Ottoman

Lawrence of Arabia has been a household name in the West, right up there with Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and perhaps even Peter O’Toole. In the late 20th century this was largely due to the latters portrayal of Lawrence in the 1962 film. This romantic portrayal shows Lawrence dressed as a bedouin dashing around on horseback showing the evil Germans and Turks who’s boss. However, the fame and romanticism surrounding T.E. Lawrence and the Arab revolt of WWI is due to an even earlier spread of propaganda.
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Iraq, a nation since 1920, war-torn, conflict-ridden, plagued by despotic rulers, and western political and economic aspirations. The area we now know as Iraq is also the site of many ancient civilizations. Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, and Arabians all built their monuments and cities in this area. A little overwhelmed with my self-driven project to find out more about the history of this “nation” I’ve read almost too much. Now I’m faced with the fact that I wrote a blog that is 3 single-spaced pages. Don’t worry I cut the lot and will not bore you with the whole thing. Do people really care about what the Persians called their Iraq province or when the Mongols sacked Baghdad? Well, perhaps a few people care, but I think my blog is already long enough for most of your TV-addled attention spans.

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