The Decline Of The Ottoman Empire

Analysis For hundreds of years before European intervention, the Ottoman Empire had controlled or annexed most of the Arabic people. However; few states did exist, mostly on the Saudi Arabian peninsula, they possessed minimal forms of government and rule, existing in small tribal states. Despite the immense territorial possessions of the Ottoman Empire, it began to decline with a series of military defeats beginning in the 16th century. Most of their fleet was wiped with a loss of 210 ships and 30,000 men killed1, and the event is often cited by Historians as the ‘end of Turkish supremacy in the Mediterranean’2, and the turning point of Ottoman conquest and rule. It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that the Ottoman Empire became the ‘sick man’ of Europe. The dynasty had long suffered from corruption, inflation, and its territorial possessions began to reject Ottoman rule. One area where this is most relevant is in the Arabic peninsula. Following nationalist trends in Europe, and especially the Ottoman Empire, Arab nationalism grew in the beginning of the 20th century. The ideology believed ‘that nations from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula are united by their common linguistic, cultural and historical heritage.’3 The growing anti-Ottoman rule sentiment grew,

William Knox D’Arcy negotiated an oil concession with Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar of Persia in 1901. He gained the rights to prospect for oil in an area consisting mostly of modern day Iran6. In 1908, a prospector named Reynolds struck oil on May 26, 19087. The discovery of the oil fields lead to the formation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which under British ownership, later became the company British Petroleum. For 60 years, oil had been a precious and valuable resource, and became one of Britain’s greatest interests in the Middle