ABSTRACT
It is a commonplace among historians to blame the West for the Middle East’s endemic malaise. According to this conventional wisdom, which is adhered to across the political spectrum, the record goes something like this: the European Powers, long having set their sights on the territories of the declining Ottoman Empire, exploited the latter’s entry into the First World War to carve out artificial states from this defunct entity. In so doing, they paid attention only to their imperial interests and completely disregarded local yearnings for political unity. London and Paris successfully duped the naive Arab nationalist movement into a revolt against its Ottoman suzerain, then cheated it of its fruits, thereby sowing the seeds of the region’s future turmoil. In short, the Middle East suffered unduly as an offshoot of global power politics during the long nineteenth century (1789-1923).
