How World War One Led to the Creation of the Modern Middle East - Essay Example

? HOW WORLD WAR ONE LED TO THE CREATION OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST Introduction There are few events in the world history that had a more profound and noticeable effects than that of the First World War that took place between 1914-1918. Despite the German’s effort to dominate and control Europe was thwarted in the long run, the equilibrium of the region was as well destroyed by the fierce war between its own elements. The Middle East was no less affected by the war. The Otto man Empire collapsed after ruling continuously for four consecutive centuries. The result of the collapse was a vacuum, which contributed to tension between external power or interests and local inhabitants. The struggle “war to end all war” had proved futile. Britain took the central part in the War against the Middle Easterners with the aim of capturing the empty Otto Man Empire. In order to succeed, it had to involve the Indians forces in the war. It also underwent changes in the troops including the officials. For instance, a more social soldier, General Sir Edmund who managed to create bonds with his soldiers, making it easy to wage war against the Mesopotamians, replaced Murray (Woodward, 2011). The Ottoman had combined forces with the Turkish soldiers, (Turkey also had interests in controlling the Ottoman Empire). The following essay will succinctly describe the aftermath of the war on some of the Middle Eastern nations. Outlining and description of the today’s Middle East economic, political, and social situations will be done. The Unfolding Events of the World War I The Ottoman/Turkish army was one of the armies’ of unstated quality. However, with Germany as an ally, the empire became a real threat to the British Empire; and in a quick rejoinder, London hurriedly landed an Anglo-Indian influence at Basra that situated between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. This was mainly done to safeguard the rich Anglo-Persian oil pipeline that was very crucial to the British Army, and to show the Union Jack this purposefully significant area near the Persian Gulf. Reluctant to obligate all of its rising military resources in the year 1915 to western frontier, where trench wellbeing reigned, the British authorities welcomed a nautical offensive against the Istanbul state to influence the Ottoman Empire away from the conflict .In the month of February and March ,the Royal Navy was incapable of fighting its way via the Dardanelles to present the Ottoman headquarters under its strict surveillance control ,the military authorities immediately collected and expeditionary influence to the land on the Gallipoli Peninsula. During the conflict, the cluttered reasoning resulted to this crusade that proceeded during the moment of recovering from conflict, and principally British force major losses and these sick and wounded soldiers had to withdrawn from the area of the conflict. The Ottoman/ Turkish Fifth Army, who were well equipped with military weapons and had strong defense positions and strategies, had proved to be much stronger than there allies. When the Gallipoli conflict subsided, an Anglo-Indian influence was cut-off and was encircled at Kut-el-Amara, a city that was situated approximately 100 miles south of the town of Baghdad (Woodward, 2011). The restricted, protective stance at Basra had emerged into a distant and uncertain development up the Tigris towards Baghdad, and this eventually was the outcome. During this period, the Anglo-Indian influence lacked enough reserves and logistical structures to maintain and sustain the city of Baghdad, although they had recaptured it. In addition, a well-built British forces was present in Mesopotamia, but had no link to conquer Britain’s principle approach on the rival, Germany. However, the government of India was more worried that the holy war may spread to Persia and Afghanistan, hence intimidating the stability in India. The Indians needed the British reputation upheld in the Islamic community to avoid such a war. In the process of the war the troops were adversely attacked by mosquitoes thus making majority of them sick and incapacitating them to take part in the war. The winter nights further made the troops to freeze and were further weakened by heat during summer. During this moment the British Empire reacted to the Gallipoli attack because the country was one with strong army and had vast resources to maintain their troops in the war. The Ottoman Empire on the other hand, did not have the needed resources to sustain its forces in the war. Sir Stanley Maude who was a commandant in Mesopotamia gathered sizeable military force with the modern military equipments and facilities that could be used in a war. The city of Basra was developed and was in time developed into a port, metal road, railway and the river transportation in River Tigris was greatly expended to meet the needs of the growing population for means of transport. War on Different Fronts As early as 1917, British government seemed to be on the process of eliminating Turkey out of the World War I, and they were rejoicing after conquering many fronts in the war. During this time, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) started attacking Palestine (Woodward, 2011). The Sinai desert presented soldiers with unfavorable situations since there was no water and the scorching effect of the sun. This adversely affected the efforts of the soldiers in the war fronts. On 11 March the same year, Maude’s army conquered and captured the city of Baghdad. In two weeks’ time Murray’s after accomplishing the mission of kicking out Ottoman /Turkish army out of Sinai, initiated a lightening protest with infantry and cavalry against the town of Gaza, the main gate to Palestine, which was inhabited by Ottoman Empire. Having failed to conquer the town of Gaza, between 17-19 April 1917, the war became more badly, where Germany employed the use of unhampered U-boat whereby the conflict took a dreadful toll on Allied shipping (Kamrava, 2011). This presented a threat to Britain’s capability to maintain the aspect of “side show” which was going on outside Europe. The March revolution resulted to paralyzing the Russian military strategies during the war. The Russian’s military strategies that were directed towards Germany and Turkey, on the western battlefield, the collapse of the Spring French hateful sparked a rebellion of the French