Independence for the Middle East

Ottoman Empire to 1948

Middle East?

Ottoman Empire• Began in modern day Turkey

• Expanded territory 1451-1566

• Beg. of 20th century empire is very weak

• Joins with Germany & Austria-Hungary for WWI

Ottoman Empire Expansion 1451-1566

The Ottoman Empire Crumbles

• British & French defeat Ottoman Empire in 1918

• Ottoman Empire broken up by Paris peace settlement (Became Turkey in 1922)

• Armenian Genocide during World War I– Over 600,000 Armenians killed (Christians)

The 1920’s (after WWI)

• France and Britain retained strong control over most of Arab-speaking world

• Arabs grow increasingly disillusioned with European dominance

• Middle Easterners slowly take bigger role in colonial governments

1930’s: Nationalism and Oil

• Nationalism begins to increase in the 1930s– Saudi Arabia, Iran [formerly Persia] formed

• Oil becomes central to the economy of the Middle East – American companies discover oil in Iran, Iraq, Saudi

Arabia and Kuwait

Formed1932

Formed1935

Formed1923

Palestine• Controlled by the British

• 1917 British issues the Balfour Declaration– “view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a

national home for the Jewish people.”

• Population: Jews Arabs– 1880 24,000 475,000– 1919 60,000 640,000– 1939 429,000 1,000,000

End of World War II

• Britain turns the Palestine issue to the United Nations.

• Modern nation of Israel was born out of the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan

• The plan called for BOTH a Palestinian and a Jewish homeland.

United NationsPartition Plan

Formed1932

Formed1935

Formed1923

Formed1948

Maps of Middle East

• Page 762 & 770 Green History books

• Fill in ALL countries, bodies of water, etc..