The End of the Islamic Arab Empire & Present Day Issues In the Middle East

Today!! We’ll take a look at some of the ways the Empire changed from the Abbasid Dynasty to the present How the break-down of the Empire resulted in the countries that exist today How this affects the events of today

The Empire is Huge!!

The Problems of Empire What problems might an Empire this large encounter? Who else is in the area? What major characteristic separates the Byzantine & Kingdoms in Europe from the Islamic Arab Empire?

After the Abbasid Dynasty The Abbasids were never able to hold on to the entire empire at once Different groups after would either get control over the majority of the empire or large sections of it The Seljuks were the next major group in this list

The Seljuks and Conquest It was the Seljuks that were in power when the Crusades started They were nomads from Central Asia, used bows and horses in battle When the Seljuks took territory near the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, they called for help

A Long Time Passes... Europe fights with the various Caliphates with different rulers through much of the time The most recent version of the Islamic Empire was the Ottoman Empire A Muslim Empire based in Istanbul (Constantinople renamed)

The Ottoman Empire Is one of the major nations involved in World War I A crumbling Empire, where countries keep claiming independence When the war is over, the Ottoman Empire is on the losing side and is split up....

Who Decides? The leaders of the winning side of WWI split up the Ottoman Empire Britain, France each claimed sections for themselves The people in these places wanted to rule themselves

Who’s Running These Countries?? France and Britain would take a local leader and put him in charge of the country The person would do whatever they said... Whether it was good for the people in that country or not How would you feel?

Additional Reasons Many Middle Eastern nations with oil resources were sought by European countries and the United States By helping certain people take control of a country, they would guarantee cheap oil If a ruler decided to do something different...?

It’s Complicated... Almost 100 years of Western countries like Britain, France, US not letting people choose their own rulers This area has had a history of abusive governments because no one else stays in power for long Nice rulers get ‘removed’

An Experiment If I told you the exam was 50 questions... And you had 10 minutes to complete it What if it was 100 questions? And if you fail, you have to pay the school $1,000 If you can’t pay, you’ll be sent to prison

Why talk about this? People are willing to do more extreme things, and believe more extreme ideas when they feel hopeless If there is no chance to succeed using the rules, why try following the rules?

In Closing... You’ll hear a lot about the Middle East for the rest of your lives It its important that you go into these years knowing some of the region’s history Know that there is are a number of reasons why people far away are just like you and me