History of the Middle East brought major protests, uprisings, and revolutions to several Middle Eastern countries, followed by prolonged civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya. In 2014, a terrorist group and self-proclaimed caliphate calling itself the Islamic State made rapid territorial gains in western Iraq and eastern Syria, prompting international military intervention. At its peak, the group controlled an area containing an estimated 2.8 to 8 million people, 98% of which was lost by December 2017. By country: General: Works cited History of the Middle East Home to the Cradle of Civilization, the Middle East (usually interchangeable with the Near East) has seen
Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps of Middle and Lower Friuli to the river Livenza, devastated by the Magyar incursions. Avar domination over the Slavs persisted until mid 620s. In 623 the Slavs, led by Frankish merchant Samo, rebelled against the Avars. In 626 the Avars were ultimately defeated at Constantinople, after which Samo became the ruler of the first historically known Slavic polity, Samo's Tribal Union, which persisted until his death in 658. Subsequently, a smaller Slavic principality emerged around 660, known as Carantania, and was absorbed into the Frankish Empire in 745. After settling in the Eastern Alps region, Slavs subsequently subjugated the aboriginal