Arab nationalism is defined as the idea that Arabs constitute a single distinctive nation united by a history and common language of Arabic. It is the quest for a national identity and struggle for political power in the Fertile Cresent.Arab nationalism is a fairly new concept; its only about one hundred years old. It did not really develop until after world war one. It is basically he result of three major influenced:1.)The breakup of the Ottoman Empire after world war one and the emergence of modern states that no longer shared a common religiously rooted ideology that was Islamic based and religiously sociopolitical order.2.)The intensified struggle for independence from political and religiocultural dominance of European imperialism.3.)The ideological movement of Jamal Al-Deen Al Afghani disciples, Muhamed Abduh and Rashid Rida.In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were profound changes in the Ottoman system and a serious decentralization of power. With the end of the Ottoman expansion, the state of insututions lost their administrative and military capacities. The empire was plagues with popular revolts, economic regression and in the end military defeats. Many political changes came. The Ottoman Empire was becoming weak, it was the perfect time for its downfall.Before the downfall of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottomans had ruled the Fertile Crescent as a number of separate small provinces. There were no units of territorial government corrersponding to the Ottoman sub-states in Egypt, Tunisia or Algeria. The principal cities of the region, such as Damascus, Aleppo, Mosul, and Baghdad were the main centers of government. Rural districts were often self-governing.World war one was a good opportunity for the Arabs to gain freedom from the Ottoman Empire. Leading the Struggle towards independence of the Arabs from Ottoman rule was Sharif Hussein. Hussein was the Turkish appointed governor of the Hijaz province o...
