There are currently around 15 internationally recognized countries in the Middle East. For many centuries, this region belonged to two Empires, the Persian Empire, which extended from the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea region to the Indus River, and the Turkish-Ottoman Empire, which had a large territory in the western portion. For years, these two empires vied with each other and with European countries for the hegemony of that region. However, with the development of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution, European countries acquired great economic, social and military superiority in relation to all the countries of the globe.
Seeking to obtain raw material, cheap labor and a consumer market to continue its industrial development after the independence of the American countries, Europe began to colonize Africa and Asia, initiating the process that became known as Neocolonization. As a result, the two empires that occupied the area that is now known as the Middle East began to suffer great territorial losses.
To stop European expansion in its territory, the Turkish-Ottoman empire allied with Germany during the First World War. On the other hand, the French and English began to encourage the various Arab tribes that lived in Turkish-Ottoman territory to fight it during the war in exchange for authorization for the constitution of their own states, should they win the war. Therefore, it was common for Europeans to promise the same territory to different peoples.
At the end of the first world conflict, however, instead of allowing the formation of national states as they promised, France and England divided the territory of the Middle East between them, constituting, instead of independent states, several protectorates. Thus, the creation of most of the current Middle Eastern states only occurred through the permission of France and England in the course of the 20th century as a result of the weakening of these great powers and pressure from the United States, which were already the greatest world power at the time and they did not participate in the division of either Africa or Asia.
