Questions tagged [syria]
Questions regarding the history of Syria, a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
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What is the historic validity of "Nothing is real; everything is permitted" as the Assassins' motto?
"Nothing is true; everything is permitted" - I find this phrase, popularized by the game Assassins' Creed, quite confusing even as historic fiction.
Historically, the Hassansins (a.k.a the ...
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What was Syrian side of the story for the 1989 shooting of a Turkish aircraft?
Wikipedia briefly notes:
In October 1989, 2 Syrian Mig-21's flew 12 miles (19 km) into Turkish airspace where they shot down a Turkish aircraft.
Most of the articles linked there are dead links by ...
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Did German aircraft operate off Lebanon in 1941?
During the Syro-Lebanon War in 1941, French forces fought British forces both on the ground, in the air and at sea. French airplanes attacked the British fleet multiple times.
But according to Roald ...
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What did the Musa Dagh monument look like?
There was a monument built by French/Armenians to commemorate the Musa Dagh defense during the Armenian Genocide. The following image shows how it looks like now:
I was curious how it originally ...
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Why didn't Syria operate the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther tank?
Given that Syria operated numerous Nazi-era vehicles during the Cold War, why didn't it operate the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther tank?
Syria acquired plenty of Panzer IVs, including some from France. ...
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Why was Caliph Suleyman disliked by the noted generals in the Umayyad army?
Caliph Suleyman of Umayyad Empire was by all accounts a rash man who kept a grudge. He also appears to have had stormy relations with the Army's Walidist generals.
His only apparent support in the ...
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What was clothing in ancient Palmyra like?
What is known about what people used to wear in the city of Palmyra during the third century AD? Was it more similar to Roman or Persian fashion of the period?
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Did the US military just kill more Russians in Syria than they ever did during the Cold War?
EDIT: It is understood that the US military generally was not in direct confrontation with the Soviets during the Cold War (hence it being Cold). It's also true that even during a cold war "things" ...
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Did former SS-member Alois Brunner advise Syria on organizing it's Intelligence Service?
Alois Brunner was a Nazi, member of the Waffen-SS and assistant to Adolf Eichmann. After WWII he lived, more or less well hidden, in western Germany until he went to Syria in '54, aided by the BND.
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Did the Palmyrene Empire actually own territory beyond the Euphrates?
On the Wikipedia article for the Palmyrene empire. It shows an image of the empire in 271 that includes territory beyond the Euphrates in Northern Mesopotamia.
However the article mentions nothing ...
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How widespread was the Arabic Language in Syria before Islamic conquest?
Before the Islamic conquest of Syria and the whole Levant, how widespread was the use of the Arabic language there? Are there any resources show what the percentage of Arabic in that region is as well?...
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Why did the Byzantines not try to recover Syria during the war between Ali and Muawiya?
After the Caliph Othman get killed there was period of instability in the Islamic state for more than five years, and Syria was just taken by Muslims before around twenty years.
Why did the ...
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How did Muhammad bin Qasim die?
The wikipedia page about Muhammad bin Qasim says:
According to Al-Baladhuri, a 9th-century Persian historian, Qasim was
killed due to a family feud with the governor of Iraq. After the death
of ...
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What words were obliterated from the Great Colonnade at Palmyra?
One of the columns at the Great Colonnade at Palmyra features a dedicatory inscription to Zenobia and Odaenathus. It is bilingual, recording the same text in Greek and Palmyrenean:
(Image credit: ...
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Why did Syria intervene in favour of the Maronites during the Lebanese Civil War?
From pg. 382, A History of the Modern Middle East by Martin Bunton and William Cleveland
"The [Lebanese Civil War] was expanded and then brought temporarily to an end by Syrian intervention. In ...
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What is the historical name(s) for area between Syria and Mesopotamia?
Apologies if this is "really" a geographical question, but I suspect it must have been addressed by scholars of the past millenium of Middle Eastern history, not least because it is so central to a ...
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Why did the French concede Mosul to British Iraq?
Blogger Andrew Sullivan writing about Syria today notes:
Syria as we now know it was created by one Brit, Mark Sykes, and one Frenchman, Francois Georges-Picot in 1920. Originally, it included a ...
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Why did the Arabs start the 1973 War during Ramadan, and did it affect their performance?
The Arab-Israeli War in 1973, besides the Jewish Holiday, also took place during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which practicing Muslims observe mandatory daytime fasting. Did this affect ...
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What do I need to know about Syria's history to understand the 2011-2012 uprising?
Syria is in the news a lot lately due to the current uprising, but it's not a country that many people know much about. It can trace its history back to the origins of civilization, and as a result ...
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Why didn't Russia help Saddam Hussein as it is helping Syria now?
Wasn't Saddam an ally of Russia?
If Russia wasn't his ally, who was his ally?
Syria is looking like a strong ally of Russia as it was the case of Serbia. Russians played direct roles to save these ...
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What was the Soviet role in Syria during the Cold-War?
It is my understanding that the Soviet Union supported governments in Syria during the cold-war primarily as a counter-balance to American influence over regional powers particularly Saudi Arabia and ...
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