There is no fixed definition for the area known as the Middle East as changes in global power over the years have affected the topography. Now, however, the region can be said to broadly contain “the area from Libya to Afghanistan, usually including Egypt, Sudan, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the other countries of the Arabian Peninsula” (dictionary.com). This geographical definition can be said to contain both the 'Near East', the 'Middle East', and even further towards the East and Africa be described as the 'Greater Middle East', so the Middle East can be defined only vaguely, and it is important to know that these countries are separate and do not truly form a cooperative unit. The area is believed to be where human civilization first began with the Sumerians in the Fertile Crescent, or Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, i.e. modern-day Iraq. Ten thousand years have passed since then and the area has been the scene of many conflicts, but the numerous invasions of great civilizations, such as the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires, have transformed the Middle East into an ethnically and racially, the linguistically, culturally, and politically diverse culture that it is today. The last of these enormous empires was the Ottoman Empire, which was dismembered only around 1920, during the First World War, which was a critical moment in the history of the modern Arab world. It was then that Britain really began to delve into Arab affairs, which is where the name Middle East comes from; “The origins of the term are a matter of controversy because it was originally a European imposition of geographical perspective according to European spheres of influence. East from where? From London... half the paper... short period of "peace" where tensions were rising. It was a stressful time in the history of the Middle East, but there were no real wars during this period and, sadly, the area hasn't had much respite since then. 1948 to 1950 is a best-known section of Middle East history Middle East; the Arab-Israeli War, in which there were a series of uncoordinated attacks against the new, outnumbered State of Israel, since, as mentioned before, the Middle East is not a cohesive unit at this time, and they were actually repelled bitten by Israel which obtained more land than was allocated to it by the United Nations partition until the armistice was signed on 7 January 1949. However, this did not mark the end of the conflict, which is almost synonymous with history, in the area, and has remained divided and we can't really bring them together as one unit, the Middle East, but we do anyway.