1. Historical

2. c. 4000-2000 BC - Kingdoms in Egypt, Sumer, and Babylonia

3. 500-400 BC - The Persian empire conquers all of the Middle East.

4. c. 200-300 BC - The Romans gain control over all of the Middle East except for Persia.

5. c. 570-632 AD - Life of Mohammed. Mohammed founds the religion of Islam, and leads the beginning of an Arab-Islamic empire that will soon hold sway over the entire Middle East.

6. 11-13th Century - Tales of the riches of the Middle East and a desire to reclaim the Holy Land for Christianity inspire European kingdoms to proclaim a series of crusades against the Muslim empires of the Middle East. Though the crusades were to have some success in holding territory in the Holy Land, their longest lasting effects were in Europe, where people were exposed to many new ideas.

7. 13th centuries - Mongol invasions in the Middle East devastate Iraq and Iran and end what remains of the Arab-Islamic Empire.

8. 1453 - The Ottoman empire gains control over Constantinople and renames Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire will continue to expand until it controls nearly all of the Middle East except for Iran.

9. 1914-1918 - The Ottoman Empire sides with Germany during World War I. The resulting loss causes the empire to be broken up. Much of its territory is divided between France and Britain, but modern day Turkey successfully defends itself against Greek invasion.

10. February 8, 1922 - Egypt gains its independence.

11. 1932 - Iraq gains its independence. - Saudi Arabia gains its independence.

12. May 14, 1948 - The State of Israel declares its independence. Immediately after, the surrounding Arab nations invaded the new State of Israel. Following the war the Arab League placed an embargo prohibiting trade with Israel.

13. 1973-1974 - Many Middle Eastern states placed an oil embargo on those nations they saw as favoring Israel in their policies, including the United States. The embargo ended in early 1974 and while it did not bring about great changes, it was detrimental to the economies of the nations it was placed upon and harmful to their citizens.

14. August 2, 1990-1991 - After Iraq revived a dispute with Kuwait and declared that Kuwaiti overproduction of oil was damaging Iraq's economy, Iraq invaded and quickly took over Kuwait. There was international outcry, and the UN demanded that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991. After Iraq refused to comply with UN demands, a multi-national force composed of some 500,000 men from both Arab and Western nations launched a major air offensive against Iraq. The Persian Gulf War went badly for Iraq, and they were soon forced from Kuwait and lost large portions of their army. Following the war, Iraq's stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons were destroyed, UN observers were placed in the nation, and it was put under economic sanction.

15. Currently - The US is combating terror in Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations.