How Did World War 1 Affect The Middle East

The end of World War I had a powerful impact on the world. This was because the War not only changed how war was fought with the use of technology such as poisonous gases, tanks and machine guns. The War also changed the power structure of Europe due to the collapse of the British Empire because of debt, The Bolsheviks overthrowing Czar Nicholas of Russia thus ending the Russian Empire, the end of the Ottoman Empire and the Sykes-Picot Treaty which redrew the borders of the Middle East and has resulted in animosities that continue still today. In this paper I will look at nationalism in the Middle East following World War I.
Middle East Prior to the Start of World War I
When Middle Eastern nationalism first appeared in the Middle East it was
There were also a number of conflicts amount the Muslim elites in regards to who the Ottoman Empire would promote in the government. This resulted in many of the major cities in the Ottoman Empire desiring to have more control over their regions affairs. The Arab Muslims sought to restore Islam to its former glory by creating a nation of Muslim Arabs. This awakening would be defeated by “its apologetic defense of traditions and religion”. During this period the Turkish speaking countries of the Ottoman Empire wanted to create for themselves a new identity as Turks. They wanted to have a country based on what they had seen in Europe and as the Ottoman Empire began to fall the Ottoman government pushed the Turkish language on its people. Although it was never made the official language this did cause discontent amongst the Arabic speaking people, who were afraid that they would have to give up their national identity and language. Meanwhile, the number of Jewish people arriving into the Ottoman Empire was alarming to many of the residents. The Empire itself had hoped that the new Jewish immigrants would be able to help the Empire, since they had in the past. The issue this time was that the Jewish people were not just coming and refugees or immigrants. They were coming with the desire to create their own country. This caused the people of
In order to counter this the Arab nationalist decided to create a doctrine that made it impossible for the people not to identify as Arabs. They had decided to disregard the French form of governance and to create a government that was based on the German Volk, which was a government that was above human desires. They felt that they nation would only be restored to its former greatness if the country was unified. This unity would come at any cost even their freedom. In the 1930’s this doctrine had escalated into the idea of the nation as obedient soldiers who were willing to adhere to the motto of “obedience, sacrifice and solidarity”. As a result of the region’s growing militarism the newly independent country of Iraq became a military dictatorship in 1936 and in 1941 they went to war against Britain and