The Ottoman Empire1453 CE to World War I (1914)

The Ottoman Empire• Large, powerful (Sunni) Muslim Turkish

Empire.• Allied with the Germans in World War I

(against Britain, France and Russia).–British: divide and conquer, use ethnic groups.

• The British armed the Arabs and encouraged them to revolt (the British promised the Arabs independence…).

Lawrence of Arabia

• British Intelligence officer.• Helped organize and arm the Arabs to fight against the

(Turkish) Ottomans.• Lived and fought with the Arabs• Promised Independence to his friends…

The Arabs (with British help) Defeat the Ottomans.

But…

The Sykes-Picot AgreementThe British and French secretly agree to

split the old Ottoman colonies.–Sykes-Picot Agreement

“Mandate”• Essentially a colony

• No independence for the Arabs.

Sykes Picot

Promises, promises• The British have already

promised–Independence for the Arabs–Colonies for the French

• Now, they promise something to the Jews of Europe:–Palestine.

The Balfour Declaration

1917: to gain American and Jewish support for England in WWI,

Promised British support for a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.

Promises?Between 1914 and 1918 the British had promised the land of Palestine to:–The Arabs (Arab uprising against the

Ottomans)–The British and the French (Sykes-Picot

Agreement)–The Jews (Balfour Declaration)

The Reverse Diaspora

World War II1939-1945

• Europe destroys itself. • Focus on rebuilding.• England too weak to hold on to

colonies.• Holocaust sparks global sympathy for

a Jewish state.

1947

UN Partition plan

• 1948-49Arab-Israeli War

1967: 6 day war

1973

• Yom Kippur War