Middle East #1: Until World War I

James Barr‘s book, A Line in the Sand, explains how the Middle East became the intractable place we now see it to be. In the decades leading up to World War I, the Middle East was part of the Ottoman empire. Even then, it was clear that the Ottomans were fading. In the middle of World War I, Britain and France started drawing up plans on how to split the Ottoman empire, if and when they won the war! That plan came to be known as the Sykes-Picot plan, based on a literal line on a map drawn by the two – everything south, which lay closer to the Suez, would go to the British; while everything north would go to France. Palestine was left out – it was too problematic, given its religious importance to both Muslims and Christians. Britain then had made Promise #1 to the French on the division of the Ottoman Empire – the Middle East – assuming they’d win World War I.

 

The Ottoman Sultan, as the ruler of the Middle East (and thus Mecca), used his authority as the Caliph to exhort the Muslims world over to a holy war against the British. The British worried that such a call to arms would spill far beyond the Middle East, into India and South East Asia. Therefore, the British decided to back a regional leader, Sharif Husein, to undermine the Sultan’s call. They told Sharif that the British would help him break free from the Ottomans, perhaps even create an independent Arab-land. Britain had just made Promise #2.

 

As you can imagine, Britain was now playing with fire:

“To favour the Arabs over the French could jeopardize the Entente (alliance between Britain and France): a spurned Husein might throw the Arabs’ weight behind the Ottoman sultan’s jihad.”

Why then could Britain still make such contradictory promises? Because both were secret pacts. But that very secrecy meant a lot of British actors in the region didn’t know of either promise! TE Lawrence, for example, did everything he could do to support Husein and even considered the prospect of an Arab land as a way to thwart France’s ambition, not realizing that very public British actions in support of any Arab land violated Promise #1.

 

If you thought things were messy, there’s more. Britain cared a lot about the Suez, since that was the gateway to Asia. Ergo, they needed Palestine with its access to the sea, to be in friendly hands – neither Arabs nor the French fit the bill. Why didn’t Britain then just grab Palestine? Aha, the winds were changing – America, in particular, was anti-imperialism, and considered the ongoing World War I to be a consequence of unfettered European imperialistic rivalries.

 

Britain, therefore, decided to support the Zionists in their attempt to make Palestine the home of the Jews. A grateful Jewish nation could be relied on for Suez matters, or so went British thinking. In addition, the Jews world over were rich – and rich friends can always come in handy. Both financially, and also in convincing the US to join the war. This then was Promise #3 – to the Jews. Neither the US nor France took this one seriously, even when it leaked. Who’d be crazy enough to put Jews and Muslims in the same place – surely, even the British could see it would become a “breeding place for future war”…

 

Around the same time, a British Admiral pointed out to the British PM:

“As oil was four times more efficient than coal, it would eventually take over as the major marine fuel.”

Note he only spoke of “marine fuel” – nobody yet knew of cars or planes! The Admiral added that explorations suggested most of the oil would be in Mesopotamia and Persia, so these areas should remain under British “influence”. You could call this Promise #4, one Britain made to itself.

 

After winning World War I, the Middle East part of the discussions among the winners was ugly – the contradictory promises were out in the open. A pragmatic (cynical?) Britain decided to dump the Arabs as they felt the French were far more important (Another European war was always a possibility). Even so, the French didn’t feel they were getting what they were promised either.

 

And so it came to be at the end of World War I, the Middle East was left hanging. An anti-imperialist America wouldn’t let anyone expand their empire; the Arabs felt betrayed; the French and Britain while resentful and mistrustful of each could see that the Germans might still become the common enemy later…