![]() In the southern Mediterranean, France's tenacious pursuit of influence in Egypt made both Britain and India, as guardians of the imperial routes to the subcontinent, nervous. On India's north ( Afghanistan) and northwest ( Persia - Iran after 1935 -and the Ottoman Black Sea coastline and its interior), Russia's southward thrust stirred anxiety among Britain's empire builders. ![]() Before the ratification in 1924 of the peace settlement with the Turkish Republic, the Ottoman Empire's lineal successor, the inspiration and rationale for adding each politically identifiable unit, with the arguable exception of Sudan in 1899, had come from the perceived need to defend British India. Most of the territory that composed its Middle East empire from the end of World War I to the end of World War II had once been under Ottoman rule. In a review of Britain's relations with the region before then, and how it rose to the top, this must be kept in mind. The political-geographical concept of the Middle East was coined early in the twentieth century, several decades after Britain entered the region. ![]() In the Middle East, Great Britain is remembered most for its interlude of paramountcy. Britain's engagement in middle east affairs has a long and troubled history.
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