The Chaotic History of the Middle East

After you watch the following animation, you will see that Iraq never was a country until it was cobbled together by Europeans (as were the other Middle Eastern countries) in 1920 after World War I. The history of the Middle East includes conquest after conquest as different dictatorships took over the rule of Middle Eastern countries. Just to name a few, the conquering Empires include the Kingdom of Egypt in 3000 BC, the Persian Empire in 336 BC, the Roman Empire in 565 AD, the Crusades in 1187 AD, the Mongolian Empire in 1700 AD, the Ottoman Empire in 1912, and the European Colonialism that made the geographical mistakes in 1920. Now, in 2009, the United States and its allies are in their 6th year of war to force a multi-faceted set of Middle Eastern cultures into one country with Western ideals. It is as absurd as if some Middle Eastern government came over to North America and demanded that Canada, Mexico, and the United States become one big country just to simplify the drawing of maps.

We wish to thank Maps of War for their wonderful animation on the constantly changing empires of the Middle East.