World War I was caused by competitions for power and resources by the empires, and the conclusion of the war resulted in the destruction of the empires, particularly the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary Empire. The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire allowed many Middle East countries to be self-governed, while the West such as Great Britain and France had more interest in Europe than in the Middle East enabled the former to play a dominant role of colonization in the region. This seeded confrontation between two different civilizations, resulting in chaos later and to a large extent helping shape the Middle East in today's world.

This paper attempts to examine this history arguing how the Ottoman Empire declined and eventually dissolved at the end of WWI. It shows that the internal problems of the Empire, such as its backward political and economic system, failed to compete with the increasing influence of the Western European countries, whose government was more efficient and more industrialized than the former, in the Middle East. The paper starts with a discussion of the contemporary situation in the Empire, and then deals with the problems that led to the conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the European powers over the Middle East during WWI. It finally analyzes how the defeat of the Ottomans and the increasing British and French dominance in the Middle East laid the ground for today's conflicts in the region between the Arabic states and the Jewish nation, which is supported by the West.

Since 1600s the Ottoman Empire had controlled a large territory extended from Persian Gulf to Atlantic and from Hungary in the north to Egypt in the south. For about two hundred years, it enjoyed prosperity and power. By 1800s, many sultans became corrupted. They had more interests in running the empire through surrendering authority to their grand viziers. Their grips of power gradually reduced. Economic problems also contributed to the decline of this empire. When the Americas were discovered, there was a great increase in the cash-crop agriculture and food production. Manufacturing became a major development of economy; however, it did not take place immediately in the Ottoman Empire. This kept the empire from industrializing to be able to compete with other European countries. In early 1800s, Russia had declared itself the great protector of Slavs. This allowed Serbia and Greece to rebel against the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s. Europeans became richer and powerful influenced by the Enlightenment, and they would penetrate into the land under the control of the Ottoman Empire. (1)

Beginning in the 19th century, in the Middle East, there were increasing competitions among the powers for their economic interest. These power countries were France, Germany, Russia, and Great Britain. France entered the Middle East during Napoleon's eastern campaigns in 1898. The Battle of the Pyramids, a French victory, attracted attention from the Ottoman Empire. French stock and economy increased to go through the Suez Canal. Although the British pushed the French out of Egypt later the French gained significantly in influencing Syria and Lebanon. (2)

Germany had developed a relationship with the Ottoman power in Istanbul. Germany had loaned the Ottoman large sums of money, and Germany helped in modernizing Turkey's army. Germany wanted a Berlin-to-Baghdad railway while British wanted a Cape-to-Cairo railway. Trading with the heart of Middle East would profit the Germans and the Ottomans. This eventually led to a coalition between Germany and the Ottoman Empire during WWI. (3)

British and Russia conflicted in Iran and Afghanistan. British wanted the land route to British India while Russia wanted to expand their southern frontier. After 1900, there was an agreement reached between the two powers. They would divide Iran into three spheres of influence. Russia would take north Iran, and British would take the south and dominate the Persian Gulf. In between, there would be a neutral zone. As the West continued to dominate and influence the Middle East, the Arabic countries became more dependent on the West. (4) This increasing European influence in the region turned to a threat in the Ottoman Empire.

Throughout the 19th century the growing of nationalism affected many countries on the European continent. The Ottoman Empire also found itself in the midst of this development. Since the Ottoman Empire was seen as an Islamic state, European nations would also see the Ottomans as a xenophobic enemy. The rise of nationalism made them ready to challenge a declined Ottoman Empire. In turn, the empire was forced to manage the ascending of nationalism within and outside the empire. (5) This stimulated the opposition between an Islamic regime to the Christian-dominated European powers. This rivalry played an important role in weakening the Ottoman Empire before World War I and eventually led to the dissolution of the empire after the war.

The outbreak of the Great War was largely due to prewar political system, militarism, nationalism, and economic imperialism. Germany favored a strong military, building up a big navy fleet to challenged Great Britain is sea domination. Nationalism was a rising ideology that spread all over Europe influencing many people to believe they should live under their own rule and by their own people. However, this would challenge the empires like the Ottomans which ruled many minorities. Economic growth led to competition between many European nations. The largest industrial powers were Germany and Great Britain. They competed for resources and markets. Great Britain feared that Germany might become a dominant economic power. It particularly became worried by Germany's promotion of the Ottoman Turkish Sultan because Germany had wanted a Berlin-to-Baghdad railway. This would interfere with British trade through India. Great Britain allied with France and Russia to protect British interests in Europe and in the World. (6)

