Oil and Foreign Involvement in Arab Nations

The Middle East has been involved in many conflicts for most of its history. These conflicts have been in large part due to, natural resources and foreign involvement. The rich supply of oil in the Middle East has made it a region of interest for many non-Arab countries to support in order to ensure a steady flow of oil. As the importance for oil increased through the industrialization of the world, the need for it became magnified. This need for oil prompted non-Arab countries to become involved in the Middle East by means of financial aid, treaties, weapons, and troops. Many foreign countries have intervened in Middle Eastern conflicts, in order to protect their access to an oil supply for their own nations, causing further conflicts and escalate violence in the region.

The Middle East had been a very prosperous region, but they fell behind in the sciences and technology in the nineteenth century. In the early 1900's, the Ottoman Empire started to decline and was dubbed the "sick man of Europe" (Blackadar 2). This made the Ottoman Empire vulnerable to the attacks from Russia, who took land, and Europeans looking to acquire oil from the area. The Ottoman Empire was destroyed during World I. Russia and Britain were trying to gain control of Iran's resources, fighting each other on Iran's soil, causing the Iranian economy to suffer. In order to maintain and control Iran's resources, Russia and Britain resolved to work together, invading and taking control in Iran. "I am quite clear that it is all important for us that this oil should be available," (Blackadar 5), said Arthur Balfour, telling of the importance of the oil for Britain. Britain and France conspired to divide the remnants of the Ottoman Empire between thems...

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...s in the Middle East, in the interest of securing oil, has added to the disruption and upheaval of this region. Foreign involvement has been motivated by the need for access to a consistent oil supply. This involvement has only furthered conflicts and elevated the level of violence in the Middle East. For many years violent conflicts in the Middle East have involved Arab and non-Arab countries in the quest for control over the oil supply. There is no indication, as the need for oil continues, that these conflicts will be resolved anytime soon.

Works Cited

Blackadar, Andy, ed. "Part I: The Middle East in the World." The Middle East in Transition:

Questions for U.S. Policy (2013): 2-18. Print.

Blackadar, Andy, ed. "Part II: Weighing U.S. Priorities in the Middle East." The Middle East in Transition: Questions for U.S. Policy (2013): 19-34. Print.