The Middle East around WW1
This empire was known as the "Sick Man of Europe" by the early 1900s.
What is the Ottoman Empire?
This global power increasingly supported Israel post-1948, in part due to Cold War strategy and oil interests.
What is the United States?
This nationalist movement aimed to create a Jewish state in historic Palestine, leading to growing tension with the local Arab population.
What is Zionism?
This brief 1967 war expanded Israel’s territory significantly.
What is the Six-Day War?
He became Egypt’s president in 1956 and championed Arab unity.
Who is Gamal Abdel Nasser?
This agreement divided Ottoman land between Britain and France after WWI.
What is the Sykes-Picot Agreement?
This president’s administration used false claims of WMDs to justify the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Who is George W. Bush?
This 1947 United Nations plan proposed dividing Palestine between Jews and Arabs, giving the minority population a majority of the land.
What is the UN Partition Plan?
This surprise 1973 war was launched by Egypt and Syria to reclaim their land on a Jewish holy day.
What is the Yom Kippur War?
He was overthrown in 1979 during Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Who is Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi?
This revolt during WWI was encouraged by the British and aimed to free Arab lands from Ottoman control.
What is the Arab Revolt?
This nationalist group wanted independence for an ethnic group living in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
What is the Kurdish nationalist movement?
This Jewish militia carried out the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel, targeting British forces during escalating conflict in Mandate Palestine.
What is the Irgun?
This 1980s war between neighbors resulted in trench warfare and over 500,000 deaths.
What is the Iran-Iraq War?
This U.S. president allowed the exiled Shah into the country for cancer treatment, sparking the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Who is Jimmy Carter?
This group of Christian minorities faced genocide by the Ottoman government in 1915.
Who are the Armenians?
This British promise caused tension by supporting a Jewish homeland while also supporting Arab independence.
What is the Balfour Declaration?
This Arabic term, meaning “catastrophe,” refers to the forced displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians following the establishment of Israel in 1948.
What is the Nakba?
This 2000–2005 Palestinian uprising followed the breakdown of the Oslo Peace Process.
What is the Second Intifada?
He led Iran after the revolution, establishing an Islamic Republic.
Who is Ayatollah Khomeini?
This British officer helped coordinate Arab-British efforts during WWI and later protested his country’s betrayal.
Who is T.E. Lawrence?
This peace treaty officially ended WWI and redrew the map of the Middle East.
What is the Treaty of Paris / Versailles?
This organization took control of Gaza in 2007, after winning elections and clashing with rival factions.
What is Hamas?
This 1970 conflict led to the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan.
What is Black September?
He ruled Iraq for decades and ordered the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Who is Saddam Hussein?