A Brief History of the Middle East

From the 1300's until the end of World War I, most of the Middle East was controlled by

• Mughals

• Ottoman Empire

• San Remo

• Saudi Arabia

After the San Remo Agreement in 1920, the remains of the empire were partitioned into smaller countries.

What is partitioning?

• Combined to make it bigger

• Divided into smaller parts

Why was the Ottoman Empire partitioned?

• They thought is would be good for the people.

• They were on the losing side of WWI.

• They like the idea of new countries being created.

Check all that are true about the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.

• People were happy to be free of the Ottoman Empire.

• Independence brought peace to the Middle East.

• European politicians drew borders for the new countries.

• Politicians paid little attention to the ethnic and religious groups living in these areas when the divided it.

• The people living in the region were allowed to have input into these decisions.

The idea that groups with common cultural, historic, or religious beliefs would make more successful countries is

• Ethnic group

• Nationalism

• Religious group

In May 1948, the United Nations announced the creation of the country of _______________ as a Jewish homeland.

• Israel

• Lebanon

• Palestine

• Syria

After the establishment of Israel, War began between the Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Arabs who also lived in the area that was now the state of Israel. The neighboring Arab countries, like Jordan and Lebanon, supported the Palestinian claims to the land. The Israelis, however, were able to win the war and even gained more land than they were originally promised by the United Nations.

There have been many conflicts since. Check which are true.

• The US supports Israel.

• The Arabs in the region support Palestinians.

• The conflict still exists.

• Palestinians have become refugees.

What was the cause of the Sunni & Shia division?

• differences in their basic religious beliefs

• a disagreement about who should be the leader of the Muslim community after Muhammad died.

• where Muslims should go on the pilgrimage called the hajj

Check which are true about Islam.

• Sunni Muslims thought leadership should go to whoever would be best at keeping the community together

• Shia Muslims believed that leadership should go to Muhammad’s heir, or a direct descendent of Muhammad.

• Shia's make up about 85 percent of Muslims.

• The disagreements between the two branches have sometimes led to tensions between countries within Southwest Asia.

Check all that are true of the Kurds.

• The Kurds were very upset that they did not gain their own country following World War I.

• There was even a treaty that allowed for the creation of Kurdistan for the Kurds; but it was never signed and was replaced by a treaty that did not mention Kurdistan.

• Nationalist movements began to spread among Kurds.

• The United States helped the Kurds create an area in Iraq where they were safe from chemical weapons. Today, this part of northern Iraq is controlled by the Kurds, where they live like they are almost independent from the Iraqi government and even have their own parliament.

• Turkey has allowed the Kurds to maintain their cultural identity.