Lebanon (country)

B

Romans and Byzantines

In 64 bc the Romans began an imperial rule over the area that continued under the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) for 573 years. Under Rome, Phoenicians prospered again as they rebuilt fleets and made great cultural progress. The Sidonians grew wealthy with their invention of blown glass. The Romans greatly influenced the regional culture, as evidenced by the majestic ruins of Roman temples in Lebanon, particularly in Baalbek. The school of law in Beirut became famous while the region was under Roman rule, and the Semitic Phoenician language yielded to the regionally spoken Semitic Aramaic, introducing new elements to Phoenician culture. Under the Orthodox Byzantines, Christianity became deeply rooted. In the 6th century ad monks introduced silkworms from China, and a silk industry developed that brought wealth for centuries. Around the same time, earthquakes destroyed Beirut and its law school and badly damaged the great temples in Baalbek.

C

Islamic Caliphates and Crusader Kingdoms

Arab conquests in the 7th century brought political and cultural upheavals to the entire Middle East, and in 636 Islam pushed into Lebanon. In the late 7th century, Maronite Christians, seeking refuge from Byzantine oppression, migrated from the interior of Syria into the northern Lebanon Mountains. Gradually, the area named Phoenicia gave way to Mount Lebanon or simply Lebanon. In 661 a new Muslim empire under the Umayyad caliphate arose with its capital in Damascus, in present-day Syria. The Umayyads incorporated the Fertile Crescent, including Lebanon, into their empire. In 750 the Umayyads were overthrown by the Abbasid caliphate, which ruled from Baghdād, in present-day Iraq.

Early in the 11th century a new heretical group emerged from the Ismailite Shias; called Druze after one of their leaders, they evolved in the Mount Hermon area, in the southeast of present-day Lebanon. Later, some Druze filtered north into the southern Lebanon Mountains. The decline of the Abbasids after the 11th century opened the Levant to several contending powers, among them the Seljuks. Their territorial advances, especially into Palestine, aroused Christian fears in Western Europe and provoked the invasion of the Crusaders between 1095 and 1291. Crusader influence was strong in Lebanon, which was divided between the kingdoms of Tripoli and Jerusalem. During Crusader occupation, Maronites cooperated with their fellow Christians and enjoyed expanded group identity, but their collaboration increased the suspicions of Muslims. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, Shia Muslim groups from several areas peacefully migrated into Lebanon’s northern Bekáa and also later to the south. Lebanon was now shared by Maronites, Druze, Sunnis, and Shias, the same groups who would clash in the civil war of 1975 to 1991. As the 13th century closed, Egyptian Mamluks led the expulsion of the Crusaders and occupied the Lebanon area. For more than 200 years under the Mamluks, Lebanon’s coastal cities prospered from revived trade.

D

Ottoman Empire

In 1516 the Ottomans, centered in Constantinople, extended their conquests to include Lebanon, but gave the region considerable autonomy. Under Ottoman overlords, amirs (princes) of two local dynasties ruled successively: the Maans (1516-1697) and the Shihabs (1697-1842), both Druze families. Maan amir Fakhr al-Din II (1586-1635), a tolerant Europeanized Druze, introduced Western-style development. The later amirs of the Shihabs became Maronites and, under Bashir II (1788-1840), turned against their Druze neighbors. This turmoil in the Lebanon Mountains prompted tighter Ottoman control, though it did not put an end to Maronite-Druze hostility. In battles in 1860 the Druze massacred more than 10,000 Christians, mostly Maronites. European powers landed forces to quell the fighting and encourage better and more open administration. A relative freedom emerged as a result, attracting Arab intellectuals and foreign missionaries. In 1866 the Syrian Protestant College was founded in Beirut and in 1920 was renamed the American University of Beirut. The American Press was established in Beirut in 1834, followed by the Catholic Press in 1874. In 1875 Saint Joseph University was established by French Jesuit priests. Lebanon rapidly became the most literate and best-educated country in the Arab world. World War I (1914-1918) interrupted prosperity with chaos and famine in the Lebanon Mountains, but the Allied defeat of the Ottoman Empire ended Ottoman control over the Levant.

