Why Does Qatar Exist? | House Al-Thani and the British Empire

Why does the tiny and incredibly wealthy State of Qatar exist? The Al-Thani, the royal family of Qatar, have worked to consolidate power in the peninsula for well over a hundred years. Through clever policies and timely alliances (most impactfully with the British Empire), as well as several conflicts with neighbouring Bahrain and other Qatari clans, they built modern Qatar.

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Sources Consulted:
Frohmerz, Allen James. Qatar: A Modern History. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2017.

Miller, Stuart T. Mastering Modern European History. London: Macmillan Education LTD, 1990.

[ah]

Hearing a brit say that they were “protecting” their colonies is probably the most British thing I’ve heard all my life

[mikedrewson]

You should do more videos about why countries exist.

[undolf]

This guy is always asking the questions I didn’t know I had

[samdaman]

Amazing video as always! I would love more videos on explaining why countries exist

[duckbizniz]

The British are masters at manipulating international diplomacy to their advantage. The British with their world class navy were able to exert their influence all over the world. Using the tried and true European strategy of divide and conquer the British enabled a bunch of tribal clans on the Arabian Peninsula to exist. The usefulness of fossil fuel has given these tiny tribal nations a chance to exist to this day. British double dealings seem to have shaped international politics of the Middle East.

[dennisenright]

I just discovered your channel today when the YouTube algorithms brought up one of your older videos. I have already watched a dozen and I just subscribed. Concise and insightful while being entertaining. One question though do you pay attention to comments on older threads? I had posted a question on your video about new York not being a capital.

[CSquared]

I feel like this video could have been summed up to “shell” lol. Very good video though, I had always found it weird that just one small peninsula managed to remain independent of Saudi Arabia.

[snowytm.]

Saudi-Arabians ask themselves this question every day.

[tommyhardarsson]

Look Back History pronuncing Qatar be like, "cutter"

[nopedat]

Why do ordinary Qataris feel a sense of Qatari identity? Surely they should just feel like Arabs who’ve been denied the chance to unite with fellow Arabs by the Al-Thani’s disagreements with other Arab rulers

[micahistory]

very interesting, I never knew the history of this country

[ajney]

Those pictures of the old clans waas dope as hell

[jonathangammond]

The 'protecting' was from other global powers. Obviously the euphemism covered protecting British interests but Qatar, the Trucial coast, Muscat and Oman and Kuwait were never seen in Britain as colonies nor did their Arab rulers ever see their lands as part of any empire, which explains Britain's relationship with these states post indepedence.

[Snp]

Can you please do why Kurdistan doesn't exist? I know basics but a deeper dive be appreciated.

[YourrandomComrade]

Honestly I just watched this video becuase I like learning about the British empire

[revinhatol]

What are the other royal houses of Qatar?

[jalghazi]

greatly informative vid as always ! I think u could go wild with one in a similar vein on any of the Levantine or Mesopotamian states, so much interesting history in the middle east that remains largely glossed over cuz of decades of *insert conflict* and the unshakeable orientalism of a lot of westerners

[jellybomb_]

Where did you get this information from ?

[lucianoosorio]

Arab Money by Busta Rhymes intensifies.

[zayedbinimran]

Very nice
first
Can you do a video on bahrain