On the other side, Germany aligned with the Austro-Hungary Empire known as the Central Powers. The Ottoman Empire joined this alliance after the war started. The Ottomans was squeezed between Russia to the north and British colonies to the east, west and south. (7) The Russia was a close friend and strong ally of Balkan states, such as Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Macedonia. These Christian nations saw the Ottomans as an enemy because of their Islamic religion. They defeated it in the early 20th century in the Balkan wars. Russia was the powerful nation in Eastern Europe, and Russia's objective was to take the Turkish Straits from the Ottomans. Russia wanted control of the Black Sea for seaports because the water is not frozen. The Ottoman Empire entered the war attempting to defeat the Russians. If it succeeded, Ankara would be able to take Russian land. Conflicts of the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal were the Ottoman Empire's reason for entering WWI. (8) The Ottomans fought mostly in the Middle East Theater. From April 1915 to January 1916, the Turks fought successful trench warfare against the Allies in the Battle of Gallipoli or the Dardanelles Campaign, which was considered as a major loss to the latter. (9)

The war situation of the Allies turned around in the Middle East theatre because of Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence's brilliant tactics. He recruited many Middle East Princes and used them to organize revolts against the Ottoman Empire. His success made him known as Lawrence of Arabia and war hero to many British or even today. The Ottomans did not want to give themselves up so easily. They made a final effort attempting to recover land lost to the Allies and challenge the British over the Suez Canal, including slaughtering Armenians from Anatolia. On the front of the war against the Russians in the Caucasus, the Ottomans not only lost ground but also suffered heavy casualties over 100,000 soldiers in a series of battles. The 1917 Russian revolution gave the Ottomans a breath to regain what they had lost. Sooner or later the Ottomans were defeated by the tactics and strategies of General Edmund Allenby and some support from the Arab revolts and Republic of Armenia who declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

The British adopted an aggressive Arabic policy against the Ottoman Empire during the war. As early as in 1915, Sir Henry MacMahon was the high commissioner of Egypt. He sent letters to Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, promising their territorial independence if they would fight on the side of the Allies during WWI. This promise appeared very appealing to the Arabs, who had longed for their independence for a long time. The British promise to the Arabs consisted of:

-Arab Territories freed before the war would remain so;

-In territories liberated by the Arabs themselves, the British government would recognize "The complete and sovereign independence of the inhabitants"; and

-Elsewhere, governments would allegedly be based on the consent of the governed. (10)

Despite of this promise, the British concluded a secret agreement with the French, known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The authors of the agreement were Francois Georges Picot and Mark Sykes. With a compromise the agreement allowed the British to control Jordan and Iraq, while the French would occupy Syria and Lebanon. The agreement conflicted with the agreement that the British had with the Arabs. The Sykes-Picot Agreement was then modified to include Russia and Italy. Russia would receive Armenia, and Italy would gain Anatolia. This agreement was then cancelled because it had been revealed to the public in Russia, where the new Communist government wanted to embarrass the British and French. (11) The final postwar settlement in the Middle East was reached at the San Remo Conference.

The San Remo Conference was held in Italy on April 19, 1920. Under the mandate of the League of Nations, participants agreed to the following arrangements to assign the lands formerly ruled by the Ottoman Empire to be controlled by major ally countries. As a result, Britain obtained the control of Palestine and Iraq, while France received Syria and Lebanon. The boundaries of all these territories were left unspecified, to "be determined by the Principal Allied Powers." The Syrian government did not like this arrangement. They resisted the arrival of the French authorities. The French forces fought the Battle of Maysalun to overthrow the nationalist Arabic government in Syria led by King Faisal. The conflict ended in France's victory. Arab's response to this issue wanted to maintain their independence. This forced Great Britain to promise the Arabics to occupy Palestine. (12)

Egypt played an important role in the postwar arrangement in the Middle East. It had been under the control of Great Britain. In World War I, Great Britain had to secure the borders of Egypt protecting it from German invasion when they realized the Ottomans had entered the war with the Central Powers. This became a threat to the British because the Ottomans had easy access to Egypt, which was an Islamic country. The war, however, was very costly for England, which was significantly weakened to exercise its control in the country. Egypt wanted to be freed from Britain which would cause more trouble for Britain. This development marked as the beginning of the problem for the West in the Middle East.