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E

French Mandate

With the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after the war, the League of Nations awarded Lebanon to France as a mandate in 1920. The mandate combined the mainly Christian Lebanon Mountains with the mainly Muslim coastal plain (formerly Phoenicia) and the Muslim Bekáa (including some of the Anti-Lebanon mountain ridges) to form “Greater Lebanon,” marking the creation of Lebanon as it is known today. The combination made the new country far more viable, but conflict between the ethnic and religious groups would later develop. In 1926 France forged a dependent Republic of Lebanon, which emerged as an independent state in 1943.

F

Independence to 1975

With independence in 1943, practical Lebanese political leaders forged an unwritten National Pact (see Government) designed to promote cooperation and conciliation among the rival confessional (religious) groups. The concept of a confessional democracy was unique. The National Pact was partly grounded in the 1932 census, which ranked the major sects in order of population as Maronites, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Greek Orthodox, Druze, and Greek Catholics. Among the pact’s provisions, Maronites and Sunni Muslims were assured dominant political roles in proportion to their 1932 populations. The agreement faced early stresses in 1948 and 1958. In 1948 the stresses were external: The first Arab-Israeli war broke out, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled their homes as Israeli troops advanced on them (see Palestine, Modern). About 150,000 Palestinians became refugees in Lebanon. Embittered and predominantly Muslim, they threatened the fragile confessional balance. In May 1958 internal tensions were high when President Camille Chamoun provoked political foes, especially Druze and Sunni Muslims, by challenging the constitution in an attempt to gain a second term. A short civil war erupted. Outside interference by several neighbors, along with general tensions in the Middle East, again greatly escalated the stresses. The United States, fearing the war’s effect on the wider region, landed 14,000 Marines on beaches south of Beirut on July 15. The Marines’ presence helped stabilize the country, and by early August the fighting was finished. In three months of warfare, an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 people were killed.

Chamoun’s successor, Fouad Chehab (Shihab), restored confidence and advanced Lebanon’s economic boom. Chehab attempted to reform feudal values and bridge sectarian rifts—for example, by increasing membership in parliament from 66 to 99, thereby providing more seats to more sects. His successor in 1964, Charles Helou, continued Chehab’s programs but was thwarted by the severe aftereffects of the 1967 Six-Day War between Arabs and Israel. The war sent another wave of Palestinian refugees to Lebanon. Although Helou kept his country neutral during the war, the fighting and other Middle East tensions triggered complex domestic conflicts which neither Helou nor his successor after 1970, Sulayman Franjiyah, could stop. In most of the conflicts, overlapping groups of Muslims, Arab nationalists, Palestinians, and various leftists were aligned on one side. On the other side were Christians, supporters of the West, wealthy rightists, and supporters of the status quo. Cross-alliances permeated several factions. The most militant Palestinians, including growing numbers of the heavily armed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) militia, soon developed a state within a state. Since most of the Lebanese army sympathized with the Palestinians, the government could not easily challenge the PLO. In the Cairo Agreement of 1969, Lebanon’s neighbors forced the government to let the PLO use its territory to mount raids on northern Israel. The situation worsened after the PLO was expelled from Jordan in 1970. Most of the refugees from Jordan, including more armed militiamen, regrouped in Lebanon. By this time, the Lebanese government was too weak and vulnerable to impose any significant controls on the Palestinians.

In 1972 the PLO opened its headquarters in Beirut. From southern Lebanon, PLO Fatah fedayeen (commandos) periodically launched hit-and-run attacks on northern Israel. Israel responded with raids on the PLO in Lebanon. The Israeli attacks were often more severe and on a larger scale than PLO attacks on Israel and often impacted civilian areas. The feeble, divided Lebanese government was unable to restrain attacks by either side and watched helplessly as the destruction and death among its citizens mounted. In May 1973 Palestinians and Lebanese soldiers had a brief, sharp clash in Beirut, a foretaste of the civil war to come.

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