Keylor: World War I leads to Middle East conflicts
For decades, the U. S. has been embroiled in violence in Iraq, Syria and other nations in the Middle East.
Many fear these conflicts may have no end. But according to one professor, even fewer know when they begin; in the turbulent years of World War I.
“If the people living in the Middle East had been allowed to choose their type of government in the aftermath of World War I, it would have completely transformed the region we recognize today,” said Dr. William Keylor, Professor of History and International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.
Keylor spoke to WPFW Pacifica Radio in Washington, D. C. on Nov. 11 – Veteran’s Day. Though today we celebrate all those who have served in the armed forces, Veteran’s Day was originally instituted to honor the end of World War I. You can listen here.
As Keylor explained to “Community Watch and Comment” host David Rabin, that war was ended by a series of treaties which carved the Middle East up along lines determined by secret agreements brokered between the Allied Powers during the years leading up to armistice.
“All the countries in this war were engaged in what we know as political warfare,” Keylor said. “The goal was to promote unrest behind the lines of the enemy. So for instance, the Germans supported the Irish independence movement, and the French supported Polish independence. The idea was to undermine your opponents’ security.”
In the case of the region recognized today as the Middle East, three separate agreements decided its fate. Prior to the breakout of hostilities in 1914, the area was part of the Ottoman Empire (today known as Turkey). In order to secure the support of Arabs living in the region, the British allied with Hussein bin-Ali, the sharif of Mecca. In return for military support, the British would create an Arabic state in the former Ottoman territories after the war.
At the same time, the Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain and France promised that the two nations would each have a sphere of influence in the former Ottoman territories, and the Balfour Declaration pledged British support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
And of course, there was the matter of oil. The new oil-powered naval fleet built by the British for the war needed a constant supply of fuel, and other Allied powers were increasing their power needs too.
The end result was the Middle East we know today. Syria and Lebanon were ruled directly by Christian France, Iraq and Jordan by kings installed from Hussein bin-Ali’s family, including the famous Faisal I of Iraq, friend of Lawrence of Arabia. None of the rulers were natives of the region, and all came from religious and cultural minorities – leading to the deep rifts and resentments still present in the region today.
“I remember once doing research at the Ministry of War outside Paris, and I came across a huge carton of petitions from Kurdish representatives at the Paris peace conference,” Keylor said. “The victors at least theoretically agreed there should be an independent state of Kurdistan, but the rising wave of Turkish nationalism after the war meant they never got a chance for self determination.”
Keylor has been a Guggenheim, Fulbright, and Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He was elected to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, has been named Chevalier de L’Ordre National du Mérite by the French government, has served as the president of the Society for French Historical Studies. At Boston University, he has received the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Methodist Scholar-Teacher Award. Keylor served four consecutive terms as Chairman of the Department of History at Boston University (1988-2000) and has served as Director of the International History Institute since 1999.
The Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies is Boston University’s newest initiative to advance human progress. The Pardee School is dedicated to improving the human condition through rigorous and creative undergraduate, graduate, and professional education; path-breaking research; and active engagement in innovative initiatives that apply this education and knowledge to make a real-world difference in the critical challenges humanity faces.