YouTube Recording – You will be sent a link to a private playlist containing all 5 sessions from Fall 2020 within 48 hours during standard office hours.

NOTE – This is part 3 of a series that includes classes from Winter 2021 and Fall 2021 which are both available for purchase.

Note – there are no handouts for this class.

The Middle East is an amalgam of numerous diverse ethnicities, tribes, religions, and political-economical-cultural-societal factors.  Located at the crossroads of earliest human migrations and centered on Asian-European trade routes, today the footprints of these Middle Eastern ancestors remain in regional identities, historic memories, and present views on the world.  Near and Middle Eastern crosscurrents extend over broad reaches of time and geographic distance, and set the stage for the emergence of myriad historic personalities.  This residual and sometimes fanatic history causes us in the West to ponder Middle Eastern responses to the comparatively short, varied, and volatile impact that Europe and the United States have had on the area.

This first six-week session will focus on the cross pollination resulting from migration of ancestral peoples and their inspiration for beginning civilizations.  These early classes will cover the time-period in regional history Before Current Era (BCE-antiquity) and bring the Middle East up to the Current Era (CE or Anno Domini (year 0 AD)).

Proposed future classes will delve into the time of:

• Asian prominence before the impact of Europe (years 0–1500 AD);
• The period of European mercantilism and colonialism (years 1500–1900)
• World Wars (years 1900–1950).
• Lastly, we will look at current Middle Eastern events, intrigues, and conflicts all leading us to gaze into the future through a very murky crystal ball.

Instructor: Jerry Reser entered the Navy after college and retired after 27 years with the rank of Captain.  He holds degrees from Kansas State University, University of Southern California, the Naval War College and the DOD Chinese language program.  Following retirement, Jerry lived eight years in Saudi Arabia working as program manager for a Saudi Ministry of Defense and Saudi Air Force think tank.  For another five years, he lived in Lebanon and traveled extensively in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.  He is currently doing historical research into US and world events in the post–WWII period of 1946–1952.