The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire was carried out on the basis of a peace treaty, which was established between the Entente, Ottoman Empire, and other powers. The treaty was known as the Treaty of Sevres, which was signed on August 10, 1920. In the treaty, the Ottoman Empire would give up lost a large amount of land and territories. Hejaz, Kurdistan, and Armenia were to be independent. Mesopotamia and Palestine were assigned to a mandate under the tutelage of the United Kingdom and Lebanon. The Dodecanese and Rhodes were to be given to Italy, and Thrace and Western Anatolia were to be part of Greece. The Dardanelles, Bosporus, and Sea of Marmara were to be demilitarized and internationalized. The Ottoman army was also to be restricted to 50,000 men. However, Mehmed VI, who was the new Sultan, did not agree to the treaty. Sultan Mehmed VI was more concerned with keeping his throne, which was challenged by his own people. (13) They wanted a better peace-making terms for the Ottoman Empire. The treaty was also denied by Ankara, and triggered the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish War.

During the years of 1919 to 1922, Greece and Turkey fought a war against each other. This war was also known as the Turkish War of Independence, which to some extent helped shape the situation of the Middle East. With the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East nations were able to govern themselves. To replace the Treaty of Sevres, the Treaty of Lausanne was concluded between the Allies and Turkey issuing that the latter would give up Iraq and Syria. Turkey also had to concede Cyprus to Great Britain. The Middle East was able to be free. The West, however, kept strong influence in these countries. (14) This became a source of conflict in the region.

In the Middle East, disorganization and chaos resulted not only in a weakened governmental system, but also in different religions and ethnicity which existed in the region. The European countries tried to take advantage of such a situation for their own interest. The British manipulated their relationship with different ethnic groups in Iraq in order to allow them to control the oil resources. British concluded treaties with Iraq to allow the British to extend influence into different religious controlled areas in Iraq, which mainly divide between Kurds, Sunni, and Shi'a. (15)

The Kurds are a minority group in the Middle East. The British took advantage of the weak position of the Kurds, negotiating with the Iraqis who feared that Mosul, a rich oil deposition, would be given to Turkey without their agreement. The treaty of 1925 settled the question of Mosul in the British favor. The British used the same tactics to negotiate the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930, which granted the British military presence in the Sunni and Shi'a controlled territory. (16) With these treaties between two countries, the British established solid dominance in Iraq. The British, however, never helped Iraq to build a real democratic system. This laid the seeds for different religious and ethnic conflicts in the country in the future.

The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire allowed the European nations to partition other Turkish lands into smaller Arabic countries. For example, Iraq was not allowed to have Kuwait and Qatar because these two nations were so rich in oil. In this way, the European powers would be convenient to control the region, therefore was able to occupy their oil resources which was essential to the Western economy since the early 20th Century. Before the complete dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain controlled Turkey Petroleum Company. Iraq wanted 20 percent participation in the company. Its weak position prevented the Iraqis from obtaining this demand. The British reached a treaty in March 1925 to receive the full control of the company, which was later renamed as the Iraq Petroleum Company. (17)

"Destruction of present government and the partition of Iraq was viewed by the West as a model for the reorganization of the entire Middle East" according to Richard Krooth and Minoo Moallem. (18) This meant that the West was able to manipulate the Middle East in its own way, and turned these countries into their protectorates. Without aids from the European countries the countries built upon some former Turkish lands could never survive. This arrangement enabled the Europeans to gain rich resources in the region. The years following the end of WWI witnessed the emergence of modern Middle East. Never the less, these Arabic states from Iraq through Syria and Lebanon to Palestine were mostly under the control of Britain and France.

However, having oil as a product created a new chance for the Middle East which will allow global economy to grow and flourish there. As the global economy continued to grow, establishing a civil society where the government will be able to manage the nations without the Western aid would become a challenge. Establishing a civil society was essential for the survival of the Middle East. The religious and ethnic conflicts prevented the establishment of a civil society in the region. The West played an important role in this regard. Arabs opposed the division of their lands into multiple territories monitored by the European powers. This was an example of imperialism. They also opposed the idea of having Palestine as a Jewish state and rejected allowing Jews coming to live in Palestine. Palestinian and Arabs began to dislike the British Rule, which extended to the growing number of Jews immigrating to Palestine. Zionism became a conflicting issue involving the Jews and Palestinians rocking the stability in the region for the years to come.

