Question

Using information you have learned in the lesson as well as evidence from the documents in the assignment, write one to two paragraphs in response to this prompt:

Why was Great Britain determined to exercise imperialism in the Middle East?

Answer 1

Great Britain pursued imperialism in the Middle East primarily for strategic and economic reasons. The region sat astride the sea and land routes to India — Britain’s “jewel” — and the opening of the Suez Canal (completed 1869; British control consolidated after 1882) made direct control of those routes vital to imperial communications and trade. By the early 20th century the discovery and growing military importance of oil (Anglo-Persian Oil Company, 1908, and Britain’s stake in it by 1914) added a new economic and strategic incentive: secure access to fuel for the navy and modern industry. Control of ports, coaling stations, and protectorates (e.g., Kuwait 1899, bases in Aden and Cyprus) let Britain protect shipping lanes and project power.

Political and diplomatic competition and wartime developments reinforced these aims. Rivalries with France and Russia and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I pushed Britain to convert influence into formal control through agreements and mandates (the 1916 Sykes–Picot understandings, the postwar mandates in Iraq and Palestine). Promises such as the Balfour Declaration also reflected Britain’s desire to shape the region’s future in ways that secured its interests. Together, these strategic, economic, and geopolitical pressures explain why Britain used protectorates, mandates, treaties, investment, and, when necessary, military force to extend imperial control across the Middle East.

If you want, I can add specific quotations or citations from the assignment documents to support each point.