The Origins, Success, and Failure of Arab Nationalism in the Interwar Period

Running head: HISTORY ESSAY
The Origins, Success, and Failure of Arab Nationalism in the Interwar Period
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1HISTORY ESSAY
Introduction
Introduction
Interwar period, in the context of modern history, refers to the time between the end of
the World War I in November 1918 and the start of the World War II in September 19391.
Despite being a short period, this era brought significant changes in many aspects, such as,
politics, economics and social life across the world. It gave rise to the petroleum associated
mechanisms, economic prosperity for middle income group people and many more technological
and social advancements, resulting in Golden or Roaring Twenties, and with over indulgence,
this era gave way for the Great Depression, damaging many large economies of the world2. One
of the most important events of the interwar period is the independence of Egypt and Iraq in the
Middle East and the rise of Arab Nationalism.
Arab Nationalism refers to the ideology, which asserts that the Arabs constitute a united
nation. This ideology represents a belief that says Arabs are a single nation and celebrates the
glories of Arab culture, history, literature, arts along with political unity of all the countries3. The
main purpose of this concept was to end the influence of the Western influence in the Arabian
world, which is considered as a nemesis of the Arab strength and culture. Hence, the
governments, which were dependent on the Western power, were removed by the Arab armies,
as in case of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century4. However, this ideology
of a single nationalism experienced success as well as failure during the interwar period due to
many factors. This essay will discuss the rise, success and failure of the Arab Nationalism during
the interwar period.

2HISTORY ESSAY
Discussion
The origin of the Arab nationalism can be traced back to period before and during the
World War I when the Arab nationals of the Ottoman Empire started to revolt against the
government. A sense of loyalty towards the Arab Fatherland was developed, which condemned
the Ottoman Turks for betrayal towards Islam and Arab Fatherland for the West that followed
Christianity5. The rich history and strong cultural heritage of the Middle East worked as a
fundamental principle for the Arab patriots. The Ottomans deviated from the true Islamic values
while reforming and attempted to borrow the western culture and practices, which the Arab
patriots considered as corrupt. The desire for reviving the Islam influenced the Arab patriots in
those regions, that is, Egypt and Levant and within the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire’s
entry into the First World War in November 1914 provided the final spark for outright revolt. All
of these led to a great rebellion against the Ottoman Turks6.
In the beginning of the 20th century, the modern Arab Nationalism emerged when groups
of Arabic speaking Muslims were influenced by the Islamic modernism and revive of the
eminent Egyptian scholar, Muhammad Abduh. He showed that while Europe advanced by
adopting the modernism of Islam, the Muslims failed as they abandoned and corrupted the ideas
of true Islam7. Arab Nationalism focused on reviving the glory of the past. With more Arab
nationalist parties emerging since 1911, the movements against the Ottomans started during the
First World War. As stated by Dawisha (2016), the concept of ‘Arab nation’ only became
pertinent after the World War I and the Arab nationalism eventually took the form of a political
movement. It was seen that education played a crucial role in raising the political awareness
among the mass, glorifying the Arabian past and history, and inflicting the nationalist spirit

3HISTORY ESSAY
among the young Arab generations. Intellectuals, and not the politicians, led the movement, who
borrowed the idea of nationalism from Europe and used in Arab to bring revolution8.
Geogre Antonius highlighted that in the 19th century, a concept of national identity was
started to develop among the Arabic speaking population in the Ottoman Empire and in World
War I, and this led to a full-fledged revolutionary movement. On the other hand, Adeed Dawisha
contradicted to this conventional view and pointed out that the Arab revolt was declared in the
name of Islam, that is, religion and not for Arab nationalism. He stated that religious identity was
more important for the revolt than the national identity. Hence, Arab Revolt should not be
considered as a part of the Arab nationalism9.
The religious sentiment, nationalist spirit and the urge to break free from the British
colonialism had helped the movement to gain success during the interwar period. The Iraqi revolt
in 1920 against the British rule was a success for the Arab patriots. The revolt in Syria in 1925
against the French rule was another milestone towards the Syrian independence. Egypt also
revolted against the British under the leadership of Nasser after the World War I and earned
independence in 1922. However, the historians state that Egypt revolution was backed by
Egyptian nationalism, rather than Arab nationalism10. These events provided the boost to the
Arab nationalist movements. The movements and parties grew in huge numbers in almost all the
Arab countries, like Syria, Kuwait, Iraq and Palestine in the 1930s and solidarity among
governments developed. Arab Independence Party was established by the Iraqi and Palestinian
activists in 1932 for Arab unity and solidarity. In 1933, League of Nationalist Action (LNA) was
established to reduce customs barrier among the Arab countries and establish a common market
for the Arab nations. However, the LNA lost its foothold in the 1940s, around the World War
II11. Developments of many activist parties and many issues regarding the solidarity of the Arab