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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 16 page paper discusses some of the early 20th century history of Iraq, with specific reference to the British influence in the region at the time, and the Baghdad Railway. Bibliography lists 12 sources.
Page Count:
16 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVGBIraq.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
has always been strategically important. Although attention is focused today on the American invasion of Iraq and the ultimate purpose behind it, other nations have been active in the region.
This paper considers the British involvement in Iraq in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with specific reference to the building of the Baghdad Railway, and the power struggle
surrounding it. Discussion International involvement in the Middle East goes back centuries to the original trade routes through the region; the development of the steam engine in the 19th century
led to fresh interest in trade routes that had been unused for years. Thus, "[D]uring the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth, the medieval trans-Asiatic highways to
the East were rediscovered."1 The improvements in technology and the reopening of the trade routes appears to have been something of a two-edged sword: on one hand, it was good
for both East and West to have trade resumed; on the other, the increasing contact between the two also created "new arenas of imperial friction," as well as heightening "existing
international rivalries," and increasing suspicion between Asians and Europeans.2 Such major issues as national pride, religious fanaticism, prejudice, imperialism and secret diplomatic missions were "formidable obstacles" that "blocked the road
to peaceful progress and promoted wars and rumors of wars."3 Also playing a large part in the situation was the weakness of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the
20th Century. Because Abdul Hamid and that of his successors, known as the "Young Turks" proved "incapable of governing a vast empire and a heterogeneous population" they were also unable
to prevent foreign incursions into Turkey.4 Turkish political instability "was the excuse offered by European nations for intervening in the affairs of the empire."5 Earle notes that the year 1888
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