A couple of decades before Britain sat Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi on the Iranian throne and several decades before they helped engineer the coup that kept him in power, British operatives were also responsible for the Iranian coup that enthroned his father, Reza Shah Pahlavi (d. 1944), and instituted the Pahlavi “Dynasty.” I put “dynasty” in quotes … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: Reza Pahlavi is crowned Shah of Iran (1925)
Tag: middle eastern history
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Crusaders capture Maʿarrat al-Nuʿman (1098)
The First Crusade's conquest of the city of Maʿarrat al-Nuʿman was noteworthy for at least two reasons, one fairly blasé and the other definitely not. On the blasé side, Maʿarrat al-Nuʿman was an important waypoint along the march from Antioch to Jerusalem, and the Crusaders couldn't get from the former to the latter without capturing … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Crusaders capture Maʿarrat al-Nuʿman (1098)
Today in Middle Eastern history: General Allenby comes to Jerusalem (1917)
In a sense, if you’re into this sort of thing, there are some parallels you could draw between the British army’s capture of Jerusalem and the Crusades. I mean, Edmund Allenby was technically a European Christian, and there he was, on December 11, 1917, marching into having successfully conquered the city that had been the … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: General Allenby comes to Jerusalem (1917)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the First Intifada begins (1987)
In contrast with the Second Intifada, which Israeli politician Ariel Sharon deliberately provoked when he and 1000 Israeli police officers marched on to the Haram al-Sharif in September 2000, the First Intifada (the Arabic word means “popular uprising”) began almost by chance. On December 8, 1987, an Israeli Defense Forces truck crashed into a line of cars stuck … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the First Intifada begins (1987)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Hama (903)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a fairly small, radical—apocalyptic, really—and highly militarized Islamic sect carves out a chunk of territory, including a sizable piece of Syria, in which to establish its own very wealthy political entity that could be described as revisionist, expansionist, and even irredentist. They specialize in hit-and-run attacks on … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Hama (903)
Today in European history: the Council of Clermont (1095)
The title of this post is a bit misleading. The Council of Clermont actually ran from November 18 through November 28, 1095, so November 27 is the anniversary of neither its beginning nor its end. It is, however, the anniversary of the day on which Pope Urban II (d. 1099) got to the main point … Continue reading Today in European history: the Council of Clermont (1095)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Montgisard (1177)
Although he’s considered a great military leader, largely for having retaken Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, Saladin’s career as a general was not without its setbacks. Richard the Lionheart defeated him a few times during the Third Crusade, for example, though ultimately that crusade failed to achieve its goal. And there’s also the 1177 Battle of Montgisard, … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of Montgisard (1177)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of al-Qadisiyah (636)
The two great Arab military victories of 636, the Battle of Yarmouk against the Byzantines and the Battle of al-Qadisiyah against the Sasanian Persians, were decisive in both in military and in geopolitical terms. Taken individually, they changed the course of both of the defeated empires—the Byzantines would never again hold significant territory south of Anatolia, and … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Battle of al-Qadisiyah (636)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Iran Hostage Crisis begins (1979)
When a group of Iranian students from an organization called “Muslim Student Followers of the Imam’s Line,” on their own volition though possibly with the approval of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, stormed the American embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979, and took 66 US citizens hostage, I doubt anybody involved fully realized what was about … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Iran Hostage Crisis begins (1979)
Today in Middle Eastern history: the Balfour Declaration (1917)
It was on November 2, 1917, when British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour sent a relatively brief letter to Walter Rothschild that would wind up becoming one of the most consequential letters in modern Middle Eastern history. If you’d read it at the time, you probably wouldn’t have envisioned the importance it would come to … Continue reading Today in Middle Eastern history: the Balfour Declaration (1917)
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 