Test Your Knowledge of the Middle East's Fascinating History

A Brief History of the Middle East

• The Middle East, also known as the Near East, is home to one of the Cradles of Civilization and has seen many of the world's oldest cultures and civilizations.

• The region's history started from the earliest human settlements and continues through several major pre- and post-Islamic Empires to today's nation-states.

• The Sumerians became the first people to develop complex systems that were to be called "civilization" as far back as the 5th millennium BC.

• Mesopotamia was home to several powerful empires that came to rule almost all of Middle East, particularly the Assyrian Empires of 1365–1076 BC and the Neo-Assyrian Empire of 911–609 BC.

• From the 7th century, a new power was rising in the Middle East, that of Islam.

• Large parts of the Middle East became a warground between the Ottomans and the Iranian Safavid dynasty for centuries, starting in the early 16th century.

• The British Empire also established effective control of the Persian Gulf, and the French colonial empire extended its influence into Lebanon and Syria.

• A turning point in the region's history came when oil was discovered, first in Persia in 1908 and later in Saudi Arabia (in 1938) and the other Persian Gulf states, and also in Libya and Algeria.

• The Arab–Israeli conflict in Palestine culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine.

• The departure of the European powers from direct control of the region, the establishment of Israel, and the increasing importance of the petroleum industry, marked the creation of the modern Middle East.

• The wealthiest economies in the region per capita are the small oil-rich countries of Persian Gulf: Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

• Starting in the early 2010s, a revolutionary wave that is popularly known as the Arab Spring brought major protests, uprisings, and revolutions to several Middle Eastern and Maghreb countries.A Brief History of the Middle East

• The Middle East has been shaped by various empires, including the Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic empires.

• Christianity took hold in the region from the 1st century AD onwards, and the Middle East became a center of a flourishing Syriac–Assyrian literary tradition.

• Islam jump-started Middle Eastern culture, inspiring achievements in architecture, the revival of old advances in science and technology, and the formation of a distinct way of life.

• The Arab Empire was the first empire to control the entire Middle East, as well three-quarters of the Mediterranean region.

• The Seljuq Empire dominated the region after the Arabs, and in the 11th century, the Seljuq Turks conquered Persia, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and the Hejaz.

• The Christian Byzantine Empire continued to be a potent military and economic force in the Mediterranean, preventing Arab expansion into much of Europe.

• In 1095, Pope Urban II summoned the European aristocracy to recapture the Holy Land for Christianity, leading to the First Crusade.

• Mongol rule began in the region in 1258, with the conquest of Baghdad and the death of the caliph, leading to the fragmentation of the empire in 1260.

• Hulegu carved out his Middle Eastern territory into the independent Ilkhanate, which included most of Armenia, Anatolia, Azerbaijan, Mesopotamia, and Iran.

• The Middle East was further plagued by the Turko-Mongol, Timur, and his ferocious raids in 1401.

• The Ottoman Empire dominated the region from the 16th century until the end of World War I, when it was dissolved and the modern Middle East emerged.

• The modern Middle East has been shaped by various events, including the creation of Israel, the Arab-Israeli conflicts, and the rise of extremist groups such as ISIS.A Brief History of the Middle East: From Medieval Times to Modern States

• The Ottomans arose in western Anatolia in the 15th century and conquered the Middle East by 1566, unifying the region under the Ottoman Empire.

• The Ottomans ruled the Middle East for 400 years, despite brief intermissions caused by the Iranian Safavids and Afsharids.

• The Ottomans lost territory to Europe in the Great Divergence, and Greece, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria achieved independence during the 19th century, leading to the Ottoman Empire being known as the "sick man of Europe."

• Middle Eastern rulers tried to modernize their states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, leading to the Tanzimat reforms and the Young Turks' movement.

• The Young Turks seized power in the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and established the Second Constitutional Era, leading to a pluralist and multiparty elections in the Empire for the first time in 1908.

• Turkey became independent in 1923 under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who abolished the caliphate, emancipated women, enforced western dress, and abolished the jurisdiction of the Islamic courts.

• Oil was discovered in the Middle East in 1908, leading to the region possessing the world's largest untapped reserves of crude oil, which the oil states exported to the west, giving them immense wealth and power.

• Enver Pasha's alliance with Germany led the Ottoman Empire to join World War I against Britain and France, which led to the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule and the British and French re-arranging the Middle East to suit themselves.

• Syria became a French protectorate, Iraq and Palestine became British mandated territories, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was created.

• In the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine, the Jewish leaders accepted it, but the Arab leaders rejected this plan, leading to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the creation of the "Palestinian problem."

• The modern Middle East was shaped by the departure of European powers, the founding of Israel, and the growing importance of the oil industry, leading to increased U.S. involvement in the region.

• The United States became the dominant force in the oil industry after the 1950s and the ultimate guarantor of the region's stability, leading to revolutions that brought radical anti-Western regimes to power in Egypt (1954), Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries.A Brief History of the Middle East

• The Soviet Union allied with Arab socialist rulers to open a new arena of the Cold War in the Middle East.

• The Six-Day War of 1967 marked a turning point when fundamental and militant Islam began to fill the political vacuum created by the failure of Arab socialism.

• The United States defended its remaining allies in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, and the Persian Gulf emirates.

• The list of Arab-Israeli wars includes major and minor conflicts, such as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the 1982 Lebanon War.

• The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar took power in both Iraq and Syria in the mid-to-late 1960s.

• Egypt under Anwar Sadat concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, ending the prospects of a united Arab military front.

• The Palestinians, led by Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, resorted to a campaign of violence against Israel and against American, Jewish, and western targets generally.

• The Iran-Iraq War between neighbouring Iran and Iraq started by Iraq, eventually turned into a stalemate with hundreds of thousands of dead on both sides.

• The fall of the Soviet Union weakened the anti-western Arab regimes, left authoritarian state socialism stranded, and discredited secular Arab radicalism.

• The Gulf War led to a permanent U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf, offending many Muslims and a reason often cited by Osama bin Laden as justification for the September 11 attacks.

• The failures of most of the Arab governments and the bankruptcy of secular Arab radicalism led a section of educated Arabs to embrace Islamism.

• The September 11 attacks led the George W. Bush administration to invade Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, which marked a turning point in the history of the region.