Middle East
Ancient Empires of Fertile Crescent
Sumerians
Located in Mesopotamia (Iraq, Kuwait, etc..) 3000 BC Fertile Crescent: Land between Tigris and Euphrates Cuneiform: Sumerian Writing, Arch, Ziggurats (Temples), First to use Wheel Polytheistic: Numerous Gods
Akkadians
2300 BC, conquered the Sumerians Sargon: Powerful King
Babylonians
2000 BC: Invaded the area. Babylon: Main City Hammurabi: King, wrote the Code of Hammurabi, a set of 282 laws (many are
still used today)…eye for an eye
Ancient Empires of the Fertile Crescent
Assyrians
Powerful from 900 BC-650 BC
First Large Empire: King Ruled All, Governors Report to King
Nineveh: Main city (walled)
Epic of Gilgamesh: Story of the Kings
Fell apart due to Civil War Chaldeans
605 BC-562 BC Nebuchadnezzar: King, rebuilt Babylon Made the city and empire very powerful Fell apart after Nebuchadnezzar’s death
Ancient Empires of the Fertile Crescent
Persians Conquered area in 539 BC Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes: Kings that expanded the Persian
Empire into the largest empire ever (at that time) Treated conquered people well, led to more loyalty Eventually lost out to the Greeks
Ancient Empires: Sea People
• Phoenicians• Today: Lebanon, Israel, Syria• Used the Mediterranean Sea to
trade. Peak of power around 1000 BC
• Dyes (Purple), glass, lumber, etc• Phoenician Alphabet: Became
the model for the Alphabets used throughout Europe (due to trade)
• Lydians• First people to use a money
economy (gold and silver nuggets)
• Before everything was off of a barter (trade) economy
Origins of Judaism Beginnings
Canaan: Small strip of land occupied by many different groups of people. Today this area is Israel.
Hebrews: Ancestors of Today’s Jews…claimed Canaan as their holy land.
Abraham: Founder of the Hebrew people Jacob: Abraham’s grandson…who Jew’s trace heritage through Exodus: Hebrew’s left Canaan and went to Egypt. Peaceful at
first, were made slaves later on (starting in 1200 BC..400 yrs) Moses: Led the Hebrews out of Egypt (Exodus)
Judaism Creation of Israel
Yahweh: Name for Hebrew God Ten Commandments: Covenant (agreement) between
Moses and Yahweh. Follow the 10 moral laws and you will get promised land.
Saul: First king to unite all 12 tribes…called it Israel David: Occupied Jerusalem (capital and religious center) Solomon: David’s son..helped Israel reach its peak of power
and wealth After Solomon’s death….kingdom split in two (900 BC)…
Israel and Judah. Conquered by Chaldeans and Persians
Judaism
Religious Beliefs
Torah: First 5 books of Old Testament
Eventually believed that Yahweh lived in hearts of worshipers. And viewed Yahweh as a spiritual force.
Monotheistic: Only one God.
Different than Christianity: Jew’s don’t believe Jesus was the messiah (son of God).
Islam
• Arabia Peninsula• Full of traders and different groups of people• This area was the birthplace of Islam
• Islam• Muhammad: Trader who became the founder of
Islam. 570 AD. • Mecca: City where Islam was founded• Muslims: Name given to the worshippers of Islam• Quran: Holy Book• Jihad: Holy War• Mosques: Places of worship
Islam Beginnings How Islam got started…
Muhammad had a dream…decided to create a new religion. Began to unsuccessfully convert many businesspeople in
Mecca. Hijrah: Muhammad and his followers moved out of Mecca to
a neighboring city (Medina). 622 AD Returned to Mecca in 630 AD and destroyed the Kaaba
(Shrine to all the idols). Made that area the center of Islam. Division: Sunni, Shiah, Sufi Sunni: majority of Muslims 80% believe that Abu Bakr should
be the political and religious leader after Muhammad’s death Shiah (Shiite): make up the minority of Muslims today and
they believed that Muhammad’s son in law, Ali, should be the successor
Islam’s Growth Expansion of Islam
Abu Bakr and Umar became the next caliphs (successor) Sunni’s won.
Within 100 years, Islam had spread all throughout the Middle East, Northern Africa and part of Northern India.
Berbers: People who converted from Northern Africa. Pushed Islam into Spain. (712 AD)
Moors: Muslims that lived in and ruled Spain. Ruled parts of Spain form more than 700 years.
Turks: Group of people from central Asia that began to conquer parts of the Middle East. Many converted to Islam
Sultan: Political Leader of the Turks. Worked with Caliph
Islamic Daily Life
• Lifestyle• Living by the Quran is very important.
• Science/Arts• Al-Razi: Created first hospital• Ibn Sina: Wrote the first medical encyclopedia
(Cannon of Medicine). • Astrolabe: Use the stars to find directions• Algebra: Origins began in the Muslim world• Calligraphy: Art of fine handwriting..(no people
depicted)• Thousand and One Nights: Short stories (Aladdin,
etc)
Ottoman Empire
Beginnings
Osman: Leader of a group of people that were trying to escape the Mongols, originally from present day Turkey.
