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Early History

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Early History

Umayyads: Sunni Muslims
Built Dome of the Rock to signify the place that Abraham almost sacrificed his son to God.
Built the House of Wisdom holding international knowledge due to them being the center of trade and cultural diffusion.
Used Arabic as official language
Tolerant of People of the Book (Hebrews & Christians) who shared the same history

The Ottomans: Sunni (1299-1923)

This empire existed for over 600 years!!!!
They were the 1^st to use gunpowder which helped them expand and defend their empire
The Ottomans were so powerful they were able to defeat the Europeans at the city of Constantinople, taking vital economic ports along the Mediterranean and Black Sea. They changed the city to Istanbul and converted the Hagia Sophia (a Greek Orthodox Church) to a Mosque.
They conquered about 20 different ethnic (cultural) groups that created internal tension as each group grew more nationalistic and demanded independence from the Empire.
Although the Europeans were unable to imperialize the Middle East the way India was, they were able to build the Suez Canal through the Sinai Peninsula (now independent Egypt) to make trade from Europe to Asia easier. British and French companies controlled this trade route.

WWI & Nationalism

During WWI, the Ottomans were allied with the Triple Alliance (Germany & Austria) who lost the war. During the war, Britain had promised the various ethnic groups living in the empire independence if they fought against their own Shah and with the Triple Entente (France, Britain and the US) and they won, they would give them independence.
After WWI the Ottoman Empire collapsed
The Triple Entente had won the war, but instead of giving the ethnic groups in the Middle East independence, the British and French divided the land among themselves to influence how these newly developed territories would grow. These territories are called mandates.

After WWI

The world experienced another nationalist movement; the Zionist Movement: where people actively tried to get Jewish people back to Palestine (used to be called Canaan). Britain was given Palestine as a Mandate and they also supported the Zionist Movement which resulted in the Balfour Declaration: stating that the British wanted to make a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Therefore, Jewish people from around the world started migrated to Palestine, the Arab people there were angry, and the territory erupted into fighting. Palestinians were also angry at the British because they had broken the promise of giving them independence after WWI.

WWII (1930-1945)

During WWII, Hitler blamed the Jewish community for Germany’s troubles. Anti-Semitism (anti-Jewish), which was common grew dramatically during this time in Germany. Hebrews started immigrating (some to Palestine) to be safe, but most countries turned them away because Anti-Semitism worldwide was also common. At this point, GR (already at war) started the Holocaust where 6 million Jewish people were killed (11 million total). After this horrific event and the surrender of war, the UN is created and decided to create Israel as a Jewish state for all Hebrews to move to and live in safety.