Arab Conquest

In the 7th and 8th centuries AD, armies inspired by the new religion of Islam burst out of Arabia to subjugate the Levant, southwest Asia, North Africa and the Iberian peninsula. These Arab conquests followed immediately after the Prophet Mohammed's death in 632. By this time, against all the...

In just over a hundred years - from the death of Muhammad in 632 to the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750 - the followers of the Prophet swept across the whole of the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. Their armies threatened states as far flung as the Franks in Western Europe and the Tang Empire in China. The conquered territory was larger than the Roman Empire at its greatest expansion, and it was claimed for the Arabs in roughly half the time.

The extraordinary history of the epic rivalry between the ancient world’s two great superpowers. “Magnificent.” —Spectator The Roman Empire was like no other. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity...

In this Captivating History audiobook, you will discover how important the Sasanian Empire was to history and how their legacy became an integral part of what we today think of as Islamic culture.

Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects.

In Enemies and Neighbors, Ian Black, who has spent over three decades covering events in the Middle East and is currently a fellow at the London School of Economics, offers a major new history of the Arab-Zionist conflict from 1917 to today. Laying the historical groundwork in the final decades of the Ottoman Era, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in the Holy Land, Black draws on a wide range of sources - from declassified documents to oral histories to his own vivid on-the-ground reporting - to recreate the major milestones in the most polarizing conflict of the modern age from both sides.

He tried to remember everything. It killed him. The records survived. In ninth-century Baghdad, at the glittering center of the Islamic Golden Age, one scholar made it his life's mission to preserve what the world was about to forget. Ahmad ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri — head of the empire's intelligence bureau, tutor to princes, and the most meticulous historian of his age — spent decades gathering the stories of the great Arab conquests, the genealogies of the ruling class, and the administrative machinery of a civilization at its peak. He gathered so obsessively that he began taking ...

In spring 1936, the Holy Land erupted in a rebellion that targeted both the local Jewish community and the British Mandate authorities. The Great Arab Revolt would last three years, cost thousands of lives, and cast the trajectory for the Middle East conflict. The revolt was the crucible in which Palestinian identity coalesced, uniting all in a single struggle for independence. Yet the rebellion would ultimately turn on itself. British forces' aggressive counterinsurgency took care of the rest, finally quashing the uprising on the eve of World War II.

During the first half of the first millennium CE, an empire arose in Persia that extended its power and influence to Mesopotamia in the east, Arabia in the south, the Caucasus Mountains in the north, and as far east as India. This empire, known alternatively as the Sasanian Empire or Sassanid Empire, was the last of three great dynasties in Persia before the rise of Islam. In fact, many scholars consider the Sasanian Empire to be the last great empire of the ancient Near East.

What happens when a nomadic tribe rises from the steppes of Asia to rule over three continents for more than six centuries? The Ottoman Empire was more than just a dynasty of sultans and battles—it was a civilization that shaped the course of history. From the fall of Constantinople to the height of Suleiman’s reign, from the might of the Janissaries to the struggles of the 19th century, this empire’s story is one of ambition, triumph, resilience, and eventual decline. The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire: How a Nomadic Tribe Transformed the Middle East, Europe, and Beyond takes ...

A forced Muslim convert defies all odds to become the supreme ruler of an empire that stretches from Egypt to Persia in this drama which pits Arab against Arab during the Muslims' rise to power in the seventh century AD. Through his memorable characters, John Elray exposes the inner workings of a movement whose conquests rivaled those of the Romans and whose influence on modern day life spans the globe. The author takes you on a captivating journey back in time, delving into the mystery of the people, places, and customs of Islam in this true-to-life tale of passion and deceit. A timeless ...

Ancient Persia conjures images of extravagant palaces, beautiful gardens, mighty armies, and all-powerful kings, queens, and princes. The beginnings of Iranian antiquity are enigmatic, but from the cradle of the western Zagros Mountains came the greatest empires the world has ever known. The Elamites, Medians, Achaemenids, Parthians, and Sassanids all sprang from interlinked cultural origins that could trace their roots back through each successive empire.