Changes

In the Near East, and unlike Europe, multicultural empires persisted long after the fall of Rome and, in fact, continued until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. However, the rise of nationalism in the 19th century -20th centuries and creation of modern nation states did create the opportunity for new political identities that hashave, to some extent, led to the rise of some of the current conflicts in the Near East that appear to have some ethnic basis. What this shows is that more recent history does not necessarily reflect a historical pattern, where current conflicts between ethnic groups are more likely reflecting new power realities that did not translate to past societies in the region.<ref>For information on how nationalism shaped the more modern Near East, see: Schumann, Christoph, ed. 2010. Nationalism and Liberal Thought in the Arab East: Ideology and Practice. SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East 10. London ; New York: Routledge.</ref>