World War One Middle East. Ottoman Empire Turkey, North Africa, Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe....

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World War One Middle East

Transcript of World War One Middle East. Ottoman Empire Turkey, North Africa, Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe....

World War OneMiddle East

Ottoman Empire

• Turkey, North Africa, Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe.• Capital City – Constantinople• Leaders – Sultans• Tolerant of other religions• Millet system (non-Muslims formed small communities and

were allowed to keep their faith (Jewish or Christian) as long as they paid the jitza (a tax).

• Legal system – justice• Powerful, stable, wealthy empire (1300s-1566)

Reasons for the Decline of Ottoman Empire

• Weakened by too many wars• Land lost to national groups and Europeans• The Ottoman Empire was very diverse ethnically + nationalism =

many groups wanting their freedom• Weak Leadership• Loss of intellectualism = loss of innovation = fell behind the Europeans in

technology• Financial issues –

• tax collections – high debt• Unhappy peasantry• New World silver flooding the market and causing silver to inflate =

inflation• Trade routes changing to bypass the Middle East in favor of water

routes and trade in the Atlantic• On losing side in World War I

World War One-Middle East

Triple Entente• Great Britain• France• RussiaGB-Recruits• The Arab Nation• India

Triple Alliance• Ottoman Empire (Turks)• DECLINING OTTOMAN EMPIRE

(“Sick man of Europe”) SIDES WITH GERMANY• Germany• Austria-Hungary

The Gallipoli Campaign(1915)

• The main combatants looked beyond Europe for a way to end the stalemate. • Allies’ strategy • attack a region in the Ottoman Empire known as the Dardanelles. • This narrow sea strait was the gateway to the Ottoman capital,

Constantinople. • By securing the Dardanelles, the Allies believed that they could take

Constantinople, defeat the Turks, and establish a supply line to Russia.

• British, Australian, New Zealand, and French troops made repeated assaults on the Gallipoli Peninsula• Turkish troops, some commanded by German officers, defended the

region. • Trench Warfare turned Gallipoli into another bloody stalemate. • Battled for a year• the Allies gave up the campaign and evacuated.• suffered about 250,000 casualties.

The letters declared that the Arabs would revolt in alliance with the United Kingdom, and in return the UK would recognize Arab independence.

T.E. Lawerence

• Archeologist turned British Officer• In 1916, he was sent as a liaison

officer to join the Great Arab Revolt, led by Prince Feisal. He took money and guns and helped keep the Revolt alive.

• T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia)• Wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916)-Great Britain and France secretly reach an accord, known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, by which most of the Arab lands under the rule of the Ottoman Empire are to be divided into British and French spheres of influence with the conclusion of World War I.

Colonel Sir Mark Sykes

Francois George-Picot

The Balfour Declaration was a November 2, 1917 letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild that made public the British support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. 

Lord RothschildA Zionist

League of Nations assigns Mandates

• In the opening weeks of the Versailles peace conference, it was clear that Great Britain and France would not honor their wartime promises to Arab leaders for independence. • Instead planned to divide the Arab Middle East between them. (Great

Britain and France)

Impact of the Mandates

• The League of Nations determined that instead of granting the territories of the former Ottoman Empire independence they would become “mandates” of other countries.• It was the responsibility of the controlling country to help the “mandate”

grow economically and politically so that they could become independent nations later on. • Britain and France administrative control of Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq,

Syria, & Lebanon• The “mandates” soon realized that, although the system proposed

eventual independence, it was just a new system for the old imperialism.

• The “mandates” soon realized that, although the system proposed eventual independence, it was just a new system for the old imperialism.• Cultural Implications• Religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity• Languages: Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Hebrew, Kurdish, Armenian

• Borders were created by European nations without thought to ethnic makeup of the region• relations between Muslims and Jews deteriorated.