Zionism is an ideology and political movement that supports the Jewish people living in Israel, which is a land also claimed by Palestinians. The history of Zionism dated back to Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures. Zionism was also a Jewish "quest" to let the people return to Palestine. This would also cause future conflicts between the Muslims and Jews. During the 1890s, the British government had tried to compromise with the Jews by giving them a "home" in Britain's Uganda Colony. Jews rejected this offer, and insisted their "homeland" to be Palestine. Balfour Declaration of 1926 was then established. It regarded Palestine as the national home for Jews. (19)

Despite the Palestine's Islamic identity, there had been another political issue for many neighboring countries, which also had to decide whether they wanted Palestine to become a nation-state. Many neighboring countries wanted Palestine to create its own nation, but their approaches have been different and sometimes even destructive. Of course, the Jews opposed an independent state for a long time until the Oslo peace accord several decades later. In order for Palestine to become an independent nation, there must be established peace reached between the Arabs and Jews. The United Nations did pass a partition plan for Palestine in 1947. This partition was to resolve the conflict between the Arabs and the Jews. Many Jews supported the partition, but it was also rejected by the Arabs. Even if there was peace established between the Jews and Palestinians, it would be a shaky relationship. Jews and Palestinians could not expect to be equal with each other because of their distrust toward each other. This was a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. (20)

Richard Krooth and Minoo Moallem argue that there is a possibility of peace in the Middle East. The two keys making them are Trans-Jordan and Syria. Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty must be established, or there must be a negotiated peace between the two nations. A Syrian and Israeli agreement "would open the door" for Syrians to play a positive role in the region. A common market established for the Middle East is possible. This will allow the Middle East to become wealthy and trade with other nations. The key issue remains whether there is peace and stability. A peaceful Middle East must tolerate social, cultural, and political differences. "They will be able to create other conditions essential to release the potential of their people for invention, production, expanding markets, economic prosperity, and the accumulation and distribution of wealth," Richard Krooth and Minoo Moallem concludes. (21)

Today's problem of Middle East can be traced back to the political, social, economic, and religious development before World War I, which caused the destruction of many empires, including the Ottoman Empire. During the 1800s, the Ottoman government was corrupted along with the backward social system. Its economy depended upon raw materials, which made it unable to compete with the industrial development of the West. The growing economy of Europe drove Great Britain and France to extend their influence to the Middle East, where provided new markets and cheaper resources. Economic competition among the European nations started to weaken the Ottoman Empire's position in the region.

Another major factor contributed to the dissolution of the Empire was the rise of nationalism since the late 19th century. World War I accelerated this trend, allowing nations under the Ottoman Empire to strive for self-governing. On the other hand, Great Britain and France took opportunity of WWI to make settlements in the Middle East to allow them to play a dominant role in this region after the war, so they could have control of oil resources that they badly needed to maintain their own empires. Their colonial effort would cause chaos and disorganization in the region.

The presence of Christian European powers in the region also led to religious confrontation with the Islamic Arabic states. As a result, European nations favored the creation of a Jewish state in the region, setting the tone for a continuing clash between two religions. The problem has been complicated by the attitudes of other Arabic states toward the creation of an independent Palestinian state for a long time. Although the Western countries have contributed their efforts to make peace and stability in the region, they were responsible for the troubles the people of the Middle East have been experienced so far. To understand this history is critical for today's endeavor to develop a modernized Middle East.

1 Anthony Esler, The Human Venture: A World History from Prehistory to the Present (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1992), pp. 468-69.

2 Ibid., p. 545.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 "Ottoman Empire" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia at website: OttomanEmpire.

6 Anthony Esler, The Human Venture: A World History from Prehistory to the Present pp. 578-79.

7 Richard Krooth, Minoo Moallem, The Middle East: A Geopolitical Study (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1995), p. 23.

8 Anthony Esler, The Human Venture: A World History from Prehistory to the Present pp. 579.

9 "Middle Eastern Theater" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia at website: MiddleEasterntheatreofWorldWarI.

10 Richard Krooth, Minoo Moallem, The Middle East: A Geopolitical Study pp. 26-28.

11 Ibid.

12 "San Remo Conference" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia at website: wiki/SanRemo2CConferenceof.

13 "Treaty of Sevres" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia at website:

ofSevres.

14 "Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia at website:

15 Mounir, Farah., Thomas, Flickema., James Hantula., Johnson, Ellen., Kane, Paul., Andrea, Karls., Ella, Leppert., Robert Ratcliffe, Global Insights: People & Culture (Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1980) p.56.

16 "Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930)" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia at website:

Anglo-IraqiTreaty28193029.

17 "British Mandate of Iraq" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia at website: BritishMandateofIraq

18 Richard Krooth, Minoo Moallem, The Middle East: A Geopolitical Study, p. 117.

19 Richard Krooth, Minoo Moallem, The Middle East: A Geopolitical Study, p. 63.

20 "Zionism" Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia at website:

21 Richard Krooth, Minoo Moallem, The Middle East: A Geopolitical Study, pp. 227-44.