The Near and Middle East (1828–1971 CE)

Empires in Decline, Nations in Transition, and Oil in Ascendancy

Geography & Environmental Context

The Near and Middle East includes three fixed subregions:

• The Near East — Israel, Egypt, Sudan, western Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, southwestern Turkey, and southwestern Cyprus.

• The Middle East — Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, eastern Jordan, eastern Saudi Arabia, and northern Oman.

• Southeast Arabia — southern Oman, eastern Yemen, and the island of Socotra.

This vast region links the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Caspian Basin, bridging Africa, Europe, and Asia. It is dominated by deserts and highlands, punctuated by fertile river valleys (the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates) and strategic straits — the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandeb, and the Strait of Hormuz — that define global trade and geopolitics.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

Aridity remained the defining condition. The 19th century brought episodes of famine and epidemic following droughts in Egypt, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula. Irrigation schemes and canal building, such as the Suez Canal (opened 1869) and the Assiut Barrage (1902), transformed riverine agriculture. Petroleum exploration and urban expansion in the 20th century accelerated desertification and water demand. Monsoon moisture sustained oases in Oman and Yemen, while seasonal Nile floods continued until the Aswan High Dam (1960–70) reshaped the river’s ecology.

Subsistence & Settlement

• Agrarian bases persisted in the Nile Valley, the Fertile Crescent, and the Iranian Plateau, producing wheat, cotton, dates, and fruits.

• Nomadic and pastoral tribes in Arabia, the Levant, and Sudan maintained camel and sheep herding, adapting to modern markets.

• Urbanization surged in Cairo, Istanbul, Tehran, Baghdad, Beirut, and Jeddah, intensified by European trade and oil wealth.

• Port cities—Aden, Basra, Kuwait City, Manama, and Doha—grew into nodes of global commerce.

Technology & Material Culture

European imperial penetration introduced telegraphs, railways (notably the Hejaz Railway, 1908), and modern weaponry. In the 20th century, oil extraction and refining brought pipelines, tankers, and industrial zones. Traditional crafts—carpets, calligraphy, metalwork, and ceramics—remained vital symbols of identity. Concrete architecture and Western education transformed cities, while mosques and bazaars continued as cultural anchors.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Trade routes: The Suez Canal reoriented world shipping; the Persian Gulf became an oil artery.

• Pilgrimage: The Hajj connected Muslims globally through Mecca and Medina.

• Migration: Rural–urban drift filled cities; labor migration later linked Yemenis, Egyptians, and Iranians to Gulf oil fields.

• Military corridors: The Near and Middle East served as theaters of imperial rivalries—British in the Gulf and Egypt, Russians in the Caucasus, Ottomans across Anatolia and Arabia.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Religion and reform: Islamic modernists such as Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh sought synthesis of faith and reason; Christian minorities in Lebanon and Armenia fostered education and journalism.

• Literature and art: The Nahda (Arab Renaissance) revived Arabic prose and poetry; Persian and Turkish writers blended realism with nationalism.

• Architecture: Cairo’s modern boulevards, Tehran’s avenues, and oil-era Gulf skylines redefined urban form while domed mosques and minarets remained emblems of continuity.

• Music and media: Radio and cinema from Cairo, Tehran, and Istanbul spread popular culture across linguistic and sectarian boundaries.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Desert agriculture expanded through artesian wells and canals; the introduction of cash crops like cotton in Egypt and tobacco in Iran restructured rural economies. Oases sustained date-palm and grain cultivation, while pastoralists adjusted routes to motor transport and border restrictions. In coastal cities, desalination and modern infrastructure emerged to offset water scarcity.

Political & Military Shocks

• Imperial decline and reform:

  • The Ottoman Empire weakened, culminating in its dissolution after World War I.

  • Egypt’s Muhammad Ali dynasty modernized administration and industry but fell under British occupation (1882).

  • Iran’s Qajar dynasty faced constitutional revolution (1905–11) and later Pahlavi modernization (from 1925).

• World Wars and mandates: British and French mandates carved up former Ottoman territories; Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Palestine emerged under European oversight.

• Nationalism and revolution:

  • Turkey’s Republic (1923) under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk secularized and industrialized Anatolia.

  • Arab nationalism surged—Nasser’s Egypt championed anti-imperial unity.

  • Iran underwent the 1951 oil nationalization crisis and the White Revolution (1963).

  • The Zionist movement culminated in the creation of Israel (1948) and successive Arab–Israeli wars (1948, 1956, 1967).

• Oil and Cold War: The discovery of major oil fields (Iran 1908; Iraq 1927; Saudi Arabia 1938; Kuwait 1938) made the region central to global power politics. U.S. and Soviet rivalry deepened through alliances and arms races.

Transition

Between 1828 and 1971, the Near and Middle East transformed from imperial provinces and desert sultanates into a mosaic of nation-states, revolutionary republics, and monarchies bound by oil and ideology. The collapse of Ottoman and colonial empires unleashed nationalist movements, while petroleum wealth and Cold War geopolitics redefined economies and alliances. In the deserts of Arabia and the deltas of the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates, modernization coexisted with faith, and cities like Cairo, Tehran, and Riyadh became centers of a region poised between deep tradition and global transformation

The Red Sea is of strategic importance to the United Kingdom due to both trade and as a route for its navy to pass through in order to reach India among other places.

South of Yemen is the British Colony of Aden and Aden Protectorate, which are at considerable risk of anti-colonialist rebellions.

