Blood and Oil
The Middle East in World War I
In the spring of 2003, the United States invaded the country of Iraq and removed its dictator, Saddam Hussein from power. This, however, was just another episode in a long series of wars, revolts, and foreign occupations that have been going on in the Middle East for decades. The war in Iraq has happened before. In fact, there was war in the spring of 1941, during the British Invasion. When did all this conflict begin? And why has the Western world become so deeply involved in the Middle East?
The answers to these and many other questions can be found way back in 1914 when the Middle East was known as the Ottoman Empire. At that time its armies decided to fight in World War I. At Istanbul, three men ruled as dictators over more than 20 million people, half of who were Turks. The other half was made up of Greeks, Armenian, Arabs and other minorities. The names of the three dictators were Enver Pasha who was the Minister of War; Talaat Pasha, the Minister of Interior; and Djemal Pasha, the Minister of the Navy.
Enver Pasha was a very talented conspirator and plotter. He was determined at the time to join Germany and the Austria/Hungary Empire in their fight against France, Great Britain, and Russia. This conflict was obviously a European affair that had nothing to do with the Middle East, but the Ottoman Empire stubbornly joined the war anyway. After the fateful attack of October 1914, the Ottoman Empire never saw another day of peace.
Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, modern Turkey and other countries were born as a result of Great Britain and France dividing the “fruits of victory” after World War I. The Jews were promised a homeland in Palestine, but a homeland for the Kurds never materialized. The Kurds are spread to this day throughout Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. This disregard to their traditions and history accelerated the rise of Arab nationalism.
This feature-length documentary exposes the Western greed and political manipulation that for decades has paved the way for countless wars, overthrows, revolts, oppressive dictators, and military interventions in what we know today as the Middle East. It documents the historical happenings from October 1914 all the way to the Allied victory and declaration of the new Turkish Republic in 1923. Watch it now.
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