American Involvement in the Middle East



Abstract

In this research we try to discover the insight of “American Involvement in Middle East” in a holistic perspective. The key heart of the study is on “American Involvement in Middle East” and its relation with “World War”. The research also examines various characteristics of “American Involvement in Middle East” and tries to measure its effect. Lastly the research illustrates a variety of factors which are responsible for “American Involvement in Middle East” and tries to describe the overall effect of it.

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion and Analysis1

Prevention of Soveit Union from Gaining Influence in the Arab World2

U.S involvement in Iran since 19453

U.S support of Israel4

U.S Involvement in Egypt5

Egypt, Israel and a Reshaped Middle East6

The Arab Israeli Conflict6

The conflict between Israel and Palestine7

The international attempts to negotiate a comprehensive peace in the Middle East9

Conclusion11

American Involvement in the Middle East

Introduction

Although the Middle East was peripheral to official American interests before World War II, the United States became deeply involved in Middle Eastern affairs in the postwar period, and the nation began to play a highly visible role that persisted throughout the cold war.

Although the U.S. government had very little official interest in the region before 1941, American citizens had long been involved in Middle Eastern affairs. American private involvement during this time period was either humanitarian or economic. Missionaries had been active in the Ottoman and Persian empires since the early 19th century. American missionaries, predominantly Presbyterian, had organized numerous mission schools and even some universities, such as Roberts College in Turkey, the Syrian Protestant College (later to become the American University of Beirut), and the Alburz College of Tehran. After World War I, the vast oil reserves of the Middle East attracted the attention of American oilmen, who tried on numerous occasions to procure oil concessions in the region. The U.S. government often acted to protect American citizens and informally to support American business interests in the Middle East.

Discussion and Analysis

World War II and the rise of the cold war drastically increased the official American role in the region. Soon after its entry into World War II, the United States invaded North Africa with a view toward eliminating the Nazi threat to the Middle East from the west and participated in the Anglo-Russian joint occupation of Iran in the east. After the war, Great Britain, formerly the dominant Western power in the region, saw its presence gradually decline before an increased American role in the Middle East. As Allied wartime cooperation gave way to Soviet-American confrontation in the cold war, the United States became deeply enmeshed in regional politics. The first sign of official American interest was the U.S. role in expelling the Soviets from northern Iran in 1946, one of the scenes of the first cold war conflicts between the Soviet Union and the United States. This was followed by the promulgation of the Truman Doctrine, which provided massive amounts of aid to Greece and Turkey (and also Iran) in order to contain the spread of ...