca and now he

was being promised the entire Arab East.

The British hoped that Arabs could rise against the ottoman sultan in annationalist movement Sharif Hussayn successfully rose in rebellion in 1916 against the ottoman army

and led a tribal army with his two sons Faisal and Abdullah.

Britain defaulted on its promise, and instead took a large amount of the landfor themselves, and gave the rest of it to their allies: France and Russia


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WWII and the Middle East

The Middle East Completely avoided getting involved with theWWII. Why? Every Nation was indebted to the Industrialized European

Countries due to further loans. Had nothing to gain, it was a war outside their bounds. Soldiers, Weapons, and Artillery are very expensive to have and

maintain. Very few Middle Eastern Countries had the funds for basicnecessities let alone standing armies.

Only Nation that did get involved was Iran During world war II the British wanted the Mohammad Reza Shah

because his father was pro-German

Mohammed Reza Shah was very young and several political factionshad emerged because of the breakdown of power

Towards the end of WWII the USSR refused to remove their troops When the Russian troops refused to leave Iran the new shah turned to the

US for help, so US advisors were sent.


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Iran and those Darn Americans

They bribed anti-Mosadeq groups and town thugs to gain support

for rebellion against him.

The army imprisoned Mossadeq and the Shah came back.

The US assumed a great share of power in Iran.


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Oil Revolution

The Middle Easten Oil Rich Countries wanted to make an oil

embargo against the west. Why? Meant to bring financial gains to boost Arab economies, Arab military

capability, and bring greater leverage in diplomacy after their failures ofdiplomacy after the 1967 war.

Oil and the Middle East in historical perspective Was 1st extracted in Iran in 1908,1920s in Mesopotamia

British companies were extracting it

Rapid consumption started in the 20s then increased exponentially

Low cost of oil made it an attractive energy source American companies were given contracts for oil in the gulf

Only 1/10th of the profits had been going to the indigenous

governments, it still gave a huge boom for these countrieseconomically

Oil producing countries realized they needed to coordinate policy tohave power.

Creation of OPEC- organization of petroleum exportation countries


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Oil Revolution

Arab countries 1st tried to make an artificial increase in oil pricesimmediately have the 67 war

Impact of oil crisis of 1970s Fluctuations in oil price After 1973 OPEC acted in much more coordinated way.

Late 1973 OPEC declared an embargo wanting Israel to back out tothe 48 boundaries

They then had an embargo against the US.

This led to huge increase in oil prices, 4 fold increase within a year. Conservative monarchies gain leverage.

Places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait gained much leverage. Global Effects

Europe and Japan

Hardest hit these countries, it was intended to do so


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Oil Revolution

European countries became more supportive of the Arabpoints of view

The US

Domestic shortage of oil

Had 1/40

th

of world pop and consumed 1/3 of world energy Upset global balances

Stagflation emerged

Inflation and stagnation in the economy happening at the

same time

In 1973 US secretly considered a possibility to take control ofSaudi oil fields.


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Problems with Iraq

Iran-Iraq War (1980-1987) War lasted 8 years and was the most destructive war in the middle east

since WWI Causes

The provocation for the war came from Iraq from Saddam Husseinwho had emerged the strong man in the Baath party that emerged inthe 60s and in 1979 he was the head of state in Iraq

His attack against Iran was motivated against opportunism to expand

Iran supported Kurdish guerillas in Iraq to gain leverage in the 70s

In 1975 a compromise had been reached but in 79 when thefundamentalist took power Iraq incited rebellions of Arabs in thesouth of Iran. He hoped that Iran did not have the energy to confront

these rebellions. Iran wanted to win the Shiites of Iraq to fight with them.


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Problems with Iraq

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait (1990) August 1990, Sadam Hussein invaded Kuwait and declared it a province of

Iraq.

Iran Iraq war had come to an end when Iran accepted a cease fire in 1987. Why the invasion?

Saadam argued that historically Kuwait had been part of Iraq, referring to theottoman period.

Real reasons: Just like with Iran, Iraq had border disputes with Kuwait.

Iraq made claims to two islands and to a major oil field between Iraq andKuwait and accused Kuwait of unfair drilling practices, depleting oil on theIraqi side.

US role

US had supported Iraq during the gulf war and now they turned aroundcompletely and opposed to Iraq after the invasion because of economicinterest.


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Thank You

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Anthony Zanontian - History of Middle East