the colonial period

Middle East Colonization

In the early days of Western Civilization , imperialism and colonization was a primary means of economic and sphere of influence expansion . That is , a country such as France , Belgium or Great Britain would expand their empire by marching their armies into smaller and less powerful nations and conquer . After conquering the nation , the sovereign government would become a subject of the colonizer and the colonizing nation would then appropriate the resources of the dominated country in to enrich the economy of the colonizer as well as providing further

infrastructure for further expansion

It is no surprise that the European powers found the Middle East to be an area of the world that was a prime target for colonization . In addition to the incredible oil reserves , the Middle East also had a host of other natural resources and export materials that proved quite tempting . Actually , very little temptation was required as numerous countries set about incursions into the Middle East to acquire territory and resources . In many instances , whether it be during the Crusades or during more modern situations such as the French-Algerian War , these colonial conquests would lead to incredible unrest , fighting and instability in the region

What events were the inciting incidents of the colonization of the Middle East ? There were several including France (under Napoleon invading Egypt in the late 1700 's , an incursion that is considered the first European campaign of colonization of the Middle East by a European power . Of course , further incursions by European nations , particularly the British Empire , would perpetuate into the region of the Middle East and North Africa . This , of course , lead to violent suppression of the indigenous people as well

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as eventual colonial uprisings over the year and , oftentimes , these uprisings would become quite bloody and violent

Eventually , the entirety of the Middle East and North Africa fell under the control of the European nations . The land and resources of the indigenous peoples were appropriated in a violent fashion . In some instances , bloody wars of conquest would carry on for years and , even after their conclusion , insurgent violence would perpetually continue

Because of this , the image of the European powers by those people who inhabited the regions of the Middle East was generally highly negative This should come as no surprise as the presence of a foreign military power in the midst of what was once a sovereign territory alone would give rise to negative images . When this is coupled with the fact that the military powers would instill puppet and client governments into the territory in to suppress the independence of the people whose land has been occupied , it is understandable that a great deal of resentment towards the foreigners would develop . This becomes even more complicated as the military invader starts to procure the natural resources of the indigenous people in to feed the economy of the foreign power

In other words , the wealth derived from the natural...