1. Political Blair Gagnon

2. Ancient Times In the Middle East thousands of years ago, for the most part, control over territories was held by kingdoms. Over time, kingdoms in the Middle East dominated and destroyed each other. Eventually the system of having kingdoms changed when the Romans took control. After the Romans lost power, different empires were formed.

3. What’s the difference? A kingdom is a domain ruled by a king or queen. An empire is a group of diverse regions under common control and run as a single organization through means of local governors and other branches of government. As you can see, an empire is more complicated and advanced than a kingdom. This is important because it meant that politically, the Middle East was progressing.

4. Different empires lasted for many centuries. Some examples are the Persian and Ottoman empires. The final empire, the Ottoman Empire, ended after World War I. The impact of the war broke up the different regions because it had sided with the Germans and the empire lost its power.

5. Instability The middle east has been almost constantly in a state of instability at least in one area or another. The crusades caused major fighting and disruption in the 11 th through 13 th centuries. At some points, the Christian forces controlled many regions in the Middle East such as Persia and what is now Israel. Of course the Christian forces were driven out eventually by Muslim forces. More recently, there have been major conflicts that have involved American troops.

6. Persian Conquests (532 B.C – Present)

7. Roman-Persian Wars 92 BC – 627 AD

8. The Crusades

9. They lasted from 1095 - 1272

11. World War II

13. Recent Conflicts Persian Gulf War, many Arab-Israel conflicts including the very recent invasion Israel has made into the Gaza strip, and the First Gulf War.

15. The End