The Middle East and Europe

During the time between World War I and World War II there were many revolts in the Middle East that were centered around the idea of self-governing (see this Wikipedia article).  The British and French put all of these revolts down, although Egypt did end up becoming an independent nation in 1924.  But, it wasn’t true independence because the British used Cairo during WWII as the base for most its operations in the area, claiming all of their troop presence was legitimate because it needed to protect the Suez Canal.  Most of the revolts were obvious reactions to the hoodwinking British and French who had promised self-governance in return for help during WWI to defeat the Ottomans.  These revolts characterized the Middle Eastern attitude towards the invasion of European control, and it’s clear that the Middle East wasn’t going to succumb without a fight.   The being said, the Middle East didn’t have much success in throwing off the colonial powers because the sheer power Britain and France possessed.  All during the period between the two wars, especially considering the fact that oil was discovered in Persia in 1908, and then in Saudi Arabia in 1938, the colonial powers had their hand economic activity through out the region.  Although many of the states in the region gained independence after WWII, this did not mean they were left completely alone by Europeans.  Oil had clear ramifications for the Europeans because it was so important in maintaining a strong military and economic state.  Oil, much to the dismay of the Middle Eastern people, would keep a foreign hand in the Middle East until the present day.  This combined with the fact that religion has always been a huge dividing factor in the Middle East, has proven to cause more problems than anyone knows how to correct.