Module 7: The Middle East Today Flashcards
M7.1
Islamic civilization competed with ____ for centuries.
western Europe
Which states began to challenge the greatest Muslim state beginning in the late seventeenth century?
Austria and Russia began to challenge the Great Ottoman Empire
What had a powerful cultural impact on Ottoman and Egyptian elites?
innovations in EDUCATION
When did the parity between the Ottomans and the Europeans quickly change in strength?
later eighteenth century
- when Ottomans fell behind western Europe in science, industrial skill, and military technology.
What did the Ottoman military weakness reflect?
the decline of the sultan’s “slave army,” or the janissary corps
What became a corrupt and privileged hereditary caste with time?
janissaries
- they pursued their own interests and refused any military innovations
Who was the first sultan who tried to re-organize the army?
Selim III
- however, the janissaries refused to use any ‘Christian’ equipment. He was later revolted against and executed.
Mahmud II
Selim’s successor (Ottomans), ordered the janissaries to drill in a European manner. They revolted and charged the palace, where they were mowed down by the artillery.
Who was the Ottoman governor in Egypt?
Muhammad Ali
How did Mahmud II survive from Muhammad Ali in the Ottoman province of Syria?
by begging Britain, Russia, and Austria for help who signed a peace treaty
European powers preferred..
a weak and dependent Ottoman state to a strong and revitalized Muslim entity under a dynamic leader (like Muhammad Ali)
Tanzimat
a set of radical reforms designed to remake the ottoman Empire on a western European model.
What did the Tanzimat call for first?
Muslim, Christian, and Jewish equality
Was the Tanzimat successful?
No, it only provided partial success.
- The Ottoman State and society failed to regain its earlier power and authority, because:
1. implementation of the reforms required a new generation of trustworthy officials, which did not exist
2. the liberal reforms failed the halt the growth of nationalism among Christian subjects
3. the Ottoman initiatives did not curtail the appetite of Western imperialism
4. The elaboration, of equal rights for citizens and religious communities, failed to create greater unity within the state.
Who were the supporters of sultan Abdulhamid II
Islamic conservatives who detested the religious reforms of the Tanzimat
Which countries rebelled against the Ottomans?
Serbia and Greeks
- Greeks won national independence
What marked a decisive victory between Russia and a coalition of Balkan territories?
Russo-Turkish War
What was the Ottoman Empire now labelled as in the European press?
“sick man of Europe”
Young Turks
patriots of Turkey who seized power in the revolution of 1908, forcing the conservative sultan to implement reforms.
- helped pave the way for the birth of modern secular Turkey and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I
Which French general invaded Egypt as France and Britain prepared for war?
Napoleon Bonaparte
- threatened British access to India and occupied the territory for three years
When did Muhammad Ali’s strategy of using peasants as armies fail?
When his armies occupied Syria and he threatened the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II.
To pay for a modern army and industrialization, Muhammad Ali encouraged
development of commerical agriculture geared to the European market
What became very unequal following Muhammad Ali’s new development on peasants?
LANDOWNERSHIP
Who was a westernizing autocrat?
Ismail
What did Ismail promote?
cotton production
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani
preached Islamic regeneration and defense against Western Christian aggression
regeneration: required purification of religious belief
Muhammad Abduh
sought Muslim rejuvenation and launched a modern Islamic reform movement
- Muslims should adopt a flexible, reasonable approach
Qasim Amin
wrote The Liberation of Women
M7:2
.
Describe the Arab Revolt.
Arab nationalists felt bitterly betrayed by Great Britain and its allies, and this left a legacy of distrust and hatred toward the West. The British and French were against Arabs. Western imperialism also appeared to have replaced Turkish rule in the Middle East.
Sykes-Picot Agreement
The 1916 secret agreement between Britain and France that divided up the Arab lands of Lebanon, Syria, southern Turkey, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq.
Balfour Declaration
A 1917 statement by British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour that supported the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Theodore Herzl
Theodore Herzl is a Jewish journalist that turned from German nationalism to support Jewish political nationalism (Zionism), and the creation of a Jewish state.
Explain the concept of Zionism. How did Zionism affect the dynamic in the Middle East?
The concept of Zionism is that Jewish state could only give Jews security and dignity. It supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland. It affected the dynamic in the Middle East because it encouraged the world’s Jews to settle in Palestine.
Explain the difficulties Jewish settlers had in Palestine.
The sellers that sold lands to Jews were often wealthy Arabs, and they didn’t care much about their Arab tenants’ welfare. When the Jewish owner replaced the Arab tenants with Jewish settlers, Arab farmers and intellectuals burned with a sense of injustice. Also, most of the Jewish settlers were from urban backgrounds and they wanted to either build cities like Tel Aviv or live in towns like Haifa or Jerusalem. To win Haifa or Jerusalem, Jewish immigrants had to fight with the Arabs.
Kibbutz
a Jewish collective farm on which each member shared equally in the work, rewards, and defense.
Trace the development of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. What events have shaped the politics and culture of this conflict?
The land conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians for Haifa and Jerusalem combined with economic and cultural frictions. This caused the Palestinians to protest Israelis’ immigration and hate them. The British tried to help Palestinians and slow Israelis’ immigration. The effort from the British didn’t satisfy both, and they were in a civil war by 1938. They attacked each other. Also, they both attacked British police and military forces. They even committed massacres.
Which two countries successfully encouraged an Arab revolt and destroyed the Ottoman Empire?
British and the French
Europeans sought to replace ___ as principal rulers throughout the region, even in Turkey itself.
