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, was islamic and some of them claiming the titles of 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
Ebla 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 (c. 3500 BCE), 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 (modern-day Aleppo) 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 (Assyrian and Babylonian) 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 (modern Bahrain and Oman) 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 (of Akkad), 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.