Author/s: Book title, edition number – edit on master slide -Week 5-

Author/s: Book title, edition number – edit on master slide

-Week 5-


• 1914: Ottoman Empire enters WWI.

• 1917: Balfour Declaration on

Palestine

• 1921: Reza Khan stages coup in

Persia.

Timeline of Modern Middle East – 1


• 1923: Republic of Turkey is established

• 1925: Reza Khan proclaims himself Shah.

Founds Pahlavi dynasty in Iran.

• 1932: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is established

• 1945 -46 : Autonomist movements in Iran



• 1947: Truman Doctrine

• 1948: Proclamation of the state of Israel.

(750,000 Palestinian Refugess Created )

• 1948 : First Arab-Israeli War.

• 1951-53: Iranian Oil nationalization crisis and

overthrow of Iranian Mussadiq regime ,

masterminded by CIA



• 1952: Egyptian Revolution

• 1953: Proclamation of the Egyptian Republic.

• 1954-55: Egypt and Syria purchase arms

from the USSR via Czechoslovakia

• 1956: Eqyptian leader Nasser nationalizes

the Suez Canal prompting a regional crisis.



• 1958: Monarchy in Iraq is overthrown.

• 1963:Overthrow of Iraqi Qasim regime,

allegedly masterminded by CIA

• 1967: Six-Day Arab-Israeli War: Israel

gains control of Gaza, Golan Heights,

West Bank , Sinai Peninsula



• 1968: Nominally pro-Soviet Ba'ath Party coup in

Iraq.

• 1973: The Yom Kippur War (October War) between

Israel, Egypt, and Syria

• 1974: PLO (nominally supported by the SU)

recognized as the sole legitimate representative of

Palestinians

• 1975-1989: Lebanese civil war



• 1978: Camp David Accords: treaty between

Egypt and Israel

• 1979 : Islamic Revolution in Iran; Fall of the

Shah; installation of the Iranian Revolution

• 1980-1988: Iran-Iraq War.



Donald Rumsfeld -Reagan's Envoy- provided Iraq withchemical & biological weapons ( October,1983)


• 1981: Assanitation of President Sadat. Smooth

sucession by Mubarak in Eqypt.

• 1988: First intifada begins.

• 1989 : Taif Agreement ending of the civil war in

Lebanon.

• 1990-1991: The Gulf War.



1) The presence and development of oil in

much of ME and the rest of the worlds

demand.

2) Complex local issues such as Palestine

conflict.

3) Arab nationalism and political islam.

Political/economic characteristics of Middle East (with or without) Cold War


• Cold War had deep effects on the Middle

East, though the extent of this impact is

disputed.

• Struggle between US and USSR over

influence in the Middle East after WW II.

Origins


1) Polarized political life.

2) Encouraged the rise of military or

military backed regimes

3) Prevent the growth of indigeneous

political institutions.

Effects of CW on the Middle East


1) Strategic advantage

2) Oil reserves

3) Ideological conflict

Great Powers’ main areas of concern


• Conflicts in Greece , Turkey and Iran as early

manifestations of Cold War’s impact in the

Middle East

• Truman Doctrine (1947) , Baghdad Pact

(1955) , Eisenhower Doctrine (1957) ,

CENTO (1959)

• Suez Crisis (1956)

1) Strategic Advantage


• After the evacuation of German forces from Greece in 1944, there were two groups in that country that wanted to take power: the monarchists and the Communists.

• In 1946 communists - received moral support from the USSR and actual material support from Yugoslavia - attempted a takeover.

• Greece was in a highly sensitive position militarily and Truman wanted to give the monarchists as much support as he could during the Civil War.

Strategic Advantage - Greece


• The USSR’s Black Sea Fleet was bottled up in the Black Sea. It had to use the narrow waterway through Turkey – the Dardanelles – to get into the Mediterranean Sea.

