ABSTRACT
Americans accustomed to a history measured in centuries may find it difficult to contemplate the Middle East's time lines. In distant times, peoples living in the Middle East developed alphabets, astronomy, theology, architecture, literature, engineering, agronomy, and political systems to govern and organize society. Under the influence of European outsiders, much of the old Ottoman Middle East became nation-states after World War I. After regional armies defeated the Crusaders in 1290 ce, European influence in the Middle East waned. After the French Revolution, European political ideas began to trickle into the Middle East. One justification for European intervention in the Middle East was the waning Ottoman Empire. European diplomats believed that if the Ottoman Empire collapsed, rival European powers and Arab nationalists would try to fill the resulting power vacuum. European history affected the Middle East in another way with discrimination against Jewish citizens in Russia and Poland.
