It's an interesting watch at the source...wow the middle east was a pushover....

I don't think it's a pushover. I think it's because the middle east is the literal middle of the world. Right smack in the center of a massive bunch of continents. If you wanted to go and trade anywhere before the modern age, you had to go through the middle east. So it's not hard to understand why empires rose and fell so often there, and why so many wars and conquests have occured.

True Arthur....and hence their not-so-friendly faces towards everyone these days....