Sample Essay On History for You

Arguably, the United States acted differently when interacting with the Middle Eastern states compared to the manner in which other European colonial powers interacted with the same states. The current readings offer immense evidence, which support the notions that the United States acted differently during its early involvement in the Middle East. Yilmaz (2014, pg. 9) article “Turkish-American Relations, 1800-1952: Between the Stars, Stripes and the Crescent” offers a critical analysis of how the United States acted differently with the Ottoman Empire. Precisely, the relationships that the United States forged with the Ottoman Empire of the Middle East was quite different from the manner in which the Ottoman Empire interacted with other European Colonial powers. Yilmaz (2014, pg. 10) notes that Russia and other European powers posed as a very serious military and political threat to the Ottomans. This was evident by the fact that the European powers formed entangled alliances that were aimed at dwindling the Ottoman Empire, which was on the verge of shrinking. While this was happening, the United States distanced itself from entangling alliances by the European powers. In fact, the United States president cautioned that the United States should not meddle in European affairs.
Another observation, which showed that the United States acted differently in this case is the fact that American missionaries, investors, and merchants maintained their presence in Ottoman lands (Yilmaz, 2014, pg. 10). As such, the United States established good relations with the Ottoman Empire, which was a force to reckon in the context of the Middle East. Despite the existence of significant evidence that indicated that the Ottoman Empire was on the verge of collapsing, the United States forged good relations with the Empire. The reasons why the United States acted differently remains a mystery. However, the United States reaction may be attributed to the fact that they sought to shape its philanthropic and commercial interests. Evidently, the United States was greatly involved in other parts of the globe such as Africa, and East Asia. However, the strategy that United States used while getting involved with other nations was different. In East Asia and Africa, the United States established itself as an imperial power; hence, it colonized these nations. This was different in the context of the Middle East, especially the Ottoman Empire where the United States was highly diplomatic. The United States did not use any form of colonization tactics during its involvement in the Middle East. This is surprising based on the fact that the Middle East regions, including the Ottoman Empire was a predominantly Islamic region.
In the quest to understand the reasons as to why the United States acted differently during its involvement with the Middle East, various reasons have sufficed. One of the most comprehensive reasons that explains why the United States acted differently is the fact that the Middle East regions, especially the Ottoman Empire presented with vast resources, which were being eyed by various European colonial powers. In fact, the Ottoman Empire was strategic in political, economic, and religious terms. Furthermore, the empire presented as battle ground where European colonial powers settled their rivalries (Salt, “Imperialism, Evangelism and the Ottoman Armenians 1878-1896”). By being highly diplomatic in its involvement with the Ottoman Empire, and the entire Middle East, the United States stood a greater chance of gaining support from the people of the Middle East. Through this, the United States could easily outcompete other European colonial powers who were fighting for a piece of the Middle Eastern states. The United States strategy benefited it in the fact that after the collapse of Ottoman Empire, the states that emerged from it pledged alliance to the United States. As an example, Egypt; a state that was created from the Ottoman Empire showed massive support for the United States. This is evident in the article “President Wilson arrives in Cairo,” which notes that nationalist leaders drawn from the Egyptian legislature composed fascinating messages welcoming the United States President; Wilson to their country (Manela, “President Wilson Arrives in Cairo,” pg. 71). Spellberg (pg. 1) further notes that America’s president; Jefferson had the belief that Muslims would constitute as American citizens even at a time when a significant proportion of American citizens were afraid of Islam.
In conclusions, the current readings offer critical observations on the manner in which the United States acted different during its involvement with the Middle East. If this was a strategy to outdo European colonial powers who were fighting to control the Middle East, then the strategy worked as the United States benefited immensely from the relations that it established in the Middle East.

Work Cited

Manela. President Wilson Arrives in Cairo. The Internationalization of Nationalism, 62-249. Print.
Salt, Jeremy. “Imperialism, Evangelism and the Ottoman Armenians 1878-1896.” Part One: The Religious Question, 9-163. Print.
Spellberg, Denise. Imagining Muslims as Citizen at the Founding of the United States. Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an (2013): 1-302. Print.
Yilmaz, Suhnaz. Turkish-American Relations, 1800-1952: Between the Stars, Stripes and the Crescent. The Long Prelude, (2014): 9-18. Print.