Middle East Colonialism - Essay Example

Middle East Colonialism Middle East Colonialism Introduction Cole (1999) narrated that colonies existed before the colonialism in the Middle East. Some countries dominated over others without the colonial system that was introduced by the west and were inform of empires though these empires were quite informal More often the grouping of these informal empires with the aim of pursuing their interest resulted into revolutions. Some of these revolutions were: The Egyptian revolution of 1882, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 among several others. This paper focuses on the intervention of the Middle East, the transformation, and independence of countries in the region. According to Salaita (2006), there Middle East was majorly controlled by the Ottoman Empire. The empire was so huge that it had influence in parts of the present Southern Europe, North Africa, West Asia, and Caucasus. The growth of the empire is attributed to its military strategies that were used to acquire territories. Majorly, the leadership of the Ottoman Empire emanated from the Turks. They had able leadership and disciplined military that ensured the running of the empire was according to the system. Cole (1999) illuminates that in 1700, the Ottomans drove away Hungary and power balance shifted in their favor. Britain had rooted its influence in the Persian Gulf while the French influence had begun leaping in Syria and Lebanon. In around 1912, the Italians also captured Libya which was on the coastal side of Anitolia (the heart of the Ottoman activities). Later the discovery of oil in the Middle East nation such as Persia, Saudi Arabia, and Libya among other Persian Gulf state drew interest of many European powers inclusive of the United State. On the other hand, Makdisi (2006) argues that during the Ottoman rule in the 1830s to 1870s, several transformations in terms of reforms were witness in the centralization of the power system; new technologies such as railroad began cropping up; some form of new education system too surfaced; and the period was also characterized by the establishment of new institutions. The other transformations entailed the erosion of the economic and political independence and spirit of nationalism had finally begun suffocating the atmosphere. The Europeans had opted to protect the non-Muslims from the heinous acts of the Muslims in the empire. The empire was gradually losing its territories as calls for nationalism were ringing around Turkey and other Arab countries. As the empire was ageing the division between the powerful and less powerful continued to widen. Meanwhile, the colonial empires were rooting themselves by dividing colonies among the European powers. Apparently the colonial powers took advantage of the falling Ottoman Rule that had had enormous influence of the regions it had Balkanized. Cole (1999) illuminated that the driving factors for the distribution of territories among these powers were economic reasons, political reasons, strategic reasons, and partly nationalism. The economic reasons encompassed the deep need for the powers to find new market for their produce as well as other resources that were deemed to exist in these acquired territories. The strategic reasons entailed the need to occupy areas that were strategically located not only for economical benefit but to gain control of numerous states. Besides the above illuminated reasons, the western powers were also driven by their deep need to adventure. The trend of annexation of territories by several powers influenced other western nations as well. Makdisi (2006) vindicated that earlier, between 1798 and 1801, the French had invaded Egypt while the British had captured the Arab Peninsula. Moreover, in the 19th century the French had annexed Algeria, the British administration occupied Egypt, and British and Russia capture Iran as well. Early in the 20th century, the world war one erupted which prompted several promises, agreements and declarations. For instant, in the Balfour Declaration, the Palestinians were promised that they would gain independence if they were to assist in defeating the Turks in the World War 1 (WW1) while the Jews were to be given homelands. Cole (1999) points out that the Balfour declaration made the Jews in the Middle East believe that the Great Britain would assist them in a creation for a state for the Jewish community. James Balfour who served as the British foreign secretary of state wrote a letter to Rothschild. Rothschild was a very influential Jew among the Jew community. Balfour has declared support in assist in the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. Interestingly, the same area that was promised to the Jews had also been promised to the Palestinian during the World War 1. Heydemann (2000) narrated that the Jews and Palestinians both felt a sense of betrayal when the league of nation gave the territory to the British. However, after the WW1 the League of Nations precipitated the systems of mandate on hold and gave the British and French administrative opportunities to control Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. The features of the mandate system were: some sections of the world were divided into trustees of the major victorious colonial powers; British were handed Palestine, Jordan and Iraq while French held Syria and Lebanon; and the system sanctified the western colonialism as well as circumscribed it (Makdisi, 2006). The League of Nations had stipulated directives that were to be adhered to by the European colonial powers. One of the directive illuminated that the territories as a result of war stopped being under the control of their former governor. It further asserted that the continued colonization of these territories were to be as a result of the inhabitants not being able to stand by themselves. According to Friedman (2006) the second directive highlighted that ruling of individuals in the colonized territories were to be left for developed nations that had experience or resources or geographical well positioned or those that were willing to accept mandates as they were to exercise those duties on behalf of the league. The