IV.

History

Damascus is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. According to 15th-century bc Egyptian inscriptions, it was the capital of a city-state. During biblical times the city was subjugated by David, king of Judah and Israel (see 2 Samuel 8:5-6; 1 Chronicles 18:5), and later engaged in warfare with Israel. In 732 bc Damascus was conquered by the Assyrians, under Tiglath-pileser III (reigned 745-727 bc), and in 333-32 bc it fell to Alexander the Great. After the death (323 bc) of Alexander, Damascus became part of the Seleucid Kingdom. It was conquered by Pompey the Great in 64 bc.

Christianity was introduced into Damascus during the 1st century ad, and the city became the seat of a bishopric. In 635 it was taken by the Muslims, and for a time before the foundation (762) of Baghdad, Damascus was the residence of the caliphs and was greatly adorned and fortified. In 1076 it was seized by the Seljuk Turks, and in 1154 it fell to the Egyptians. Damascus was the headquarters of Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria, during the Third Crusade. In 1401 the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane pillaged and burned the city. It was soon rebuilt and in 1516 was wrested from Egypt by the Ottoman Turks. Damascus was returned to Egyptian rule by Ibrahim Pasha in 1832; in 1841, as part of Syria, it was restored to the Ottoman Empire. An uprising of the Muslim population in 1860 resulted in the destruction of the Christian quarter and the massacre of many Christians.

During World War I, Turko-German troops, directing their operations against the Suez Canal, were based in Damascus. In 1918 the city was captured by combined forces under Field Marshal Allenby and the Arab leader who became Faisal I, king of Iraq. Faisal later attempted to make Damascus the capital of an independent Arab state, and in March 1920 he was proclaimed king of Syria by a Syrian congress meeting in Damascus. In July, the French, who had been granted a mandate over Syria by the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers, occupied Damascus. In 1925-1927, during revolts of the Druze, a religious sect, against French rule, the French were twice driven out of Damascus, but each time reoccupied the city after heavy bombardments. Much of the city was ruined in the fighting, and many inhabitants were killed. Following the defeat (1940) of France by Germany in World War II, the pro-German Vichy government of France established in Damascus a colonial regime favourable to Germany. In 1941 a combined Allied force attacked Syria and took Damascus, which then became (1946) the capital of independent Syria.