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
Girls of the Golden West (country music duo) the home of country music pioneers Gene Autry and Patsy Montana. Bradley Kincaid, also at WLS, later worked with the girls in their recordings. They first started recording for Bluebird Records in 1933. They named themselves the Girls of the Golden West, taken from the opera by Puccini, "The Girl of the Golden West". They started singing songs such as "Put My Little Shoes Away" and "Ragtime Cowboy Joe". The Girls of the Golden West were one of the most popular acts of the 1930s and 1940s, and were one of the few women then found performing country music. The