Blood and Oil: The Middle East in World War I  (2006)

Theatrical Release Information:
Blood and Oil: The Middle East in World War I

Explore how the First World War and Western political intrigue combined to lay the groundwork for decades of strife in a compelling and informative documentary that dares to venture where few films before it have. With the notable exception of the Dardanelles/Gallipoli campaigns, the majority of large scale military combat operations in the Middle East during World War I have gone largely overlooked in the vast majority of documentaries detailing the era. Now, offering a closer look at the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and taking into consideration the importance of Middle Eastern oil reserves in sustaining the Western economy, Marty Callaghan and company explore how the Treaty of Versailles would open the floodgates for ongoing military conflict and how Western powers have used concerns about Middle Eastern oil reserves as a means of justifying their constant diplomatic, military, and economic interference in the region. With the Ottoman Empire segmented into various "spheres of influence" largely controlled by the British and the French in the aftermath of World War I and little regard paid to cultural, demographic, historical, and religious considerations as the West sponsored the creation of such new nations as Iraq, Palestine, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, Callaghan seeks to show just how Western greed would subsequently ignite a tinderbox of suppressed violence. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide