This authoritative, comprehensive encyclopedia covers all key wars, insurgencies, and battles that have occurred in the Middle East roughly between 3100 BCE and the early decades of the twenty-first century. It also discusses the evolution of military technology and the development and transformation of military tactics and strategy from the ancient world to the present. In addition to hundreds of entries on major conflicts, military engagements, and diplomatic developments, it also features entries on key military, political, and religious leaders; major empires and nations of the region; major periods under consideration; non-military subjects such as diplomacy, national and international politics, religion and sectarian conflict, cultural phenomena, genocide, international peacekeeping missions, social movements, and the rise to prominence of international terrorism. Includes primary sources on such diverse topics as the Greco-Persian Wars, Crusades, and the Arab-Israeli Wars.