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Period: 750 to 1258
Abbasid Dynasty overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate; Baghdad becomes new capital
During this time, the Abbasids were in conflict with the Umayyads. Once the Abbasids conquered the Umayyads, they converted the Arab empire into a Muslim Empire. The Abbasids relocated the capital of their empire from Syria to Iraq, where the formed the capital of Baghdad. Over the five centuries they ruled, including development of trade due to unifying the Eastern world. Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ8cDBya3aI (Start-1:57) -
1258
The Crusades: Two Centuries of Holy War
During this Crusade, the Christians from western Europe attacked the Middle East eight different times. The focus of these European crusades was to remove Jerusalem from Muslim rule. During the first crusade, while the Muslim and Jewish defenders were protecting Jerusalem, they were massacred by the Europeans. Today, citizens of the Middle East do not favor the Europe or the Western world due to what they did to their ancestors. -
1258
Mongols invade the Middle East, ending the reign of the Abbasid Caliphate
Mongols were nomads from Central/North Asia. The Mongols did not originally plan to attack the Muslim world under Genghis Khan. But that changed when Hulagu Khan was put into power. Hulagu’s goal was to destory Islam due to a deep hatred for Islamic ways. While they did not truly destroy Islam, they affected the Islamic political, economic, and military systems. They also destroyed any type of agriculture the Islamic people had created. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-VaQDX-zgs (1:30-2:30) -
Oil discovered in Iran
William Knox D’arcy was the main person behind the discovery of oil. He received from the government of Iran a 60 year concession to discover oil. In 1908, oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Masjed-e Soleyman. Due to this discovery, in 1914, the British navy was able to convert coal to oil and use it as fuel. -
World War I began, Ottoman empire allies with Germany
Throughout this war, many of the Arabic people supported the Ottoman empire and the cause it represented. They were able to do this by signing the Truco-German Alliance in August of 1914. There were two main factors that helped the Ottoman decide to ally with Germany. One was that the Germans put a lot of pressure on the Ottoman empire to ally with them and that the Germans were winning the War. -
Afghanistan declares its independence from Great Britain by signing the Treaty of Rawalpindi
The Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed August 19th, 1919 and declared that Afghanistan would no longer be controlled by the British after three wars. Although Britain was in control of Afghanistan's foreign policy for 40 years after the end of the second Anglo-Afghan War, Afghanistan was never truly part of the British Empire. This happened after the Afghan King Emir Habibullah Khan was murdered near Jalalabad and his son, Amanullah Khan, took over the throne and he attacked British troops in India -
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia founded
The establishment of the Saudi Arabia kingdom began on September 23rd, 1932, when the dual kingdoms of Hejaz and Najd were unified. The immediate effect was to unify these kingdoms and to prevent the Hejaz from seperating from the two kingdoms. No power was removed from the king as the absolute monarch of the new regime. -
World War II begins
The main reason the Middle East played such a huge role in WWII was that the U.S. government did not want it to fall under Nazi rule. This is due to the fact that if it did, the Japanese and the Nazis would be able to link with each other, which would make it nearly impossible for the U.S. to send supplies to Russia. Germany would also be able to reach the Middle East’s oil reserves. -
British forces overthrow Iraqi government and install pro-British leaders
During WWII, Winston Churchill made his commander in chief General Sir Archibald Wavell to march on Baghdad. The reason Churchill ordered this was to cut off support for Rashid Ali el Gailani, who was very anti-British and threatened their interest. Churchill also believed that this would decrease the rates of terrorism by the Islamic cleric. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spRPrkdLJNA -
World War II ends; the League of Arab States founded
The League of Arab States was formed in Cairo and includes 22 countries. The group that makes most of the decisions is the League Council. The mission of this organization is to “improve coordination among its members on matters of common interest.” This league establishes cooperation on the topics of economics, communication, culture, nationality, social welfare, and health. -
UN proposes to divide Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state
The UN decided to have Palestine partitioned between the Arabic and Jewish people of the Middle East, which formed the Jewish state of Israel. This plan arranged Palestine into three Jewish sections, four Arabic sections, and the city of Jerusalem and was supported in the Western nations as well as the Soviet Union. The vote results were 33-13 with the partition winning and 10 members, including Britain, abstaining from the decision. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us3yqtCROt4 -
Britain withdraws forces from Palestine
In Feb. 1947, the British Government decided to put the responsibility of Plastine back with the UN and their troops would withdraw from Palestine by June 1948. The Arab Palestinian and Zionist leaders would not agree on anything and Britain had no support from allies. The Zionists claim that Britain left due to increased terrorism, but many said it was a very stable decision. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FyLX_mV3UI -
Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq
During Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Saddam Hussein proved to be an advanced politician, although he seemed very violent. He contributed to Iraq’s advanced infrastructure, industry, and health-care system, and was able to raise social services, education, and farming to a level above other Arab countries. He also was able to nationalize Iraq’s oil industry before the energy crisis in 1973, which helped the nation make more money. https://www.biography.com/people/saddam-hussein-9347918 (video) -
Iraq invades Kuwait; Causes Gulf War
During this invasion, the Kuwait defense forces were extremely overwhelmed, and those who were not destroyed went to Saudi Arabia. Many nobel people fled to Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait was taken by the Iraqis. By doing this, Iraq recieved 20% of the world’s oil reserves and the coastline on the Persian Gulf. In response, the United Nations Security Council withdrew trade with Iraq and demanded that Iraq leave Kuwait. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/iraq-invades-kuwait (video) -
Saddam Hussein removed from power
After being on the run for nine months, Saddam Hussein was finally captured on December 13th, 2003. His downfall started on March 20th, 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq to overturn his government, which controlled Iraq for more than 20 years. Saddam went quickly into hiding following this event, speaking to his citizens through audiotapes. When Hussein was found, he did not resist his arrest and was uninjured while being arrested.