Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Nationalism in the Middle East is a unique case. It dominated politics for much of the 20th century, but by the end of the millennium, it had lost popular support in the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran. What went wrong? In short, nationalism, borrowed from Europe, was applied to the region without adapting to local realities. This clashed with deeply rooted societal norms. For a movement claiming to defend the people, it often sidelined their way of life and well-being. The most prevalent conflict between nationalist ideology and Middle Eastern society was over the role of religion. Recall that in Europe, nationalism arose when religious institutions had fallen out of relevance, but this change never occurred in the Middle East. Replacing Islam’s role in society was impossible, and reconciling it to secular nation-state ideology proved difficult. In some cases, nationalists were replaced by Islamists via elections (Turkey), civil disobedience (Iran) or armed insurrection (Syria).
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Images Used:
Music Used:
Doug Maxwell - Arabian Nightfall (Sting):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bRzD...
If any of the images or songs are yours, please let me know I will amend them. Please don't report me straight away!
0:00 Intro to Nationalism
4:01 Turks establish Türkiye
16:51 Arabs without the Ottomans
28:16 Persia becomes Iran
39:13 What went wrong?
Nationalism in the Middle East is a unique case. It dominated politics for much of the 20th century, but by the end of the millennium, it had lost popular support in the Arab world, Turkey, and Iran. What went wrong? In short, nationalism, borrowed from Europe, was applied to the region without adapting to local realities. This clashed with deeply rooted societal norms. For a movement claiming to defend the people, it often sidelined their way of life and well-being. The most prevalent conflict between nationalist ideology and Middle Eastern society was over the role of religion. Recall that in Europe, nationalism arose when religious institutions had fallen out of relevance, but this change never occurred in the Middle East. Replacing Islam’s role in society was impossible, and reconciling it to secular nation-state ideology proved difficult. In some cases, nationalists were replaced by Islamists via elections (Turkey), civil disobedience (Iran) or armed insurrection (Syria).
FREE NEWSLETTER:
https://mailchi.mp/a69f93be6c66/hikma-history-newsletter
- Become a Patron for as little as a dollar a month to vote on upcoming and keep the movement going!
patreon.com/user?u=12397811
Massive thank you to our Patreons:
Elman
TheBactrianGambler
Preston P
Adam
Mohammad
Areeb
Awais
Omar
Farid
Ibrahim
Ari
Joshua
Haseeb
Nahid
Amir
Mahmoud
Joel
CoreBard
- Join our social media community:
Twitter:
twitter.com/HikmaHistory
Instagram:
instagram.com/hikmahistory
Facebook:
facebook.com/HikmaHistory
Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hikma...
#nationalism #middleeasthistory #iran
Images Used:
Music Used:
Doug Maxwell - Arabian Nightfall (Sting):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bRzD...
If any of the images or songs are yours, please let me know I will amend them. Please don't report me straight away!
0:00 Intro to Nationalism
4:01 Turks establish Türkiye
16:51 Arabs without the Ottomans
28:16 Persia becomes Iran
39:13 What went wrong?
