The divisions created by this influence often continue to plague the area with conflict even today, as seen in the case of the constant fighting between Palestinians and Israelis.
European military policies also inflicted great damage on the waning Ottoman Empire in the twentieth century. The Ottoman Empire entered into the chaos of World War I on the German side. This directly pitted it against the majority of the other European powers, who were united in their fight against Germany and its allies including Austria. In fact, the Ottoman sultan "proclaimed a military jihad against Great Britain, France, and Russia," (Goldschmidt & Davidson 2009 p 200). After years of failure in the war, trouble began brewing internally within the Empire itself. What resulted were massive waves of revolts from Muslim citizens of the Empire. As Arabs around the Ottoman Empire began to rebel against Ottoman control, they were often helped by the European great powers, including Britain and its connections to Egypt. Many European nations gained the support of these rebel groups through promising independence once the Ottomans were overthrown. European support for these smaller revolutions within the Empire helped it collapse within itself.
Many of these geographical and military strategies used by European great powers were often justified through...
Since far back into Europe's history, religious policies have helped solidify and drive military strategies in the Middle East. This continued to occur into the more modern time periods, as many within Europe began to want to help the various Christians and Jews that were being smothered under the Ottoman rule, a sentiment that was often used to help justify more aggressive military policies in the region. According to the research, "In the nineteenth century, perhaps as many as one-fourth of the Arabs under Ottoman rule belonged to protected minorities. Most of these were Christians, who were less likely than the Muslims to feel strong loyalty to the empire," (Goldschmidt & Davidson 2009 p 195). Many within Europe saw this as an opportunity to gain allies from within the Ottoman Empire's reach. The most notable example of this was the case of the spread of Russian Pan-Slavism. This was a combined social and religious movement to unite the Slavic people, who had been ruled by such powers as the Ottoman Turks and even Austria. Croation and Orthodox Christian missionaries entered into Ottoman territory and began to influence minority Christian groups to want to end the Ottoman rule over their territories.
References
Goldschmidt, Arthur & Davidson, Lawrence. (2009). A Concise History of the…
