My generation has grown up almost exclusively exposed to war in the Middle East. Two wars in Iraq, one in Afghanistan and countless battles between neighbouring nations in the region. The Middle East has been a battleground since time began – and now you can see exactly who has conquered it through the ages with mapsofwar.com‘s great-looking 90 second walkthrough.
The map begins in 3,000 BC with the invention of the Egyptian Empire – though there’s no mention of the Sumerian states which comprised the Cradle of Civilization – and shows the spread of the Hittites, Israelis, Assyrians and Babylonians before Cyrus the Great’s Persians swept all in their path, forging an empire which stretched from Libya and Greece to Syria from 550 to 330 BC.
Alexander the Great – Heritage Key’s ancient election 2010 victor – then wiped out Persian resistance, establishing Hellenistic rule from his native Macedon to Pakistan. Alexander’s mighty empire would soon collapse under civil and economic unrest, and the Roman Empire controlled the Mediterranean as far east as the Persian Gulf.
The Byzantines and Sassanids then conquered various parts of the Middle East, until the rise of Islam resulted in the Caliphate around the 6th and 7th centuries AD. Great leaders such as Saladin and, of course, Genghis Khan, then stamped their mark on the continent before the Middle East moved out of the ancient period. The map is a great way to see how the world’s greatest empires have evolved over time. Let’s face it: there are much worse ways to spend 90 seconds!