The History behind Conflict in the Middle East

How the Middle East Became a Hotspot of Conflict—From Colonial Lines to Proxy Wars

The conflicts tearing at the Middle East today, from the siege of Gaza and the rubble of Syria, to the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen and the tensions brewing across Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran, are not sudden eruptions. They are the latest sparks in a fire that has smouldered for over a century, fed by empire, ideology, and identity. These crises did not begin with airstrikes or peace talks or UN resolutions. They are echoes of century-old decisions: the collapse of empires that once ruled vast territories, the redrawing of borders by colonial powers who cared little for the people who lived there, the broken promises made to both Arabs and Jews, and the entrenchment of sectarian and ethnic divisions that have since been manipulated by global powers and local elites alike.

From British and French colonialism to Cold War rivalries, from Ottoman decline to American military intervention, the modern Middle East has been shaped by wave after wave of external interference and internal resistance. And beneath it all runs a complex history of conquest, religion, revolution, and survival — a story that stretches back millennia, but which remains painfully relevant today. Understanding how we got here means going far beyond the headlines. It means digging into the past — not just the 20th century, but ancient times too — to uncover the roots of one of the most volatile regions on earth.

The Ancient Cradle of Civilisation (~3500 BCE – 500 BCE)

The Middle East is often called the Cradle of Civilisation — and for good reason. It’s where some of humanity’s earliest cities, writing systems, legal codes, and empires emerged.

Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) was home to the Sumerians, who built city-states like Uruk and Ur around 3500 BCE. They invented cuneiform, one of the world’s first writing systems.
Did you know? The world’s first known author, Enheduanna, was a Sumerian priestess and poet — the daughter of Sargon of Akkad.
The Babylonians followed, with King Hammurabi creating one of the first written legal codes (~1750 BCE).
Meanwhile, in what’s now Egypt, the Pharaohs ruled a civilisation stretching thousands of years, known for hieroglyphics, pyramids, and complex bureaucracy.

Other major powers in the ancient Middle East included:

Assyrians – fierce warriors who built a vast empire across the Levant and Mesopotamia (~900–600 BCE).
Hittites – an Anatolian (modern Turkey) empire that challenged Egypt and Babylon.
Phoenicians – great seafarers and traders based in today’s Lebanon, who developed an alphabet that inspired Greek and Latin scripts.
Persians – by 550 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire (founded by Cyrus the Great) became the largest the world had seen, stretching from India to Greece.

Art depicting war between Sunni and Shia sects of Islam

Classical & Hellenistic Middle East (500 BCE – 330 CE)

After Persia’s defeat by Alexander the Great in the 330s BCE, the region fell under Greek influence during the Hellenistic period. Cities like Alexandria became cultural centres, blending Greek and local traditions.

Following Alexander’s death, his empire splintered into rival kingdoms — the Seleucid Empire dominated much of the Middle East until Rome’s rise.

From around 64 BCE, the Roman Empire gradually absorbed much of the Levant and Anatolia. At its height, Rome ruled from modern-day Morocco to Iraq.

Rise of Islam and the Caliphates (600–1258 CE)

In the 7th century, Islam emerged in the Arabian Peninsula under Prophet Muhammad. Within a century of his death (632 CE), Islamic armies conquered much of the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia and Europe.
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) established its capital in Damascus, followed by the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258), centred in Baghdad.
Baghdad, at its peak, was a centre of learning, home to the House of Wisdom, where scholars translated and preserved ancient Greek, Persian, and Indian knowledge.
Did you know? Algebra, chemistry, and surgical instruments were refined during this Islamic Golden Age.
Meanwhile, the Shiite Fatimid Caliphate rose in North Africa and Egypt, rivaling Sunni power from Baghdad.

The main division between Sunni and Shia Islam dates back to a disagreement over who should lead the Muslim community after the Prophet Muhammad’s death in 632 CE. Sunnis (who make up around 85–90% of the global Muslim population) believe that leadership should be chosen by consensus and supported Abu Bakr, the Prophet’s close companion, as the first caliph. Shia Muslims, on the other hand, believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet’s family and supported Ali, his cousin and son-in-law, as the rightful successor. Over time, this political split evolved into deeper religious and cultural differences, including variations in rituals, clerical authority, and interpretations of Islamic law.

Turkic Dynasties and Crusades (1000–1300 CE)

Turkic peoples like the Seljuks began to migrate into the region, taking over Persia and much of Anatolia. They became key defenders of Islam during the Crusades.

The Crusades (1096–1291) were a series of Christian European invasions aimed at capturing Jerusalem. They caused centuries of warfare and mass displacement.

Did you know? The Muslim leader Saladin, a Kurdish general, retook Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187 — and remains a folk hero in the region today.

Mongol Invasion and the Fall of Baghdad (1258)

In 1258, Mongol armies led by Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad, destroying the Abbasid Caliphate’s capital. Hundreds of thousands were killed, and the city’s famed libraries were burned.
This marked the end of the classical Islamic Golden Age, plunging much of the Middle East into political fragmentation.

The Rise of the Ottoman Empire (1299–1517)

Founded in 1299 in northwestern Anatolia by Osman I, the Ottoman Empire gradually absorbed Turkish rivals and Byzantine territory, including Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453.
The Ottomans conquered Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Arabia in the early 16th century, positioning themselves as both a world empire and custodians of Islam’s holiest sites (Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem).
The Ottomans ruled with a relatively decentralised model—allowing local leaders to maintain power, as long as they paid tribute and recognised the sultan.