third directive spelt that these mandates differed depending on the level of development of the territories, their geographical situations, and economic situations among other circumstances. The countries that were excluded from these mandates were: Turkey where there was absolute independence; Yemen and Saudi Arabia; while Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia were directly rule by Italy, and French respectively. Iraq remained under the external control and influence from the British, the US and Russia while Egypt also was still being influenced externally by the British. In addition, the British had signed treaties of protection to protect U.A.E, Kuwait, and Oman. After the cold war that lasted till nineties, the Arab speaking nations rooted for pan Arabism. Since the European were departing from their colonized territories, Israel was established and the modern Middle East began taking shape due to the increasing vital importance the oil industry was playing (Watenpaugh, 2006). Colonialism in the region in discussion was characterized by issues such as religion, language differences, and border conflict. The inhabitants of the Middle East subscribed to religions such as Christianity (majority were European), Islam, and Judaism. The dominant languages at that time were Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Hebrew, and Armenian. The borders that were created by the colonial administration were created with lack of consciousness to the ethnic composition of the region (Friedman, 2006). The spirit of nationalism had gathered momentum and in the early years of the 20th century several Middle East countries gained independence. Watenpaugh (2006) asserted that in 1923, Jordan become independent for the British rule while in 1930, the British relinquished Iraq. However, the Iraq border minimized the accessibility of the Persian Gulf besides the tensions that emanated from religious and ethnic differences. Six years later, Egypt too became independent although the British remained in control of the Suez Canal for a period of 20 years. However, Lebanon and Syria got their independence after the Second World War. Interestingly the Arab countries began dreaming for a united Arabs states. The Second World War had a great impact on the economies of the European powers hence they wanted to relinquish the business of empires they had captured. The Iranian revolution of the as well as other changes in the region led to the growing influence of the Islamic religion. The Iranian revolution was a revolution for Islam. Friedman (2006) extrapolated that the colonialism had and still has great effect in the colonial territories. Initially the Ottoman Empire ruled the larger section of the Middle East. However, the colonization of these states by the western European Powers led to the creation of nations such as Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey et cetera. The western powers also inculcated or rather instill the system of western regimes were violence and force were the tools employed and used to facilitate and maintain authority. In most European countries the system of governance was the centralized. When they colonized states in the Middle East, they perpetuated the system of centralization of power. Later after these colonized territories gained independence, they adopted the system. Watenpaugh (2006) argued that their autonomous rural setting had sublimed into the thin air. The other implication of the colonization was the reorganization or the regrouping of social relationship among different societies or groups. Some groups such as the religious as well as the social grouping emerged as some became more privileged than other and a new dawn of future conflicts emanated. The economic system and practices of the colonized states were immensely disrupted as new economic relationships were created and the European powers were the greatest beneficiaries of these systems. The Middle East countries still maintain ties with their former colonial master. Furthermore, Christianity, which most European nations subscribed to, grew in the Middle East though still Islam is the most dominant religion of countries within this region. Conclusion There was some form of colonization in the Middle East before the arrival of western powers. Some of the major colonial masters were the Ottomans who rule vast part of the region after annexing several territories. The western powers were however driven by economic, political, and strategic among other reasons to seek territorial annexation. There European colonization of most Middle East country was precipitated further by the fall of the Ottoman Empire. When they captured territories in these regions they introduced their system of governance which later impacted on the power distribution methods that were adopted after these nations that had been colonized had gained independence. The World War 1 and 2 had significant influence during colonization. For instant, the World War too as well as the Great Depression had thwarted the economies of the major European powers at a time when the countries that had been colonized had stated craving for independence. The greatest impact of colonization by these western powers was the emergence of territorial boundaries that demarked and still demarks these nations. Reference List: Cole, J. R. (1999). Colonialism and revolution in the Middle East: Social and cultural origins of Egypts Urabi movement. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. Salaita, S. (2006). The Holy Land in transit: Colonialism and the quest for Canaan. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Univ. Press. Watenpaugh, K. D. (2006). Being modern in the Middle East: Revolution, nationalism, colonialism, and the Arab middle class. Princeton, NJ [u.a.: Princeton Univ. Press. Makdisi, U. S. (2006). Memory and violence in the Middle East and North Africa. Bloomington [u.a.: Indiana University Press. Friedman, S. S. (2006). A history of the Middle East. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., Publishers Heydemann, S. (2000). War, institutions, and social change in the Middle East. Berkeley: University of California Press. Read More