Army (Woodward, 2011). At this moment during the war, Britain was experiencing a terrifying prospect of evolving to be the stronghold of the war versus the Central powers, both present in Europe and in the Middle East. 2. The Aftermath of the War The war led to several recognizable changes in the history of the Middle East. To begin with, there were several effects on the Eastern Asia. Japan was offered the German territory to administer and control. One of the most important and rich territories given to Japan was the Shandong Peninsula region, located in China. Besides the authority offer, they were also awarded extraterritoriality rights in China. This means that there was no arresting or trial of any Japanese in a Chinese court. This alternately made the Japanese equal to the Europeans who had given themselves the same privilege. The right also made behave and act in right-handed way towards their fellow Asians (Chinese), because trial in Japanese courts would mean a favor to them. The effect of the above favoritism to Japan was the May 4, Movement that took place in China. It was a popular protest against the Versailles Treaty. This is the treaty that ended in world war one turning the existing modernist movement in China from being an intellectual exercise to being a popular and recognized movement. This indirectly led to Chinese Communist Party establishment. This is the founding political party of the PRC (People’s Republic of China). It is also the current ruling political party in China (Woodward, 2011). Despite being in coalition with United Front party, it is the only party that has currently maintained unitary as well as centralized government in China. Its legal power is guaranteed by the China national constitution. From this, it is arguably true that the First World War led to the formation of the China popular and ruling political party. The party is what governs China today. As stated earlier, the fall of the Otto man Empire aroused the interests of several nations. Most of these were European nations who saw the empire as a region flourishing with wealth such as gold and other valuable minerals. Controlling the Empire would also imply superiority of a nation. Most European countries believed that any nation that controlled the empire that had been in stable existence for the past four centuries would become the global superpower. The main European nations that showed their interest in the Otto Man Empire were France, Britain, and Turkey. Turkey, however, took another means in ensuring that its two European counterparts fail to subdue the region. It collaborated with the people in the Empire and waged constant war against the France and Britain. France and Britain later combined their forces and defeated the Otto man and the Turkish soldiers. After the defeat, France and Britain divided the Ottoman Empire into several new smaller countries. These countries included Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and several others. The aim of the partition was for the two European nations to come up with a peaceful way in which they could share the existing resources in the region. The main natural resource that was plenty in the empire was oil. In order to succeed in their mission, the French and the British decided to enter into an agreement with some of the residents of the formed nations. They ensured them leadership if they could help them obtain the resources peacefully without revolts by the locals (Kamrava, 2011). For instance, British promised the Saudi Arabia leadership to two Hashemite leaders. One got the leadership, whereas the other became the Jordan King. Interestingly, British created a territory known as British Mandate of Palestine. The place was meant for keeping Jews refugees. Currently, Lebanon has remained the Jews homeland. From this, it is conclusive that World War I led to the participation of Middle East into nations, which are in existence today. Another point to note is that partition of the nation led to continuous conflicts, as the nations fought for resources. This gave leeway for the opportunistic Europeans and the United States to get in with an aim of finishing the war, by taking away that causative agent of the war (oil and other resources). Each country in the Middle East has several mixed ethnic groups that always fight ferociously over resources, land, and religious reasons. For instance, Iraq is made up of Shiites, Sunnis, and the Kurds. Majority are the Shiites and they want the nation together because they are ones in full control. Sunnis are also interested in controlling the nation. Therefore, there is always constant war in the Middle East due to tribal supremacy and desire to rule over other tribes. This is the reason for the constant bombing in the Middle East. The Kurds, on the other hand, are located at the northeastern part of the nation. They have an intention of joining their Kurds in the neighboring regions to form Kurdistan government. These tribes are in these situations due to the destruction of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Currently, the US is fighting hard to keep the tribes at peace at the same time get oil out of the war. They claim that they want to introduce democracy in the area. Turkey, which has several Kurdish people does not want to lose land to the other tribes. Therefore, they have to deal with the US in order to achieve their goal. The US has reacted by ensuring that they clear the airspace in Kurdish against Turkish bomb strikes on Iraq. All these are traced to the divisions that were made during the World War I. Conclusion From the above illustrations, it is lucidly clear that most of the current events in the Middle East had their foundation during the First World War that took place for four years. The fundamental cause of lack of peace in the Middle East was the partition of the Ottoman Empire by the Europeans who had interest in ruling the nations and getting resources such as oil. Their interest has also attracted the US, which has also stepped into the war with a new strategy of bringing democracy, when in real sense it wants to get oil just like Britain, Turkey, and France. References Woodward, D., 2011. “The Middle East during World War One.” BBC History. March 03, 2011. Web. April 27, 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/middle_east_01.shtml Kamrava, M., The Modern Middle East: A Political History Since the First World War. Berkeley, California, CA: University of California Press. Read More