Southern Asia 1949: First Arab-Israeli War
Independence
1880–1914 Pax Britannica
1914–1917 The Great War in the Middle East
1917–1918 The Fall of the Ottoman Empire
1918–1923 Anglo-French Overreach
1923–1934 Rising Nationalism
1934–1940 Arrival of the New Order
1940–1941 World War II: The Middle Eastern Theater
1941–1945 World War II: The South-East Asian Theater
1945–pres Independence
First Arab-Israeli War
When Israel declared independence in 1948, the surrounding Arab states immediately declared war and invaded it. Although outnumbered, the Israelis fought back against their disunited enemies, eventually gaining control of the entire former Mandate of Palestine except for Egyptian-held Gaza Strip and the Transjordanian-held West Bank. The Israeli victory pushed some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs to flee to neighboring countries, while a roughly equal number of Jews migrated to Israel - many expelled from Arab countries.