Regional History
A comprehensive course covering the history of the Middle East from the 18th century to the present, examining state formation, imperial intervention, and modern nation-states across the region.
27 total
Module 1
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
The course begins by explaining why religion matters to modern Middle Eastern history. Islam is introduced historically, not as a separate subject removed from politics and society.
Open lesson →Module 2
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
This second introduction expands the course frame through British influence and World War I. Saudi Arabia and Iran are named as places where imperial power worked without direct occupation.
Open lesson →Module 3
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
The nineteenth century is presented as a period of major transformation. European control, occupation, and governance are traced as central forces in the modern Middle East.
Open lesson →Module 4
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Reform in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt is taught as a struggle over how to respond to crisis. The lesson follows rulers, officials, religious leaders, and intellectuals who argued for change.
Open lesson →Module 5
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Military reform and state power are examined through Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and Britain. The lesson shows why Britain opposed a strong regional state.
Open lesson →Module 6
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Iran's nineteenth-century path is compared with Egypt and the Ottoman Empire. The lesson identifies regional trends that reached Iran later and shaped its modern history.
Open lesson →Module 7
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Constitutional movements are presented as regional demands for limits on executive power. The lesson connects parliaments, consultation, constitutions, and democracy before World War I.
Open lesson →Module 8
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Egyptian nationalism is introduced through popular opposition, fiscal crisis, and great power politics. The lesson follows the road toward British occupation.
Open lesson →Module 9
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
The Ottoman constitutional revolution is tied to military intervention in politics. The lesson places constitutional government within a wider twentieth-century regional aspiration.
Open lesson →Module 10
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
World War I is studied through its social, psychological, and cultural disruption. The lesson refuses to reduce the war's effects to battlefield history alone.
Open lesson →Module 11
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Postwar settlements are approached through devastation, famine, violence, and broken social worlds. The lesson shows how the aftermath of World War I shaped the region.
Open lesson →Module 12
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Turkey and Iran are examined as postwar transformations outside the Arab mandate framework. The lesson contrasts their paths with the countries placed under British and French control.
Open lesson →Module 13
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Nation-state formation is studied through Iran and Turkey after World War I. The lesson emphasizes nationalism, state-building, and the role of the military.
Open lesson →Module 14
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
The interwar Middle East is framed through nation-state interests and pan-Arabism. The lesson examines how state power often drove politics even when broader Arab identity remained powerful.
Open lesson →Module 15
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
World War II and its aftermath mark a turn from European colonial dominance to superpower influence. The lesson follows Syria, Lebanon, France, and the pressure of the United States and Soviet Union.
Open lesson →Module 16
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
This lesson separates the modern Palestine-Israel struggle from earlier conflicts over the land. It identifies the specific protagonists that define the contemporary historical conflict.
Open lesson →Module 17
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
The aftermath of 1948 is traced through territory, military control, and the division of Palestine. The lesson names how Israel, Jordan, and Egypt came to control different areas.
Open lesson →Module 18
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Regional politics between 1956 and 1967 are explored through Palestinian resistance, Arab regimes, and the Cold War. The lesson shows how local and global pressures converged.
Open lesson →Module 19
Lesson
Dr. Ervand Abrahamian
Iran's 1953 coup is explained through nationalism and the overthrow of Mosaddegh. The lesson frames Mosaddegh as a figure of broad Iranian national aspiration.
Open lesson →Module 20
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Saudi Arabia's place in the region changes through oil discovery and Aramco's expansion. The lesson connects production, power, and the shifting Middle Eastern balance.
Open lesson →Module 21
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
The United States' growing interest in Saudi Arabia is traced during and after World War II. Pipeline planning becomes a window into regional strategy.
Open lesson →Module 22
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Late Cold War conflicts are examined through Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the United States. The lesson shows how anti-communist strategy shaped regional war.
Open lesson →Module 23
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
The post-Cold War Middle East is presented as a period of realignment. The lesson follows changing relationships between the United States, Gulf regimes, and Islamist movements.
Open lesson →Module 24
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Twenty-first-century conflicts are studied through wars, interventions, and regional challenges. The lesson asks how local conflicts and outside powers reshape one another.
Open lesson →Module 25
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
Nuclear politics are examined through Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. The lesson shows how one state's capacity changes the calculations of others.
Open lesson →Module 26
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
The final challenges lesson connects inequality, state development, gender, and governance. It contrasts earlier social gains with the effects of privatization and uneven public investment.
Open lesson →Module 27
Lesson
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
This private session opens the scholarship behind the course. Rashid Khalidi discusses readings, specialized studies, and the intellectual foundations that shaped the lectures.
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