The Middle East in the 18th Century - Term Paper Example

Middle East in the 18th Century Part I Ten Event Chronology Assignment Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II declared himself as caliph and called for Pan-Islamism in 1878; the aim was to threaten occupancy of the west in the region. 2. In 1865, a clandestine Young Ottoman Society was formed and it called for Ottoman-Islamic unification under a liberal sultan (Choueiri 240). 3. During the American Civil War of 1861-5, Egypt became an export-oriented economy and it was allowed to export long-staple cotton to the European nations. Between 1851 and 1882, Britain’s control of the Middle East was very significant. 4. Between 1851 and 1856, Britain constructed the Alexandria-Cairo railway; in 1869 they completed the Suez Canal and bought Egypt’s shares in the canal in 1875 and later occupied Egypt in 1882. 5. In 1877, Queen Victoria declared herself the Empress of India expanding the Britain’s influence in the Middle East (Choueiri 242). 6. Failure of the local textile industry due to the impact of the European goods and riots in Aleppo in 1850 and in Damascus in 1860 (Choueiri 243). 7. Calls for equality regardless of the religion and race by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Majid in the years 1839 and later in 1856 (Choueiri 244). 8. The expansion of transport; construction of carriage road between Beirut and Damascus in 1863 expanded the European trade relations with the Middle East. Syria became a major trading point (Choueiri 243). 9. Between the mid-19th century and the start of the First World War, most of the Middle East was under the colonial rule and the parts that were not colonized were under the rule of informal empires (Choueiri 248). 10. The fall of the Ottoman and Qajars empires in 1924 and 1925 respectively because of the colonial rule (Choueiri 248). Part II Short Historical Biographies Balfour Declaration The Balfour Declaration was issued by the British government in November 2, 1917. The Balfour Declaration was as a result of several simultaneous political events that emanated during the First World War. The events include: British philosemitism, Britain’s military requirements during the First World War, Zionists diplomatic activities, and foreign policy and imperial interests of the British. Other scholars argue that the Balfour Declaration came as a result of the Winter of 1916 to 1917. The Zionists were seeking the support of their aims from the British because they saw no future without the declaration of the support by the British (Gutwein 338). The aim of the Zionists was very clear since 1896 and all what they wanted was to be allowed to form a publicly and legally secured home for the Jewish people that were in Palestine. Other than security, they wanted assurance. This means that the Zionists wanted to create an autonomous Jewish state within Palestine. The same sentiments to allow Jewish Zionists aspirations were echoed by a prominent American Zionist, Hon. Louis Brandeis in 1915. The declaration was beyond the protection of the small Jewish community that lived in Palestine; it was to protect the Jews all around the world (Rifkind 24). Sykes-Picot Accord The Sykes-Picot Accord was declared on May 16, 1916. The accord was negotiated by the French diplomat Francois Georges-Picot and Briton Mark Sykes in November 1915. It was a secret agreement between the governments of France and Britain in defining their influence in the post-World War 1 and their control of the Middle East. The boundaries that were drawn in the accord still remain in the present border between Iraq and Syria. In the accord, Britain was given control of the Iraq, and Jordan areas and a small region around Haifa. France was given control of the northern Iraq, Lebanon, South-eastern Turkey and Syria. Britain and France gave themselves powers to control the state boundaries within the allocated areas. Palestine was left because of the pending consultations powers such as Russia (Jayoosi 1). The agreement has raised concerns because many people see it as conflicting with the Hussein Mc-Mahon Correspondence of the year 1915 to 1916. The conflict in the two agreements is as a result of the changing progress during the First World War and the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the agreement being made in secret. The accord was later expanded to accommodate Russia and Italy. Russia was given control of Armenia and some parts of Kurdistan. Italy was given control of certain Aegean islands and some influence around the area of Izmir in the south west of Anatolia. The Treaty of Serves in 1920 formalized the division of the Arab lands and the occupation of Anatolia by Italy. Russia was denied of its claim of the Ottoman Empire due to its revolution in 1917. The denial resulted in Russia revealing the Sykes-Picot Accord and other treaties leading to a great embarrassment of the Russian allies and division and mistrust among the Arabs. Sanremo conference and the Churchill White Paper of 1922 attempted to resolve the conflict. The Churchill White Paper of 1922 stated that Palestine was part of the excluded regions of Syria that lie to the west of Damascus (Jayoosi 1). The agreement is viewed by many as the turning point in the Arab and Western relations and it contains the promise that was made to Arabs concerning the territory of Syria. The Arabs were promised to be given the Syrian territory in exchange with them siding with the British forces against Ottoman Empire. The principal terms in the agreement were reaffirmed in the Inter-Allied Sanremo conference that was held between 19th and 26th of April in 1920 and the approval of the League of Nations mandates on July 24 1922 by the League of Nations (Jayoosi 1). Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser was born in January 15, 1918 in Alexandria, Egypt. He was nurtured in middle class family. He is known as a vocal leader in driving out the British corrupt regime from Egypt. He led a nationalist movement and opened up the Middle East to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This led to the alteration of the geopolitical dynamics of the area in the decades to follow. The Egyptians were ruled by the British through an Egyptian monarchy that was very unpopular among the Egyptians. Gamal joined the other Egyptians in anti-British activities. He joined groups such as Young Egypt which was a very radical; nationalist group. He joined the Royal Military Academy in the year 1936 and was later commissioned in 1938. Nasser with others coined the name “Free Officers” and resolved to gain independence from the British during the Second World War. Nasser was appointed as the president of the executive committee after his leadership roles in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 to 1949. The Free Officers planned a coup to throw away the corrupt monarchy. The monarchy was blamed for the poor performance of Egypt (Lemoine, Testa and Strickland 132). In 1952, they successfully overthrew King Farouk and dissolved the parliament and the monarchy was replaced by the Revolutionary Command Council under the strong leadership of Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1953, Egypt was declared a republic and in 1954, Nasser was named the prime minister. In 1956, Nasser was elected as the president of a one party state. Nasser had sour diplomatic relations with the Western countries and had challenged their influence in the Middle East. The sour diplomatic relations made Nasser a key figure in the Arab world (Lemoine, Testa and Strickland 132). Apart from overthrowing the corrupt regime, Nasser implemented economic reforms in Egypt that benefited most of the poor Egyptians. He enforced a National Planning Committee that created a five year plan of mixed economy. In international relations, he embraced a non-alignment stance in which most of the developing nations avoided any alliance with either Cold War superpowers and promoted Arab nationalism. In 1967, he was humiliated by Israel in another Arab defeat in a Six Day War. After the defeat, Nasser attempted to resign but was forced to take back his seat by popular demand. The defeat also motivated his successors to reverse Nasser’s policies and look for peace with the Israeli. On 28th September, 1970, Nasser died suddenly after a heart attack (Lemoine, Testa and Strickland 132). Part III Clash of Civilizations Redux Samuel Huntington thesis states that the world will return to a civilization dominated world in which the conflicts in the future would emerge from the clashes between civilizations. The divisions among the humans according to the thesis will be cultural. The divisions are primarily based on religion and he divides them into Latin America, Japanese, Western, Confucian, Hindu, Islamic and Slavic-Orthodox civilizations. Clash of civilization can be said to partially exist. The thesis assumes that the conflict between the West and Islam is politically motivated. The real conflict between the two is entirely based on sexual liberalization and gender equality. The conflict is even widespread among different sections of the society and in some cases the thesis fails to apply. 1. The communist regime was widespread in the early 20th century but democracy in the recent years has become a norm in almost all political arenas regardless of the culture. 2. Most Islamic nations think highly of democracy and most of the public institutions have endorsed democracy. 3. In matters pertaining to sexual liberalization and gender equality, the gap between the West and Islam is big. 4. The Islamic community is less permissive on matters concerning divorce, abortion and homosexuality. 5. Apart from the Islam, nations such as China have a notion that men make better leaders than women despite the widespread gospel of gender equality in the country. 6. In India, the women rights are guaranteed in the constitution but the women are deeply entrenched in forced prostitution and domestic violence. 7. Homosexuality is not heard of in most countries especially of the Islamic origin. Examples include Egypt, Iran and Bangladesh. 8. Homosexuality in nations such as United States, Canada, Britain and Germany is not rejected by many people. 9. The trend in the young people is still the same with each section trying to maintain what they have inherited from their predecessors thus expanding the cultural gap. 10. Most countries in the world pay lip service to democracy and none is ready to agree on the social tolerance, freedom of speech, gender equality and interpersonal trust (Inglehart and Norris 73). Works Cited Choueiri, Youssef, M. A Companion to the History of the Middle East. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. Print. Gutwein, Daniel. The divided elite: economics, politics, and Anglo-Jewry, 1882-1917. Salem, MA: Brill, 1992. Print. Inglehart, Ronald & Norris Pippa. “The True Clash of Civilizations.” Foreign Policy March/April 2003: 67-74. Print. Jayoosi. “1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement.” Jayoosi. 6 March 2008: 1. Print. Lemoine, F., Testa, D. W. & Strickland, J. Government Leaders, Military Rulers, and Political Activists. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. Print. Rikfind, Simon Hirsch. The Basic Equities of the Palestine Problem. Ayer Publishing, 1977. Print. Read More