Middle Eastern empires

Middle East empires have existed in the Middle East region at various periods between 3000 BCE and 1924 CE; they have been instrumental in the spreading of ideas, technology, and religions within Middle East territories and to outlying territories. Since the 7th century CE, all Middle East empires, with the exception of the Byzantine Empire, were Islamic and some of them claiming the titles of an Islamic caliphate. The last major empire based in the region was the Ottoman Empire.

3000–2000 BCE: Ancient Middle East

The rich fertile lands of the Fertile Crescent gave birth to some of the oldest sedentary civilizations, including the Egyptians and Sumerians, who contributed to later societies and are credited with several important innovations, such as writing, the boats, first temples, and the wheel.
The Fertile Crescent saw the rise and fall of many great civilizations that made the region one of the most vibrant and colorful in history, including empires like that of the Assyrians and Babylonians, and influential trade kingdoms, such as the Lydians and Phoenicians.
In Anatolia, the Hittites were probably the first people to use iron weapons. In the southwest was Egypt, a land with rich resources that sustained a thriving culture.

First Eblaite Kingdom

was an important center throughout the 3rd millennium BCE and in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. Its discovery proved the Levant was a center of ancient, centralized civilization equal to Egypt and Mesopotamia and ruled out the view that the latter two were the only important centers in the Near East during the Early Bronze Age. The first Eblaite kingdom has been described as the first recorded world power.
Starting as a small settlement in the Early Bronze Age, Ebla developed into a trading empire and later into an expansionist power that imposed its hegemony over much of northern and eastern Syria. Ebla was destroyed during the 23rd century BCE; it was then rebuilt and was mentioned in the records of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The second Ebla was a continuation of the first, ruled by a new royal dynasty. It was destroyed at the end of the 3rd millennium BCE, which paved the way for the Amorite tribes to settle in the city, forming the third Ebla. The third kingdom also flourished as a trade center; it became a subject and an ally of Yamhad until its final destruction by the Hittite king Mursili I in c. 1600 BCE.

Akkadian Empire

The Akkadian Empire was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia, after the long-lived civilization of Sumer. It was centered in the city of Akkad and its surrounding region. The empire united Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. The Akkadian Empire exercised influence across Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Anatolia, sending military expeditions as far south as Dilmun and Magan in the Arabian Peninsula.
Mesopotamian city-states, both Sumerian and East Semitic, had a legacy of intercity warfare, and the tools of these wars have been found in graves, such as copper axes and blades. The first chariot was used extensively, and the Sumerians possessed a dynamic and innovative military.
Early cavalry were employed as shock troops, needed to punch holes into the enemy lines to allow infantry to penetrate them, isolate pockets and eliminate them. They were also used to harass enemy flanks, and sometimes outflank enemies, and most armies trembled at the sight of a chariot force.
As infantry, the Sumerians used a heavy infantry phalanx, depicted on the Stele of the Vultures, which commemorates the victory over Umma by Lagash in 2525 BCE. These were very similar to the later Macedonian phalanx, although the weaponry was less advanced.
They carried spears and uncomfortable armor. Sumerian armies also made great use of skirmishers to harass an opponent. The empire's most remarkable ruler was undoubtedly Sargon the Great, who lived from 2334 to 2279 BCE and numbers among the first great Middle Eastern rulers, as well as a great military tactician and strategist. He is credited as the first general to use amphibious warfare in recorded history.
After some years of peace, Sargon waged wars against his rival Elam, and then launched a separate attack on Syria and Lebanon. The key to Sargon's victories was his coordination in the army movement, his ability to improvise tactics, his combined arms strategy, and his skill at siege warfare, as well as the keeping of intelligence always relying on heavy reconnaissance.
After Sargon's conquest of Sumer, the area enjoyed a relatively peaceful and prosperous era – perhaps its golden age. International trade flourished as the merchants went from Sumer to the expanses of the east, and also to the vast resources of the west. Goods from Egypt, Anatolia, Iran and elsewhere flowed into Sargon's gargantuan kingdom. Sargon's legacy was one of trade and one of forming the standing army, which later rulers would use offensively.
When Sargon died, Rimush, his son, inherited the empire. However, he was plagued by constant uprisings. After his death, his brother took the throne. He too was plagued by constant rebellions and was later usurped by Naram-Sin. Naram-Sin quickly destroyed and dispersed the Sumerian rebels and also went on a vast campaign of conquest, taking his armies to Lebanon, Syria and Israel, and then to Egypt. However, after Naram-Sin, the dynasty went into decline and soon fell altogether.

