War by Revolution. Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I

230 WARBYREVOLUTION

toconfirmFaysal askingofthecountry.HenceforthArabfrustra-
tionandbitternessled to apatternofwidespreadviolenceinthe
MiddleEast,resultingin heavyBritishlosses-inbothhumanand
financialterms-inEgypt,Iraq,andPalestine."
ThusinthelongtermthewarunderminedBritain'sglobalem-
pire.BritaindependedheavilyontroopsfromitsDominionsand
fromIndia,manyofwhomfoughtintheMiddleEast.Thisdepen-
dencehadmajorcosts.AttheParis PeaceConferencein 1919 were
representativesfromCanada,Australia,SouthAfrica, NewZealand,
andIndia.Herewas afirstinternationallyvisiblesignofoneofthe
keyconsequencesoftheworldwar:thebreakupoftheEuropeanco-
lonialempiresintoindependentpoliticalentities.TheDominions
hadearnedbytheirsharein thefightingtheirautonomyandthe
righttoparticipateatParisontheirown.Britain'spromiseduring
thewarofchangesleadingtodominionstatusforIndiashouldbe
seeninthesamelight.^43
Britain,forcedby itstriumphtofocusmuchofitspostwaratten-
tionandresourcesonpreservingitspositionintheMiddleEastand
elsewherein itsempire,hadbeenweakenedmoreinvictorythan
Germanyindefeat.WorldWar IIacceleratedthedecline. Bythe1970s,
accordingto ElizabethMonroe,"Britain'smomentin theMiddle
East,"whichhadbegunin1914,hadended.«
Germany,incontrast,emergedfromthewarandthepeacesettle-
mentof 1919 relativelystrongereconomicallyanddemographically;
havinglostitsformerpositionintheMiddleEast,itcouldfocuson
rebuildingitspowerathomeandinEurope.Onlytwenty-threeyears
aftertheCentralPowers'defeatinWorldWar I,NaziGermany,in
controlofmostofEurope,directeditsarmiesoperatinginsouthern
RussiaandNorthAfricatoreturntotheMiddleEastto seizethevast
oilsuppliesthere.ForBritaintheSecondWorldWarcompletedwhat
thefirstonehadstartedandtheinterwarperiodconfirmed-itsde-
mise astheworld'spremierpower.