Middle East Imperialism Essay

Since the early 20th century, there have been three key time periods of potential foreign influence in the Middle East. The first of these periods was between 1914 to 1945. During this time period, the Middle East moved from Ottoman rule to British and French mandates. The second of these time periods came at the end of World War II, when the post-colonial ride of Muslim-Arab nations was prominent in the Middle East. Furthermore, the founding of the Jewish states of Israel and the pressures of the Cold War were significant, which complicated matters in the Middle East and assisted in forming the third phase. The thirst phase took place in the 1990’s, at the end of the Cold War. Even at the end of the Cold War, there was no effect on the cycle …show more content…
Although both perspectives offer a plausible conclusion, but it is hard to place the blame on just Western-Imperialists or “wandering Zionists” on the turmoil in the Middle East since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The Middle Eastern states themselves have nourished their their religious and political conflicts in order to assert various regimes. European imperialism became more predominant in the Middle East during the 20th century, when Britain promised a “national home for the Jews in Palestine” in 1917. Oil was another example of imperialism. It was discovered in commercial quantities in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia in the 1920’s. Later on, in the 1930’s, the United States entered the region, insisting on a share of the British oil industry, and taking exclusive control of Saudi Arabia’s oil. The United States became dependent on foreign oil in the 1970’s, but the Europeans were always dependent on oil in the Middle East. This led to the Suez Crisis in 1956, when Britain and France invaded Egypt to stop the Egyptian president from nationalizing the Suez Canal. More conflict further ensued in the Middle East when the Soviet Union convinced the Arab states that if Israel did not exist, then