• Dissatisfied with the Turkish straits regime, in June 1945, Moscow called for joint Soviet-Turkish defense of the straits and the installation of Soviet bases.

• These demands were coupled with territorial claims over the eastern Turkish provinces.

Strategic Advantage -Turkey


• Faced with an armed leftist movement with external support coupled with prospects of British withdrawal and parallel develepments in Turkey, the US announced the Truman Doctrine.

• Promising to send $400 million in military and economic aid to support Greece and Turkey.

• The Doctrine was to set the tone for US foreign policy throughout the world post-March 1947.

• In 1952, they became NATO members with a clear message to Moscow that an attack on either would be deemed by others to be an attack on all of them.

Truman Doctrine (March 1947)


Authorizing the commitment of U.S. forces "to

secure and protect the territorial integrity and

political independence of such nations, requesting

such aid against overt armed aggression from any

nation controlled by international communism."

The Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)


• In August 1941, after the German invasion of Russia and Reza Shah’s pro-German leanings, British ( south ) and Soviet forces (north) occupied Iran.

• Following the end of WWII, most Azeris and Kurds (in north) decided that autonomy within Iran, with Soviet support was both praticanle and desirable.

• Accordingly, a Kurdish autonomous republic and an Azeri autnomous government were declared, which looked threatening from London, Washington ,and Tehran.

Strategic Advantage – Iran (Azeris and Kurds )


• These fears intensified when the SU declined to set a

date for the withdrawal of its troops from the country in

contravention of the Tripartite Treaty of Alliance (1942).

• The SU certainly sought an oil concession in the areas

around the Caspian and a friedly local government in

along with a share of Anglo-Iranian oil company (BP

later).

Strategic Advantage – Iran (Kurds and Azeris)


Suez Crisis (1956)


• The Middle East was a key area within the Cold War context and the Suez Canal was seen as vital.

• By 1951 the British had 80,000 troops stationed along the Suez Canal making it the largest military base in the world.

• To many in Britain the Suez Canal was a sign of Britain’s overseas power – to many Egyptians it was an emblem of an empire and should have gone when WWII ended.

Suez Crisis (1956)


• As the last British troops left Egypt, Nasser

was completing the purchase of Soviet-made

aircraft, tanks and arms.

• On 19 July, the US informed not to provide

funding for the construction of the dam.

• On 26 July 1956, Nasser nationalised the

Anglo-French Suez Canal Company.

Suez Crisis (1956)


• Politically, the intervention in Suez was a

disaster. World opinion, especially that of the

US, together with the threat of Soviet

intervention, forced Britain, France and Israel

to withdraw their troops from Egypt.

• Nasser emerged as “Suez Hero” afterwards

and headed pan-Arabism in the Middle East.

Suez Crisis (1956)


• Role of production from Arab countries and

Iran in meeting Western oil demands.

• Nationalisation efforts: from rallying cry to

damp squib?

• For all the discussion of oil as a “vital

interest”, it never functioned as a contentious

issue between the superpowers.

2) Oil in the Middle East


• Communist and leftists movements in the Middle East: from early freedom to later repression.

• Ideology plays important role in US/USSR rivalry:

- US policy initially ambiguous.

- American vision of modernity vs Soviet alternative of egalitarianism and benevolent

state.

3) Clash of Ideologies – 1


• Role of ideology changes over the course of the Cold War.

• Superpower relations with Middle Eastern states complex, not simply imperialist or neo-imperialist.

• Patron/Client relations: but clients can switch patrons, or have multiple patrons playing superpowers off each other, eg. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq,Iran.

3) Clash of Ideologies – 2


• How would politics have developed without the Cold War?

• Secular opposition driven underground:

- Dictatorial regimes maintained.- Rise of the religious right.

• Polarization of political life distorted growth of indigenous political institutions.

Cold War’s Internal Impact


Thanks

Author/s: Book title, edition number – edit on master slide -Week 5-

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