Today is the anniversary of the start of the Six-Day War, Israel’s militarily decisive but politically confounding rapid defeat of armies in Egypt, Jordan, and Syria (Iraq and Lebanon were involved as well) that has done as much as any other single event to help shape the modern Middle East. Your perspective on how the war started … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Six-Day War begins (1967)
Tag: middle eastern history
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Wahhabi sack of Karbala (probably 1802)
Wahhabism has always taken a dim view of Shiʿism—really, denigrating the Shiʿa is at the core of the movement’s origins. Muhammad b. Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792) based his teachings in large part on those of the very influential 13th-14th century Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyah, and Shiʿa were pretty much Ibn Taymiyah’s least favorite people in the … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Wahhabi sack of Karbala (probably 1802)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Fall of Baghdad (1917)
The First Battle of Kut was virtually a total Ottoman victory, and it stands as one of the lowest points for the British military not just in that war, but ever. Following the disaster, the British army replaced its commander in Mesopotamia, Lt. General Percy Lake, with the newly arrived Lt. General Frederick Stanley Maude. It was … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Fall of Baghdad (1917)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Massacre at the Citadel (1811)
Egypt’s Mamluk Sultanate was ushered to its end by the invading Ottomans in 1517. But while their sultanate ended, the Mamluk elite really didn’t go anywhere. The distinction has to do with the unique nature of the sultanate, so even if this is something you’ve read about before, we should review. The Mamluk ruling class grew out of the … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Massacre at the Citadel (1811)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Sabra and Shatila massacre (1982)
Of all the atrocities that took place during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, and of all the atrocities that have been blamed on the Israeli Defense Forces, or on American meddling in Middle Eastern affairs, over the past several decades, what happened in the Sabra neighborhood of west Beirut and the neighboring Shatila refugee camp between September … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Sabra and Shatila massacre (1982)
Today in Middle Eastern/European history: the Ottomans get started (1299, or 1302)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Ankara (1402)
July 20, 1402: the Central Asian conqueror Timur defeats the young Ottoman Empire so decisively that the Ottomans are thrown into chaos for the next 11 years.
Today in Middle Eastern history: the 14 July Revolution (1958)
On this date in 1958, a coup in Iraq overthrew the Hashemite monarchy and replaced it with a republic under a group of Iraqi army officers.
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Aqaba (1917)
The World War I Battle of Aqaba took place on this date in 1917.
Today in North African history: the Battle of Fakhkh (786)
Allow me to introduce a word that may be unfamiliar to some of you: Alid. In Middle Eastern studies, “Alid” refers to descendants of Ali, so it’s related to Shiʿism (which comes from shiʿat ʿAli, or “the partisans of Ali”) though clearly not synonymous with that term. Where the two terms can overlap and become … Continue reading Today in North African history: the Battle of Fakhkh (786)
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 