Turks
What led to revolts amongst idealistic exiles and young officers who wanted to save the Ottoman state (Young Turks)?
- declining international stature
- domestic tyranny
What was the most important possession of the Young Turks?
Syria
What shimmered the relationship between Turks and Arabs?
ethnic and linguistic tensions
Central Powers during World War I
Germany and Austria-Hungary
- Turks aligned themselves with these central powers
Arabs opposed to Ottoman rule found themselves allied with
the British
How did Palestine form?
In 1914, Jews made up about 11% of the predominantly Arab population in the Ottoman Empire, which, under british control, became palestine.
Mustafa Kemal
the father of modern Yurkey, who was sympathetic to the Young Turks
Treaty of Lausanne
helped recognize a truly independent Turkey
Mustafa Kemal moved the capital from Constantinople to _____
Ankara
- in the Turkish heartland
Majils
the national assembly established by the despotic shah of Iran
What were Reza Shah’s three goals?
- build a modern nation
- to free Persia from foreign domination
- rule with an iron fist
Amanullah Khan
declared war on the British government and won full independence
Name three similar efforts.
Amunallah’s efforts in Afghanistan and Mustafa Kema’s efforts in Turkey and Shah in Persia.
M7:3
.
Identify the PLO.
The PLO is the Palestinian Liberation Organization long-led by Yasir Arafat. The result was an unexpected but beneficial agreement between Israel and the PLO in 1993.
- Israel agreed to recognize Arafat’s organization, and started a peace treaty that granted Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and called for self-rule throughout the West Bank.
Who was the Yom Kippur War fought against?
Egypt, Syria, Israel
How was the Middle East region reshaped after the Yom Kippur War?
- wealth of oil producers relative to other Arab states
- Rising Islamic militancy leading to a revolution in Iran
- Religious challenge to the rule of secular, modernizing dictatorship
Describe the Camp David Accords of 1979.
Peacemaking efforts by US president Jimmy carter led to this, which normalized relations between Israel and Egypt and Jordan.
- included return of Sinai Peninsula to Egypt
- political attention turned to conflict between Israel and Palestinian nationalist organizations
What happened in Egypt and Lebanon?
Tensions between Syria and Israel shifted from their borders to Lebanon, where Syria backed the militia Hezbollah, or Party of God.
- Hezbollah condemned the 1978 and 1982 Israeli invasions of Lebanon aimed at eradicating the PLO’s control of southern Lebanon, and one of its objectives were the complete destruction of Israel.
Describe the Intifada.
a prolonged campaign of civil disobedience against Israeli soldiers
- in 1987, young Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank began the Intifada.
What increasingly divided Israel? Explain.
The peace process between the PLO and Israel.
- In 1995, a right-wing Jewish extremist assasinated PM Yitzhak Rabin.
- In 1996, opposition parties won a slender majority, charging Palestinian leadership with condoning anti-Jewish terrorism.
- The new Israeli government limited Palestinian self-rule.
Name the cause of the SECOND Intifada.
Which marked a turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
the death of Yasir Arafat, the PLO’s long-time leader in November 2004
When did Israel, US, and the EU suspend aid to the Palestinian authority?
after the Hamas victory, who was Arafat’s pragmatic successor
- ultimately, this led to the deterioration for conditions for Palestinians who had lived in the Gaza Strip
How did the Six Day War change the dynamic in the Middle East?
Israel obtained peace and normal relations with Egypt after the Six-Day War
- Israel also kept the Gaza Strip
Who was recognized as the leader of the Arab world from 1956 to mid-1970s?
Egypt
- because of their large military
- anti-imperalist rhetoric
- support for Arab unity
Egyptian relations with Israel deteriorated after…
Sadat was assasinated by Islamic radicals in 1981
Summarize Mubarak’s career after being Sadat’s successor of Egypt.
Mubarak was a consistent support for Israel and a mediator for peaceful relations between Israel and Arabs.
- Human rights under Mubarak’s 30 years in office were no better.
- Egyptians of all ages revolted against Mubarak’s dictatorial rule after a populist revolt broke out across the M. East and North Africa.
- he stepped down as president in 2011 and was arrested soon after.
Describe the challenges to Turkey’s secularism.
There was a violent reaction to Turkey’s secularism,
- which resulted in an Islamic revolution in 1979, aimed at infusing strict Islamic principles into personal/public life.
- the fundamentalists deposed the shah and tried to build their version of the Islamic state
What has transpired in Iraq and Iran?
Iran’s revolution frightened its neighbors, including Iraq.
- they feared the Iran, a nation of Shi’ite’s, would succeed in getting Iraq Shi’ite majorities to revolt against its Sunni leaders.
- In order to quench with this, Iraq’s ruler Saddam Hussein launched a surprise attack against Iran.
Describe Hussein’s desire for Kuwait.
Hussein desired Kuwait’s great oil wealth.
- He ordered his forces to overrun Kuwait, but were surprisingly driven out of Kuwait by the UN, led by the Americans, and included Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia.
- the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iraq as it invaded Kuwait, and these sanctions continued after the Persian Gulf War to force Iraq to destroy its weapons.
What began the Second Persian Gulf War?
American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, overthrew Saddam Hussein’s regime
Describe Khomeini and Khatami of Iraq.
Ayatollah Khomeini divided the executive power in Iran to a Supreme Leader and twelve-member Guardian Council selected by high Islamic clerics, and a popularly elected president and parliament.
- A reform movement pressed for relaxation of strict Islamic decrees, which led to election of Muhammad Khatami. The Supreme Leader vetoed Khatami’s reforms and jailed some of the religious leadership’s most vocal opponents.
