The Middle East has been the focus of international attention recently, but this is by no means a new development. Western countries, and particularly the United States, have been involved in Middle Eastern affairs since 1919. On January 27th, join us as Major Joshua Watson charts the course of American and Western engagement and intervention in the Middle East up to the present day. We will discuss how the current Middle East was formed, the seismic changes that occurred after the Second World War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the diplomatic and economic efforts to bring stability to a very unstable region. Finally, we will look at the recent collapse of the Assad regime Syria and what it may mean for the broader region.