Italy has colonies of its own in the region: Eritrea and Somaliland, both of low profitability.

There is considerable belief that increased ties with the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen would fuel increased trade with the colonies and bring the region under the Italian sphere.

The Yemeni Kingdom at this point has its eye on annexing Aden and, with the advent of Imam Yahya, also has aspirations for a Greater Yemen.

In September 1926 the Italo-Yemeni Treaty, also known as the Treaty of San'a, is signed.

Described as a friendship treaty, it recognizes Yahya as King of Yemen and his claims to Aden.

Ibn Sa'ud forces the encircled rebels to surrender to the British in Kuwait in January 1930.

The Ikhwan leaders, ad-Dawish and Ibn Hithlayn's cousin Nayif, are subsequently incarcerated in Riyadh.

Power in Arabia thus passes definitively into the hands of townspeople rather than the tribes.

Not all of the Ikhwan had revolted.

Those that had stayed loyal to Ibn Sa'ud remain on the hijrahs, continue to receive government support, and continue as an influential religious force.

Because Arabian sovereignty is traditionally expressed in the form of suzerainty over certain tribes rather than in fixed territorial boundaries, Ibn Sa'ud regards the demarcation of land frontiers with suspicion.

Nevertheless, by 1930, the majority of the frontiers with Iraq, Kuwait, and Jordan have been demarcated.

In the south, however, no agreement is reached on the exact site of the Saudi frontiers with the Trucial States and with the interior of Yemen, Muscat, and Oman.

The 1934 Anglo-Yemeni Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Cooperation defers final settlement of the question, leaving the border dispute unresolved.

The border between the Aden Protectorate and Yemen had originally been established during 1902-1904.

Over the past several years, Yemen has raised a claim to nine regions in the border area.

Yahya had recovered al-Hudaydah and other ports from Asir (1925) but had been evicted from the Aden Protectorate in 1928.

Emboldened by an Anglo-Indian-Yemeni treaty of February 11, 1934, signed on the same day that the Saudi and British governments conclude a treaty of friendship for 40 years between the two countries, Yajyao precipitates war with Saudi Arabia.

After summary defeat, he receives a generous treaty (May 1934).

Most of the boundaries of Saudi Arabia remain unmapped, unmarked, and undemarcated by treaty.

As a consequence of conflicts among tribes in the border areas between Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, the Idrissi of Asir has recanted his previous allegiance to ibn Saud and fled to Yemen to join the Zaydi Imam of Yemen, Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din.

A peace delegation sent by ibn Saud is jailed by Yahya, who then sends the Idrissi back to his lands with an army.

When the Saudis send in their own army, equipped with modern rifles and vehicles, they quickly win control and advance as far as Hodeida.

The episode spurs Western powers to send warships to Hodeida to evacuate their nationals.

The Saudi Yemeni War officially ends on May 20, 1934, with the signing of the Treaty of Taif between ibn Saud and Yahya, which asserts Saudi Arabia's sovereignty over territories "(formerly) in the possession of the Idrisis or the Al-Aidh, or in Najran, or in the Yam country".

The covenant of the League of Arab States, or Arab League, formed in March 22, 1945, contains an annex emphasizing the Arab character of Palestine and proclaiming its intent to defend it.

The founding member states are Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.

The aims of the league in 1945 are to strengthen and coordinate the political, cultural, economic, and social programs of its members and to mediate disputes among them or between them and third parties.

The creation of the State of Israel brings about the (first) Arab-Israeli war: early on May 15, units of the regular armies of Syria, Transjordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt cross the frontiers of Palestine.

Initially these forces consist of approximately eight thousand to ten thousand Egyptians, two thousand to four thousand Iraqis, four thousand to five thousand Transjordanians, three thousand to four thousand Syrians, one thousand to two thousand Lebanese, and smaller numbers of Saudi Arabian and Yemeni troops; about twenty-five thousand in all.

Goldie Myerson, a signatory of Israel's independence declaration and newly appointed minister to Moscow, had personally attempted to dissuade King Abdullah of Transjordan from joining the invasion of Israel decided on by other Arab states.

Israeli forces composed of the Haganah, such irregular units as the Irgun and the Stern Gang, and women's auxiliaries, number thirty-five thousand or more, armed with Czechoslovakian weapons sent at the behest of the Soviet Union.

Moshe Dayan commands the Jerusalem area; Yitzhak Rabin directs the defense of Jerusalem (and also fights the Egyptians in the Negev).

The invading Arab League forces occupy the areas in southern and eastern Palestine not apportioned to the Jews, then capture the small Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Israelis, meanwhile, win control of the main road to Jerusalem through the Yehuda Mountains (Judaean Hills) and successfully beat off Arab attacks.

The Arab League has fielded only a few well-trained units.

In addition, some Arab logistical lines are long, making resupply and communication difficult.

The most formidable Arab force is Transjordan's Arab Legion, commanded by Glubb Pasha, but Abdullah has secret relations with the Zionists and strongly opposes a Palestinian state led by his enemy al-Husseini.

Other states, such as Egypt and Iraq, also have different objectives, and this internal strife, disorganization, and military ineptitude prevents the Arabs from mounting a coordinated attack.

Abdullah's primary purpose, which he has spelled out in secret discussions with Jewish envoys, is to extend his rule to include the area allotted to the Palestinian Arabs under the United Nations partition resolution of November 1947.

Accordingly, he engages his forces in the area of Palestine popularly known as the West Bank and expels Jewish forces from East Jerusalem (the Old City).