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No when we think of world war we think of

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europe right on one side of the conflict there was

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germany austria hungary the ottoman empire and bulgaria On the

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other side there was great britain france russia and serbia

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remember however that a number of these countries held territory

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in the middle east africa and asia So once these

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european nations started fighting it didn't take long for the

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conflict to move beyond europe to other parts of the

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world One area that saw a lot of action during

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world war one was the middle east While the ottoman

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empire controlled the region it was hemmed into the north

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by russia into the southwest by the british in egypt

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This was a problem for the ottomans See the british

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were very interested in getting a better grip on the

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middle east because of their stake in the suez canal

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which the british used to ship goods from their colonies

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in asia Back to europe So in nineteen sixteen when

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arab nationalism sparked a revolt against the ottoman empire the

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british felt compelled to step in and help a brother

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out Jolly good chums eh Well their contribution to the

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revolt was an army intelligence officer an archaeologist named theodore

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edward lawrence better known as yes lawrence of arabia Oh

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they also contributed money and guns can't forget those Well

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the arabs agreed to ally themselves with the british in

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exchange for independence once world war was over in july

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nineteen seventeen arab forces led by buddha aboot tae i

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advised by lawrence attacked the port of aqaba in jordan

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Not only did the arabs take aqaba but they successfully

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sabotaged infrastructure important to the ottoman empire including a railroad

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that ran from damascus to dina lawrence didn't just service

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an adviser to the arabs He also convinced them that

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the only way to defeat the ottomans was as a

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united force Well in the end it was this force

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and it's british backers that defeated the ottoman empire and

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captured territory that included lebanon and what was then called

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palestine Now let's Take a little hop over to africa

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which as you may recall was almost completely controlled by

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various european powers at the beginning of world war While

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germany had four african colonies including togoland cameroon southwest africa

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and german east africa the rest of the continent was

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claimed by nations that were part of the allied powers

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Well these countries saw the war is a chance not

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only to beat the pants off the germans but take

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over germany's colonies Well in order to accomplish this african

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troops were needed If you're feeling totally act out by

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this well don't worry you're not alone It was heinous

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that the allies would ask the africans they had conquered

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to pretty please back them up in a war that

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africans had no part in starting While many africans hoped

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they would win independence from their european overlords by working

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as soldiers or laborers during the conflict well that didn't

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really pan out did it Nor did the colonies that

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had belonged to germany become independent after the war the

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allies also pulled people from their colonies in asia to

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help out with the war effort while one un colonized

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asian country that through its hat in the ring for

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the allies was japan which declared war on germany within

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days of the conflict starting in europe It wasn't that

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the japanese were altruistic like the allies in africa they

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wanted germany's territories in east asia which included a port

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City in china part of new guinea and a scattering

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of pacific islands well ultimately the japanese and forces from

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new zealand and australia captured the city of sink towel

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as well as other german holdings This was only the

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beginning of japan's conquest of east asia Over the next

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couple of decades the japanese would make serious inroads into

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neighboring nations inciting a conflict that would feed into a

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world war Two So while world war one might be

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famous for the fighting in europe it was called a

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world war for a reason even if the world really 00:03:53.77 --> [endTime] would have preferred to be left alone

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