Third Dynasty of Ur

The Third Dynasty of Ur, also called the Neo-Sumerian Empire, refers to a 22nd to 21st century BCE ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur and a short-lived territorial-political state in Mesopotamia which some historians consider to have been a nascent empire. The Third Dynasty of Ur is commonly abbreviated as Ur III by historians studying the period. It is numbered in reference to previous dynasties, as they appeared in some of the better-preserved editions of the Sumerian King List, although it seems the once supposed Second Dynasty of Ur never existed. It began after several centuries of control by Akkadian and Gutian kings. It controlled the cities of Isin, Larsa, and Eshnunna and extended as far north as Upper Mesopotamia.

1800–1200 BCE: the Babylonian, Mitanni, Egyptian, and Hittite Empires

Babylonian Empire

The city of Babylon makes its second to the last appearance in historical sources after the fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur, which had ruled the city-states of the alluvial plain between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris for more than a century. An agricultural crisis meant the end of this centralized state and several more or less nomadic tribes settled in southern Mesopotamia. One of these was the nation of the Amorites, which took over Isin, Larsa, and Babylon. Their kings are known as the First Dynasty of Babylon.
The area was reunited by Hammurabi, a king of Babylon of Amorite descent. From his reign on, the alluvial plain of southern Iraq was called, with a deliberate archaism, Mât Akkadî, "the country of Akkad", after the city that had united the region centuries before, but it is known to us as Babylonia. It was one of the most fertile and rich parts of the ancient world.
Babylon and its ally Larsa fought a defensive war against Elam, the archenemy of Akkad. After this war had been brought to a successful end, Hammurabi turned against Larsa and defeated its king Rim-Sin. This scenario was repeated: together with the king Zimri-Lim of Mari, Hammurabi waged war against Aššur, and after success had been achieved, the Babylonians attacked their ally and
Mari was sacked. Other wars were fought against Yamhad, Elam, Eshnunna, and the mountain tribes in the Zagros. Babylon was the capital of the entire region between Harran in the northwest and the Persian Gulf in the southeast.
Hammurabi's successes became the problems of his successors. After the annexation of Mari in the northwest and Ešnunna in the east, there was no buffer against the increasing power of the Hittite Empire and the Kassite tribes in the Zagros. It was impossible for the successors of Hammurabi to fight against all these enemies at the same time, and they started to lose their grip. These enemies sometimes invaded Babylonia, and in 1595 BCE the Hittite king Mursilis I advanced along the Euphrates, sacked Babylon, and even took away the statue of the supreme god of Babylonia, Marduk, from its temple, the Esagila.
With the fall of the Assyrian empire, the Babylonian Empire was the most powerful state in the ancient world. Even after the Babylonian Empire had been overthrown by the Persian king Cyrus the Great, the city itself remained an important cultural center and the ultimate prize in the eyes of aspiring conquerors.

Mitanni

Mitanni was the most powerful Hurrian-speaking kingdom in the region. It came to dominate northern Syria, northern Mesopotamia and southeast Anatolia. Shaushtatar, king of Mitanni, sacked the Assyrian capital of Assur some time in the 15th century during the reign of Nur-ili, and took the silver and golden doors of the royal palace to Washukanni. This is known from a later Hittite document, the Suppililiuma-Shattiwaza treaty. After the sack of Assur, Assyria may have paid tribute to Mitanni up to the time of Eriba-Adad I.
The Mitanni kingdom would go on to fight full-scale wars, and occasionally form alliances, with the Egyptians, Assyrians and Hittites. The Hittites would ultimately destroy the kingdom after conquering its capital.

Egyptian Empire

From 1560 to 1080 BCE, the Egyptian Empire reached its zenith as the dominant power in the Middle East. When Rome was still a marsh and the Acropolis was an empty rock, Egypt was already one thousand years old. Although the period of the pyramid-builders was long over, Egypt lay on the threshold of its greatest age. The New Kingdom would be an empire forged by conquest, maintained by intimidation and diplomacy, and remembered long after its demise.
By 1400 BCE, the Egyptian Empire stretched from northern Syria to the Sudan in Africa, under the rule of Amenhotep III. It was a golden age of wealth, power, and prosperity, and remarkable diplomacy was used to keep the empire's rivals at bay. Art, technology and new ideas flourished and Egyptian rulers were seen as gods.
The peak of Egyptian imperial expansion came when threatened from abroad, when Ramesses II led an army to the north to fight the Hittites at Kadesh. The battle was his crowning achievement and the basis for a new period of stability and wealth. Resources flooded into Egypt. However, foreign powers once again threatened it, and some provinces wavered in their allegiance.
After the long reign of Ramesses II, the great tombs were systematically looted and a civil war ensued. Though Egypt was once again divided, carved up among foreign powers, the period left a rich legacy.