WORLD WAR I’s EFFECTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST
THE ARABS’ EXPERIENCE
The Ottoman Empire – along with other multi-ethnic empires such as its ally Austria-Hungary and its enemy Russia
– found itself facing internal unrest from its national minorities. In the case of the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain
used Arab dissatisfaction with Ottoman Turk rule to the advantage of the Allied cause – the “divide and conquer”
approach. First, the British government made a deal with the Arabs early in the war. By 1915, Britain had opened
negotiations with Sharif Hussein of modern-day Saudi Arabia, promising Hussein that, after the war, he would
rule a large Arab nation that would include most of the lands between Persia and Egypt (including today’s Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other nations). In response to strong Arab nationalism and
British support, Hussein led a revolt, assisted by a young, Arabic-speaking British officer named T.E. Lawrence
(later known as “Lawrence of Arabia”). Neither Hussein nor Lawrence realized that the British had no intentions of
honoring their commitments to Arabs. As early as May 1916, allies France and Britain signed the Sykes-Picot
Agreement in which they made plans to divide the Arab lands into French and British spheres of influence.
Furthermore, in 1917, the British signed the Balfour Declaration, indicating an acceptance of the idea of
establishing a Jewish nation state in Palestine – territory earlier promised to Hussein as part of his new Arab
nation. The inconsistency of these plans is obvious: within two years, the West had promised the territory of
Palestine to three different groups: The Jews (then a small minority in Palestine), the Arabs (under Sharif
Hussein), and the British!
Despite Arab nationalist leaders attendance at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, they were ignored by the Allied
leaders. As a result of the Paris Peace Conference, the Ottoman Turks’ control over the Arab Middle East was
dissolved, but in its place arose the dominance of Britain and France. These two Western European Allied nations
began carving Arab lands into a series of mandates – nominally under the authority of the new League of Nations,
but administered as though they were colonies by Britain and France. Britain obtained control over the mandates
of Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine. France obtained control over the mandates of Lebanon and Syria. This western
domination created great resentment among the ethnic Arab population. For some, this resentment continues
today.
THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE: ZIONISM
Since the 1890s, Zionism had been an important movement in Europe. Zionists fought against anti-Semitism
(prejudice and hatred against Jews) and sought Jewish self-determination: the creation of a national homeland for
Jews. This was an idea first suggested by Theodore Herzl, a Hungarian Jew in 1896. Herzl organized the first
Zionist World Congress in 1897, which created the World Zionist Organization.
The Zionists, inspired by Jewish religious teachings, hoped to return their Biblical homeland in the area of Palestine
in the Middle East. However, at the time of World War I, few Jews were living in Palestine as most had been
scattered for various reasons around the Mediterranean world and formed large Jewish communities in both
Eastern and Western Europe. In the meantime, however, the majority of Palestine’s population became Arab
Muslims.
Written during World War I, the Balfour Declaration (1917) promised to establish a secure homeland for Zionist
Jews in Palestine. This pro-Zionist document was developed by the British government in an effort to win Jewish
support for the Allied cause. Furthermore, the Balfour Declaration was supported at the Paris Peace Conference in
1919. The League of Nations established in 1922 a British mandate in Palestine. Arabs resented both the British
and Jewish settlers. Nationalistic, ethnic, and religious-based rioting erupted in the 1920s and 1930s.
During the 1930s and 1940s, anti-Semitism by the Nazi regime led to further immigration of Jewish refugees to
Palestine in hopes that, some day, they would have their own independent nation free from religious persecution.
This influx of Jewish refugees even more so enraged Arab population. The British eventually realized that they had
made poor choices by promising the same territory to two different groups. After World War II, the British would
quickly hand over authority of Palestine to the newly-established United Nations to decide how the Jewish/Arab
Palestinian problem would be resolved. Jewish nationalism hoped to establish the nation of Israel, whereas Arab
nationalism intended to establish an Arab-led nation state of Palestine.
ARABS IN IRAQ
During World War I, the British quickly occupied the Ottoman territory that is today Iraq. After World War I, the
League of Nations created a British mandate in Iraq and carved Iraq from Ottoman territories. Britain installed the
brother of the Arab king of Jordan, Emir Faisal ibn Husayn, as leader there. In 1921, the Iraqis later elected and
proclaimed him king. The discovery of huge oil fields helped Iraq considerably, though the British-dominated
company, the Iraqi Petroleum Company, had the rights to develop the fields. The British mandate in Iraq ended in
1932. Oil resources would continue to play a critical role in Western interest in the Middle East for the next onehundred years.
FROM THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE’S ASHES: THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY
It must have been obvious even before the armistice ending World War I was signed in November 1918 that the
Ottoman Empire had lost the war. Its remaining Balkan territories had already been lost, its Arab territories were
falling away, its population was exhausted and depleted. However, the settled that followed the war was so harsh
that it must have come as a shock to people in the Middle East. The peace agreement was created mainly by Britain
and France, while Middle Eastern leaders were mostly excluded from the decision-making process. For Turkey, the
peace agreement divided Turkey itself. Greece, Italy, and France occupied sections of Turkey and the British
considered giving further territories to ethnic Kurds and ethnic Armenians. It was especially galling when Greek
occupying forces marched in – after all, Greece had been under Ottoman rule, not the other way around!
The revolt against the Allies became known in Turkey as the “War of Independence.” Led by Mustafa Kemal, later
called “Ataturk”, the fighting caused the Allies to withdraw occupying forces from Turkey. The triumphant
Ataturk continued the process by expelling 1.5 million Greeks from western Turkey. Ataturk wanted to ensure that
his new nation of Turkey was just for the Turks!
Despite Ataturk’s opposition to Western occupation of Turkey, he was western-reform minded. We wished to
modernize Turkey. Ataturk served as the first president (1922-1928) of the Republic of Turkey, which featured a
parliament and constitution. He introduced a series of legislative reforms adopting European legal systems and
civil codes. In so doing, he overthrew the strict Islamic Shari’a law. He implemented European-style Roman
writing and secularized the Turkish nation by eliminating the Arabic call to prayer, the caliphate, and the mystical
Sufi orders of Islam. His radical reforms survived and the Turkish Republic remains an independent and secular
Islamic state.