Contested Lands A History of the Middle East From the First World War to the PresentA history of the last century of tensions in the Middle East. Until the First World War, the Ottoman Empire had dominated the Middle East for four centuries. Its collapse, coupled with the subsequent clash of European imperial policies, unleashed a surge of political feelings among the people of the Middle East as they vied for national self determination. Over the century that followed, the region has become almost synonymous with unrest and