Student Objectives

Students will be able to: identify and explain roots of conflicts in the Middle

Eastgive examples of the various ways groups of

people view the Middle Eastexplain the geographic factors that shape the

foreign policies and international relationships in the Middle East

analyze the processes that lead to the formation of boundaries in the Middle East through the creation of maps to answer geographic questions and to infer geographic relationships

Warm-up

Write down the first three things that come to mind about the Middle East.

Stereotypes Have No Place In This Activity

Sources of ConflictWhat are some universal

sources of conflict?What are some specific

reasons for conflict?

Colonial Rule Religious Differences

Natural Resources:

A History of Empires

Mesopotamia – one of the earliest civilizations

Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Hittites, Sumerians, Egyptians

Persian Empire Greek and Roman Empires Byzantine Empire Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

Controlled Middle East from1299 to 1922

Capital in Constantinople (Istanbul) Ottoman emporer was both political and

religious leader of all Muslims (regardless of ethnicity)Both Sultan and Caliph

Attempts to modernize & “westernize” Middle East

World War I (1914-1918) Allied Powers: Great Britain, France,

Italy, & Russia Central Powers: Austria-Hungary &

Germany Ottoman Empire: in decline & desired to

regain power for modernizationAligned with Central PowersOn losing side of war

Great Britain & France decide to divide up the remnants of the Ottoman Empire

Creating Countries Activity: Instructions Your group’s job in this activity is to create new

countries in the “Middle East.”

Each group (5) will create countries based on one of the following topics: freshwater resourcesland use & resourcesethnic distributionlanguage groupsreligion.

Instructions (cont.) Each group will have 10-15 minutes to

discuss & create their new countries. After the time ends for creating new

countries, groups will present their new countries to the rest of the class.Identify reasons for division of countriesAll members need to be prepared to answer

questions and defend your new boundaries

Freshwater Resources

Freshwater Resources: the New Countries

Land Use & Resources

Petroleum Reserves: the New Countries

Ethnic Distribution

Ethnic Distribution: the New Countries

Language Groups

Language Groups: the New Countries

Religions

Religions: the New Countries

So… let’s debrief What did you find most difficult about this,

and why? How were you equitable & fair when you

created the new countries? What changes would your group make? How would you go about creating new

countries if you had to consider multiple factors?

How difficult do you think that it was for Great Britain & France to carve up the Middle East? Why?

Back to Our Story… WWI brought the downfall of the

Ottoman Empire Great Britain & France carved up the

Middle East into spheres of influence1916: Sykes-Picot AgreementHussein-McMahon Correspondence1917: Balfour Declaration (Palestine)The Kurdish Question

Post-WWI Middle East Turkey was all that

remained of the Ottoman Empire

Great Britain & France governed mandates until ready for independence Created new countries

out of broken promises to leading Arabs

Created distrust & set stage for future conflicts

The Modern Middle East

The Importance of Oil

Population Strains Limited Resources

The Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Lebanese Question

The Iraq Question

Maps & Cartoons Maps:

Global Connections: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/maps/index.html

www.maps.comhttp://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_an

d_asia/middle_east_pol_2003.jpg Cartoons:

http://www.adl.org/main_Arab_World/arab_media_cartoons_depict_aug2006.htm

1987 Universal Press Syndicate