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Middle Eastern Political Topics After WWI
Middle Eastern politics has changed dramatically throughout history due to external influences pulling the region in new directions and creating internal turmoil. As the world changed around the Middle East, the turmoil increased to explosive degrees.
Since the end of the First World War, five major components have made up the spine and the heart of Middle Eastern politics. They include religion, European imperialism, oil, the desire for Islamic purity, and the nature and power of the jihad.
End of Ottoman Empire
The decade following World War I was tumultuous as politics in the Middle East faced new challenges. Within the religious sphere, the question of a Jewish homeland increased with the number of displaced Jews throughout Europe. The desire for a homeland had been around for generations, but the Great War emphasized how large the need really was.
The 1920s saw the end of the Ottoman Empire as the European nations broke the once mighty empire into smaller areas controlled by various Western countries. Albania, Palestine, and Egypt were just a few of the Middle Eastern regions that had to adjust to being ruled by new cultures. It was during this time that the need for oil began to increase as automobiles became more common and the machinery designed for the war found other uses…
