Arab Revolution


 * Not to be confused with the 2011–present Arab Winter, also known as the Arab Civil War.

The Arab Revolution (Arabic: الثورة العربية ath-thawrah al-‘arabīyah) was a major armed conflict and revolution lasting from 26 June 1986 to 10 August 1989, which radically transformed the political order of the Arab world. Beginning as an armed uprising of pan-Arabist forces in Lebanon and Jordan, the conflict rapidly spread to neighbouring states, with all Arab countries ultimately pulled into the conflict. Fought primarily between Ba'ath-led pan-Arabist forces backed by (and ultimately becoming one with) the United Arab Republic (UAR) on one side, and a coalition of reactionary forces such as Arab monarchies and Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood on the other, the war lasted just over three years, and ended with a UAR victory and the subsequent establishment of the Arab Union as a federal republic covering virtually all of the Arab world.

The primary achievement with which the revolution is credited is transforming the Arab world from a collection of separate, at best indifferent and at worst hostile sovereign states, to a politically and increasingly economically integrated federation operating on the international stage as a single sovereign power, significantly reducing the influence of other world powers over the region's internal affairs. Similarly, the amalgamation of the 20 member republics' armed forces into a single, united military apparatus, which today constitutes the second largest military force in the world, resulted in a drastic realignment of the world order, ultimately reducing Western hegemony and contributing further to a multipolar international system.