Ottoman Empire was in conflict with the neighboring Byzantine Empire
Sultans: Political leader of the Ottomans Much early conflict about who should be in charge and who
should control what land. Some members of the Ottoman Empire were not very loyal
Ottoman Empire
Expansion
Mehmed II: Became Sultan, captured Constantinople in 1453.
Suleyman: Greatest Sultan (1520-1566). Nicknamed the “magnificent” or “lawgiver”. Expanded the Ottoman Empire all the way into Austria.
At the peak of expansion, Ottomans controlled Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa.
All sorts of different people lived under the Ottoman Empire (Christians, Jews, Turks, Muslims, etc)
Ottoman Empire Decline
After Suleyman’s death, Ottomans were defeated by European Armies
Government lost control of the spice and silk trade that used to go through the area.
Lost control of North Africa to France (1798) Revolts were common throughout much of the 1800s Treaty of San Stefano: Turks had to give independence to
Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro. Lasted until 1923 when the Empire fell and became the
Republic of Turkey.
Persia
Persia
Never apart of the Ottoman Empire
Great Britain and USSR started to show great interest around 1900 (oil????)
Reza Shah
Took control of government in 1921
Modernized area, just like Kemal in Turkey
Renamed the country Iran
Ran a very strict government, put down all opposition
Iran Iran
Post WWII, GB and USSR occupied Iran. USSR eventually was forced to leave Iran, GB remained.
GB controlled most of the oil companies in Iran, really made the people of Iran mad.
Mohammad Mosaddeq Became Iran’s first prime minister (1951) Wanted a constitution and to get rid of outside influence Limited the power of Shah (monarchy) and nationalized the oil
industry (took charge of it) Response
GB organized a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil USA did not want Mosaddeq siding with USSR, helped organize a
military coup in 1953. Restored power of Reza Pahlavi. Pahlavi: Modernized and ran Iran as a dictatorship
Iranian Revolution Iran
Most powerful Middle East country after GB left in 1971.
USA and others hoped the Shah would continue to lead Iran as a powerful ally to the West.
Problems
Socialist and Islamic fundamentalists in Iran did not like to close relationship with the West.
Economic troubles of the 1970s caused people to become poor and more upset.
The Shah tried to use violence to stop the protests.
Iranian Revolution Ayatollah Khomeini
Leader of the conservative Islamic movement, opposed the Shah. Been exiled by the Shah since 1964. Returned in 1979 when the Shah was forced out of Iran by the people. Made Iran into a Islamic Republic
Iranian Hostage Situation Islamic militants stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 60 Americans hostage.
Held them for 444 days. (ARGO) Bad relationship with USA since
War with Iraq Iraq under Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980. Wanted control of a waterway to Persian Gulf. Bloody War ended in 1988 with no real clear winner
Today USA and Iran don’t have great relations…mostly due to Israel and threat of nuclear
weapons
Israel
Balfour Declaration
Pledge to secure a Jewish Homeland Ignored by Great Britain in 1939
Problem
Hundreds of thousand Jewish European refugees were looking for a place to live (Holocaust)
Palestine: Arab country in the Middle East…located where Israel was and is today.
Zionist: Jews that wanted a homeland; began to use violence against Great Britain
Israel United Nations
Decided to divide Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.
Arabs unanimously rejected this; Jews accepted it and Israel was recreated in 1948.
Conflict
Once British troops left Israel, armies from neighboring Arab countries moved to attack Israel.
Israel won (US help) and gained more land in the process
Over a million Palestinians had lost their land and were refugees…basically they had nowhere to go.
Middle East Political and Social Change
Post WWII Middle East
Most Middle Eastern States became independent under more traditional, upper class rulers (handpicked by GB)
Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia all became Arab Kingdoms Syria and Lebanon were ruled by wealthy elite ruling class
Socialist Reforms
Old Way: Wealthy landowners lived in city while poor tenants farmed the land
Egypt changed this: Government took control of most industries and business. Government also began controlling working conditions, minimum wage, education, etc
Ba’ath Party: Embraced these changes, spread throughout Middle East. (Iraq, Lebanon, Syria)
Pan-Arabism: Middle Eastern countries uniting together; not overly successful…too much fear of Egypt’s dominance
Egypt Independence
Gamal Nasser: Political leader that won Egypt’s independence from GB Nasser wanted to modernize Egypt (like Turkey)..played both the USA
and USSR for money. Suez Canal: Connected Mediterranean Sea to Red Sea. Critical to
shipping…why both countries cared. Suez Crisis
Weapons agreement with USSR…US responded by funding a project to create a giant dam on the Nile
Nasser hesitated, finally went with the US offer but the offer no longer existed.
Nasser became mad; nationalized the Suez Canal…this made him a hero amongst the Arab world because he stood up to the Europeans/Americans.
GB, France and Israel felt threatened by Egypt taking control of the canal (no Israeli ships allowed)
Egypt Conflict
Israel, GB, France wanted to overthrow Nasser.
