It was the end of an era for a young century. Lasting peace, rising prosperity, and expanding democracy had seemed inevitable. A return to the past of irrational conflict, the triumph of forces opposing progress, had seemed impossible. Yet in August 1914, these dreams were being shattered for Europe. British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, looking out his window as twilight fell in London, said mournfully, “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”

In European cities, towns, and villages, crowds cheered the advent of war as a relief from everyday life's boredom and disappointments, manifestating the all-too-human desire to leap over difficulties and to solve the myriad problems of individuals and societies in a single bound. Once again, from this moment and for many decades thereafter, Europe was engulfed in turmoil – including three major international conflicts – as factions battled over democracy versus despotism and over which political, economic, and social system would dominate the modern world.

During this era of about seventy-five years, from World War One's beginning to the Cold War's end, prospects for stability and peaceful progress were repeatedly disrupted by national hatreds, unresolved ethnic conflicts, economic depressions, and ideological struggles. Attempts by a single leader, idea, or country to dominate the continent would destroy cities and pile up mountains of corpses. Only near that terrible twentieth century's close did Europe evolve beyond that phase to achieve a basic consensus on key issues that made possible real peace and cooperation.

To start a book on the contemporary Middle East by referring to a past European era of crisis may seem strange.