Middle East/Gulf Region the Middle

¶ … Middle East/Gulf region The Middle East region and in a large view the Greater Middle East is one of the most significant geographical, strategic, spiritual and historical areas of the world. It is found between two other great civilizations, the European and the Asian one and it is the origin of the most important religions besides the Asian ones like Christianity, Islam or Judaism.

The Greater Middle East is also the birthplace of some of the most meaningful civilizations of mankind like the Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian or Median ones. One of the most important socio-political events that took place in this tumultuous region was the seventh century Arabic conquest of the most part of the region, removing the Byzantine and Sassanid Persians from the area.

The newly formed Muslim Empire, run by the Caliphs, was to dominate the Greater Middle Eastern region, and parts of Southern Europe until the middle of the eleventh century, creating an amazing civilization and culture, but most of all a religious identity that would be to remain almost intact in face of various other passing empires.

The beginning of the end of the Arab Empire came with the Seljuq Turks who had a profound effect on the entire region, weakening and eliminating not only the Arabs but also the Christian Byzantine Empire. For the next two hundred years, the major force in the region became the Turks yet their lack of unity against the common enemies from the West and East did not allow them to continue their rule.

The weakening of the fractured sultanates became obvious during the Western crusades started in 1099 and 1291 that cracked the force of the already fragile unity of sultanates. The next large scale Empire that would have an influence in the Greater Middle East was the Ottoman Empire who came just after the Mongol hoards that advanced all the way to the borders of Egypt at the beginning of the thirteen-century.

These were pushed back by predecessors of the ottomans, the Mamluk Turks that were able to keep the Ottoman influence lower in the Middle East until 1514. Before that, with the conquering in 1453 of Constantinople, and the following 1516 Syrian and 1517 Egyptian conquering, the Ottoman Empire united the region and preserved unity for more than four hundred years. Significant cultural, scientific and political developments are to be observed in this period in virtually the entire Greater Middle East.

The fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 brought the Arab world into a great disappointment as the territories of the Empire were shared by the English (Egypt and Cyprus and strong influence in Iraq, Palestine and Saudi Arabia) and the French (Syria, Lebanon) occupants. Arab unity cracked down and separatism from the perceived oppressor became one of the key political statements of the Arab countries.

The great divisions between the Greater Middle East continued in the following years as international politics and oil began to have a more important say than any discussion on Arab unity. Following the effects of the Second World War of de-colonization and the rise of the state of Israel within the Arab world, the Greater Middle Eastern region faced another type of profound change.

Faced with a perceived common enemy, many newly formed of older Arab states began to unite again and join forces for the elimination of Israel in the numerous following conflicts of the last 50 years. Israel started to be, a very important method for the West to negotiate with the East, as Truman created a movement on the international.