Israel declared war and advanced into Egypt. GB and France joined the fight against Egypt.
USA did not like what GB was doing b/c it feared the USSR would get involved on the side of Egypt. GB decided to stop.
Results Egypt and Israel continued to make each other mad over shipping
and other issues
Nasser became the dominant leader in the Arab world…someone had finally stood up to European Imperialism
Six-Day’s War Start
Syria and Jordan were mad at Israel, asked Egypt to help. Egypt demanded the UN troops leave Egypt/Israel border and they
blocked Israel’s direct route to sea Six Day’s War
Realizing that they were at danger, Israel launched a attack In 6 days, Israel captured Golan Heights from Syria, West Bank of
Jordan River from Jordan and East Jerusalem. Results
Many Palestinians began to lose faith in Arab ability to fight against Israel and recapture their lost land, Palestine.
PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization): Guerilla fighters, led by Yasir Arafat….group of Palestinians fighting to regain lost land
Post Six Day’s War
• USA/USSR• Both countries wanted a peace in the Middle East
• Egypt• Anwar Sadat replaced Nasser after his death. • Egypt and Syria secretly planned a war against
Israel in 1973 (starting on the Jewish Holiday of Yon Kippur)
• Yon Kippur War• Egypt had caught Israel by surprise.• Golda Meir: Israeli Prime Minister• Eventually Israeli troops pushed Egyptians back
across the Suez Canal.
Lasting Peace??
• Egyptian/Israeli Peace Negotiations • November of 1977, Sadat went to Israel to talk
peace with new Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
• Camp David Accords• Negotiated by US President Jimmy Carter in Sept
1978• Sadat and Begin agreed on a framework for peace
• Continued Problems• Sadat was assassinated in 1981• Palestinians felt like Egypt and the rest of the
Arab world had sold them out.
Israel/Palestine Problems Israel/Palestine Problems
Palestinians began to attack Israel more Israel continued to resist a Palestinian State and invaded Lebanon
in 1982 (home to the PLO) Caused much suffering; which only strengthened the PLO
Intifada
Violent uprising by Palestinians living in the restricted areas towards Israeli’s in those areas. Began in 1987
Israel responded with violence towards the protestors, which caused debate. Some Israel’s thought that the Palestinians should be able to control the lands they lived in, others did not.
Israel/Palestine Problems• Yitzhak Rabin
• Elected Prime Minister in 1992• Peace Attempts
• Rabin and Arafat met to discuss peace• Settled on allowing Palestinians to self govern
themselves in the West Bank and Gaza Strip• Extremists on both sides fought this peace
agreement, eventually Rabin was assassinated• Ariel Sharon: Elected Prime Minister of Israel in
2001, noted for being anti-Palestinian• Today: Attempts at peace between Hamas (violent
Palestinians), Israel and Palestinian Authority have slowed
Middle East Oil• Discovery
• Oil was discovered by US and GB prospectors in the early 1900s.
• Important because of the increase in machines, ships, cars, etc
• Post WWII• Many countries and rules became very wealthy off of oil
money.• Many countries wanted to nationalize oil production,
meaning they would control more of it, not foreign countries.
• OPEC• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries• Arab countries worked together to control oil production
and price• 1973: Decided to cut off supplies to USA for helping Israel
in wars against Arab countries• Result: Gas shortages and quadrupled price of oil per
barrel
Syria
Syria
General Hafiz Assad took power in 1970 Began to help the Palestinians and took a powerful position in
the Arab world. Against Iraq in Persian Gulf Wars
Bashar Al-Assad
Syrian President today. Terrible Civil War USA and Russia have been trying to get a peace
Syrian Civil War Started in 2011 under Assad
Very strict and oppressive. Teens were arrested for writing political graffiti and violence in protest against this led to dozens of people killed after security forces cracked down on the demonstrators
Protests continued against the government’s restricting rule. Assad abolished the right for people to peacefully protest. The US sanctioned them.
Evidence pointed to government use of chemical weapons on the Syrian civilians.
More than 100,000 Syrians have been killed
Nearly 7 million people displaced
Till no resolution, the fighting continues
Iraq
Saddam Hussein
Took complete control of government in 1979
Used chemical weapons against the Kurds, people who lived in Northern Iraq and wanted freedom.
Post Iran/Iraq War
Iraq had the most powerful army among Arab countries
Also had a ton of debt
Iraq invaded oil rich Kuwait to get more production of oil in 1990.
Iraq Operation Desert Storm
About 30 countries, led by the USA were against Iraq invading Kuwait.
After Iraq ignored demands to leave Kuwait. US forces were quickly able to get Iraq out of Kuwait but did not
force Saddam Hussein to step down.
Post September 11th
Iraq was accused of having weapons of mass destruction US invaded Iraq in March of 2003….able to gain control of country
in 21 days. Saddam was captured and eventually executed on Dec 30, 2006. US withdrawal from Iraq began in 2009 and complete in 2011.