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"Georges Corm's work on the contemporary Middle East and the relationship between Europe and the East is now essential reading. This concise account of the history of the Middle East from before Christianity and Islam to the present day is a vivid reminder of what Corm calls the "geology of cultures"." "In order to paint a true picture of this incredibly complex part of the world, situated at the crossroads of three continents, the author examines the "geographical foundations" on which the Anatolian, Iranian, Meso-potamian and Egyptian empires were built. Such an approach avoids confusion between people with separate languages but who have remained in constant interaction: Iranians, Turks and Arabs, all now part of the "Islamic world"." The unfortunate dynamics of the relationship between the West and the Middle East, and the decline of this region over the past two centuries, are here clearly and objectively explained, taking into account social and economic factors usually overlooked in studies of Islam and the Muslim world.
Introduction 11
Part I Arabesques of Geography and History
1 Geographic and Human Definitions 21
An area with undefined boundaries 21
Intertwining mountains, deserts, and seas 24
2 The Middle East: Heart and Crossroads of Civilizations 31
An extraordinary cultural wealth 31
The birth of the city, deities, and writing 33
Population complexity 36
The geology of cultures in the Middle East 38
3 The Major Strata of Middle Eastern History 47
Mesopotamian history (also called Babylonian, Chaldean, and Assyrian) 48
The history of Anatolia 59
The Crusades in the Middle East (1096-1291) and the Mongol Conquests (1227-1260) 71
The history of the Iranian empires 77
Egypt and the Middle East 82
Part II The Modern Middle East
4 The Fall of Empires and the Rise of Western Powers 89
Decadence of the East, renaissance of the West 89
A deeply de-structuring conquest 91
The three main models of resistance to European domination 94
5 The Middle East under European Domination 99
European rivalries and new territorial partitions (1798-1918) 99
Direct Anglo-French domination over the Arab world (1919-1956) 107
6 The Middle East Caught between the Cold War, Oil Resources, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict 115
U.S.-Soviet rivalries in the East 115
The uncontrollable Arab-Israeli conflict and the Nasserite epic 118
The war of October 1973, the rise of Saudi Arabia, and the implosion of Lebanon 123
The inexorable rise of radical Islam in the Middle East, the Iranian Revolution, and the Iran---Iraq war 127
7 The First Gulf War and its Aftermath 131
Iraq under trusteeship 131
The impossible emergence of a Palestinian state 134
The re-ignition of conflicts in the Middle East despite Soviet decline 136
8 The New Middle East under American Control: Hegemony, Democracy, and Terrorism 141
Forced democratization? 141
The Iraqi crisis: pre-emptive war and occupation 144
Resolution 1559: destabilizing Lebanon and encircling Syria 147
The eternal recurrence of the Palestinian tragedy 151
Confrontation with Iran 154
Turkey and its relations with the European Union 155
The power vacuum in the Middle East 158
Part III How to Address the Complexity of the Middle East
9 Writing the History of the Middle East: Methodological Difficulties 165
The advent of Islam in the Middle East: causes and consequences 165
Writing national histories, an impossible task 169
The influence of religion on historical narratives 173
The necessary rehabilitation of secular historical criteria 177
10 The Causes Behind the Decadence of Middle Eastern Civilizations 181
Anthropological or historical causes? 181
Western influence: a catalyst for renaissance or for more decadence? 185
The economic and social question 194
Sweeping upheavals 201
Conclusion: Middle Eastern Political Systems and International Law 205
Concise Chronology of the Modern Middle East 211
Bibliography 225
Overview
"Georges Corm's work on the contemporary Middle East and the relationship between Europe and the East is now essential reading. This concise account of the history of the Middle East from before Christianity and Islam to the present day is a vivid reminder of what Corm calls the "geology of cultures"." "In order to paint a true picture of this incredibly complex part of the world, situated at the crossroads of three continents, the author examines the "geographical foundations" on which the Anatolian, Iranian, Meso-potamian and Egyptian empires