Religious Diversity and Tolerance

Despite later tensions, many parts of the Middle East were historically home to vibrant Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian communities living under Muslim rule. Ottoman millet systems allowed religious minorities to govern their own affairs under their own leaders, a policy seen as advanced for its time.

By the 1700s–1800s…

While the Ottomans still ruled vast areas, the empire began to weaken:

European powers expanded their influence in trade, politics, and military.
Egypt briefly broke away under Muhammad Ali Pasha, while Britain and France began meddling in Ottoman affairs, setting the stage for future colonialism.

Map of occupation territories of the Middle East during the early 1900s

Ottoman Collapse and the Arab Revolt (1916–1919)

In 1916, Sharif Hussein of Mecca launched the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule, joined by his sons Feisal, Abdullah, and Ali. Their guerrilla campaign, supported by T. E. Lawrence (famed as Lawrence of Arabia), targeted key Ottoman supply lines, notably the Hejaz Railway.
Meanwhile, the Ottomans held on to Medina for more than two years under siege, a crusade so prolonged that fighting continued well after the war ended in 1918.
Arabs had been promised post-war independence via the Hussein–McMahon letters, but behind the scenes Britain and France had already signed the Sykes–Picot Agreement, dividing the region into colonial mandates. These betrayals laid the groundwork for nationalist resentment.

Jewish Displacement After WWII and the Road to Partition (1930s–1947)

After WWII, surviving Jews had nowhere to return to. They were placed in displaced persons (DP) camps across Europe.
Palestine, under British control since WWI, became the focus of Zionist efforts to establish a Jewish homeland a goal backed by the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
Jewish immigration to Palestine increased sharply in the 1930s and 40s prompting growing unrest among the Palestinian Arab population, who feared dispossession.
From 1936 to 1939, Palestine experienced a major Arab revolt against British rule and Jewish immigration, suppressed brutally by British forces.
Armed Jewish militias (like the Irgun and Haganah) also began attacking British authorities, demanding unrestricted immigration and statehood.
Overwhelmed and under attack from both sides, Britain handed the problem to the UN in 1947.

The Creation of Israel and Palestinian Displacement (1947–1949)

The 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine offered separate Arab and Jewish states. Jewish leaders accepted; Arab leaders rejected. When Israel declared independence in 1948, armies from neighboring Arab states invaded. Israel not only survived but expanded beyond original partition boundaries.
Between 700,000 and 900,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled in what Arabs call the Nakba (“Catastrophe”). This mass displacement has been foundational to the conflict’s bitterness.
Did you know? Israeli forces moved so rapidly into cities like Jaffa that many Palestinians fled on foot without time to gather belongings—some boarded boats to seek refuge in other parts of Palestine.

3. Arab–Israeli Wars (1956–1973)

1956 Suez Crisis: When Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, Britain, France, and Israel invaded. The US and Soviet Union forced them to back down—yielding the first UN peacekeeping mission.
1967 Six-Day War: Israel launched a surprise strike, capturing the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza, West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights—adding hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees under occupation.
1973 Yom Kippur War: Egypt and Syria launched a joint surprise attack. Israel ultimately repelled attacks but the conflict opened doors to diplomacy, culminating in the Camp David Accords.

4. Peace Fragile and Palestinian Resistance (1978–2000)

Camp David Accords (1978–79): Egypt formally recognized Israel, triggering shifts in Arab alliances, but did not resolve the Palestinian plight.
Did you know? Egypt became the first Arab state to recognize Israel after the 1979 peace process in return for regaining the Sinai Peninsula.
First Intifada (1987–1993): Grassroots protests erupted in Gaza and the West Bank. Sparked by a deadly traffic accident, the uprising brought global attention and led to the Oslo Accords, though a final solution remained out of reach.

5. Gulf Wars, Iraq’s Collapse, and Extremism (1990s–2010s)

1990 Gulf War: Iraq invaded Kuwait. A U.S.–led multinational coalition intervened. After the war, U.S. maintained military presence—tilting regional balance and setting the stage for Iran’s rise.
2003 Iraq Invasion: The U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein. The power vacuum triggered sectarian authority shifts. Iran leveraged its Shiite ties; ISIS rose among Sunni disenfranchised communities.
Iran’s growing influence in post-Saddam Iraq alarmed Sunni neighbors, sparking proxy competition across state lines.

6. Iran–Saudi Proxy Rivalry (1979 to Today)

In 1979, Iran’s Islamic Revolution established a Shiite regime challenging Sunni Saudi Arabia. The dynastic religious rivalry intensified across the decades.
During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88), Saudi Arabia backed Iraq financially and logistically, creating the blueprint for future proxy engagements.
Dedicated anti-Shia media in Saudi schools and universities in the 1990s heightened sectarian tensions—fueling later extremism.
The post-2003 period saw Iran embedding itself in Iraq, Lebanon (via Hezbollah), Yemen (via Houthi rebels), and Syria, while Saudi Arabia countered with its own patronage networks.
Relations began to thaw in 2023 with reconciliation talks mediated by China, marking a potential shift in longstanding enmity.

What It Means for Today’s Flashpoints

Gaza’s humanitarian breakdown, Syrian civil war, Lebanese collapse, and Yemen’s famine aren’t isolated, they are connective tissue from a century of unresolved tensions.
Solutions must address historical claims: Palestinian refugee rights, Israeli occupation, sectarian grievances, and foreign interventions.
Until contemporary leaders confront the legacy of colonial-era bargains and post-war power plays, history is likely to repeat. It’s not just about peace deals, it’s about redressing historical imbalances at the root of modern conflict.

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Reigniting Politics

The History behind Conflict in the Middle East