Who Controls the Middle East, Controls the World: Myth or Truth?

Middle East; no clear boundaries, no clear rulers of the region in the history. Most of the religions were born in these lands, like Christianism, Islam, Judaism, Yezidi, Bahai and many others. A region that hosted many great civilizations; like Sumer, Elam, Akkadian Empire, Babylonia, Assyria and Hittites. No other region in the world is as famous as the Middle East. As we look at the history, we see that many empires set the Middle East as their target, but couldn't control it completely at all. Persian Empire, Assyrians, Alexander Empire; lost many man to control this region. What was the reason that attracted those big empires to Middle East? The answer is easy; fertile lands and the advanced civilization of the Mesopotamia at that time.

The religious center for Jews, but will gain more importance with the birth of Jesus. It also becomes the religious center for Christians. In about 600 years, the prophet of Islam will be born, Mohammad and the history of Middle East changes. Mohammad starts spreading Islam thru the Arabian Peninsula. As Mohammad dies, the Umayyad and Abbasids take control of those lands and extend the Islamic Empire to Spain in the west and to India in east. The Turks start migrating from Middle Asia as they enter the Anatolia in 1071, with the battle of Manzikert. The Seljuks were controlling the Middle East. Not completely but a majority of the lands. As the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I see the danger of Turks, he calls for help from Pope to defend his lands. The Crusades began in 1095 and continued till Ninth Crusade which ended in 1272. Religion wars; caused many deaths but also bring much technological advancement to Europe. Before Christ, the reason to rule Middle East was because of its fertile lands, but now it is the Religious reasons. The Crusades end and after 300 years, two major actors appear to fight for the rule of Middle East; Ottoman Empire and Safavid Dynasty of Persian Empire. Many years of fighting makes the Ottoman Empire have the majority of the Middle East lands.

Around 18^th century, the Industrialization movements started in England and quickly spread all over the Europe. Ottoman Empire was far behind in industrial revolution. European countries like England, France, Netherlands and Spain became super powers. The next step was the use of petroleum in industries. All those industrialized countries knew that Middle East had the largest petroleum reserve in the world. England took the first step and helped Arabic people in that region to revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman Empire lost those lands which later forced them to enter the World War I. Ottoman Empire thought that they could gain the lands that was lost to Arabs. The outcome of the World War I proved it wrong. German and Ottoman Empires were defeated and Ottoman Empire had to hand over those lands to England. The petroleum helped European countries advance more and more. Besides England, France, Germany and some other European countries; there were countries around the world like U.S.A and Japan, which were also industrializing rapidly. The increased usage of airplanes, ships and tanks in the World War II made petroleum more and more important. During WWII, Russia and England invaded Iran to make sure that oilfields in that region was safe. And after the World War II ended, the war for more petroleum didn't end. Israeli declared its independence in 1948 which was the start of Israeli-Arab wars. As the U.S.A. and the Netherlands helped Israel in the wars against Arabs, Arabic countries put an embargo on oil exported to the West. 1973 Oil crisis broke out and affected many country's economies. After the 1973 Oil Crisis, the region wasn't calmed down. Iraq-Iran War started in 1980 and continued till 1988. In 1991, it was again the time of the big empires. As Iraq invaded Kuwait, it didn't take long time for U.S.A, U.K. and UN to take action. As we all know the reason for them to come to the Middle East was to stop Iraqi army and help Kuwait; it proved wrong. They wanted to form a stronghold there and have access to Iraqi oil fields freely. The Operation Desert Storm was only the first of the many wars that was going to happen in that region. The 2003 was the year that the U.S.A, U.K. and the UN came back to the region. This time, they didn't leave like they did in the 1991.

In the history, we see that the big empires like Persian, Alexander and Ottoman wanted these lands for many different reasons; fertile lands, religion and petroleum. They controlled this region as they controlled the world at that time. And now it's the U.S.A and the U.K. who control this region as they control the world.