The region is annexed to the Babylonian empire, while
Jerusalem fell into their hands.
586 BC
The
Babylonians under king
Nebuchadnezzar II sieged Tyre for thirteen years without success. Later a compromise peace was made in which Tyre had to pay tribute to the Babylonians. (to 573 BC)
Phoenicia along with Syria reverted to the
Seleucids, and the region became increasingly
Hellenized, although Tyre actually became autonomous in 126 BC, followed by Sidon in 111 BC.
Beirut was conquered by
Agrippa and the city was renamed in honour of the emperor's daughter, Julia; its full name became Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Berytus.
27 BC
the
Pax Romana period, inhabitants of the principal Phoenician cities of
Byblos,
Sidon, and Tyre were granted Roman citizenship, while economic and intellectual activities flourished. (to AD 180)
Beirut's school of law was founded, it later became widely known in the surrounding region. Two of Rome's most famous jurists,
Papinian and
Ulpian (both natives of Phoenicia), were taught at the law school under the
Severan emperors.
The
Maronites, a Christian community named after Saint
Maron sought refuge in the mountains of Lebanon.
6th century
Year
Date
Event
551
Beirut is destroyed by an
earthquake and tsunami. About 30,000 were killed in the city alone and, along the Phoenician coast, total casualties were close to 250,000.
7th century
Year
Date
Event
630
The Marada, a group of autonomous
Maronite communities, settled in
Mount Lebanon and the surrounding highlands following the conquest of Syria by the Arab
caliphate.
After the
Battle of Yarmuk, Caliph
Umar appointed the Arab
Muawiyah I, founder of the Umayyad dynasty, as governor of
Syria, an area that included present-day Lebanon.
667
Muawiyah negotiated an agreement with
Constantine IV, the Byzantine emperor, whereby he agreed to pay Constantine an annual tribute in return for the cessation of Marada incursions.
Prince 'Allaqa of
Tyre proclaimed his independence from the Abbasids and coined money in his own name.
970
The Fatimides settled in
Egypt and extended their authority to the coastal region of
Bilad al-Sham and
Damascus.
986
Under the Fatimid Caliph
Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, a new religion was born and spread by a man called
Ad-Darazi. This was the beginning of the
Druze religion and its expansion in several Lebanese regions.
The
Battle of Belvoir Castle in which a Crusader force led by King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem sparred inconclusively with an Ayyubid army from Egypt commanded by Saladin. The theatre of operations included
Eilat, the
Transjordan,
Galilee and
Beirut (which witnessed a siege by Saladin that ended in August of the same year).
1187
Saladin conquers virtually all of the Kingdom of Jerusalem with the exception of Tyre, which held out under
Conrad of Montferrat.
The Maanid period reaches its peak with the reign of
Fakhr ad-Din II. (to 1635)
17th century
Year
Date
Event
1613
Fakhr ad-Din II is exiled to
Tuscany after his inability to defeat the army of
Ahmad al Hafiz, the governor of
Damascus.
1618
Fakhr ad-Din II returns to Lebanon with the beginning of
Muhammad Pasha's reign as the new governor of Damascus.
1622
The
Battle of Anjar took place on 31 October, near Majdal Anjar between the army of Fakhr ad-Din II and an Ottoman army led by the governor of Damascus Mustafa Pasha.
1635
By the orders of
Murad IV, Kutshuk, the governor of Damascus, defeats Fakhr ad-Din who was later executed in
Constantinople.
18th century
Year
Date
Event
1799
Bashir II declines to assist the siege of
Acre by
Napoleon and
Jezzar Pasha. Unable to conquer Acre, Napoleon returned to
Egypt, and the death of Jezzar Pasha in 1804 removed Bashir's principal opponent in the area.
19th century
Year
Date
Event
1831
Bashir II breaks away from the Ottoman Empire, allies with
Muhammad Ali of Egypt and assists Muhammad Ali's son,
Ibrahim Pasha, in another siege of Acre. This siege lasted seven months, the city falling on 27 May 1832. The Egyptian army, with assistance from Bashir's troops, also attacked and conquered Damascus on 14 June 1832.
1840
After Muhammad Ali's rejection of the requests of the London treaty signed on 15 June 1840, Ottoman and British troops landed on the Lebanese coast on 10 September 1840. Faced with this combined force, Muhammad Ali retreated, and on 14 October 1840, Bashir II surrendered to the British and went into exile.
1841
Conflicts between the
Druze and the
Maronite Christians exploded. A Maronite revolt against the Feudal class erupted, and lasted until 1858.
1860
A full-scale war erupted between Maronites and Druze.
Napoleon III of France sent 7,000 troops to
Beirut and helped impose a partition: The Druze control of the territory was recognised as the fact on the ground, and the Maronites were forced into an
enclave, arrangements ratified by the concert of Europe in 1861.
1890
The "silk crisis" took place. Cheaper and better quality Chinese silk and silk products flooded Lebanese silk's main market: Europe. The crisis was especially hard considering many had taken on large debt to expand their lands and plant mulberry trees -which leaves were used to feed the worm.
20th Century
Year
Date
Event
1914
After the abolishment of Lebanon's semiautonomous status,
Jamal Pasha militarily occupies Lebanon.
On 22 November, Lebanon gains its
independence after national and international pressure following the imprisonment of president
Bechara El Khoury and other parliament members by the French.
A civil war erupts but short lived after the intervention of 5,000
US Marines ordered by President
Eisenhower upon the request of the Lebanese president
Camille Chamoun.
1975
Gunmen from the
Phalanges, a Lebanese Christian group, ambush a bus in Beirut, killing 27 of its mainly
Palestinian Muslim passengers, initiating the
Lebanese Civil War, mainly between Christians (with Israeli support) and Muslims.[3]
1982
Israel launches a full-scale invasion of Lebanon. The south of Lebanon, all the way to Beirut, is occupied by Israel. Pro-Israeli president-elect Bachir Gemayel is assassinated. With Israeli support, the
Phalangist militia kills thousands of Palestinians in the
Sabra and Shatila massacre. Bachir's elder brother Amine Gemayel is elected president.
Hezbollah is founded in Lebanon in opposition to the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon.[4]
1988
Outgoing President Amine Gemayel appoints an unelected military government under Christian Commander-in-Chief Michel Aoun.
1990
Michel Aoun flees the country as Syrian troops enter Lebanon. End of the Lebanese civil war.[5]
1992
Wealthy businessman
Rafic Hariri, a Muslim moderate, is elected prime minister.[6]
Following the
assassination of Rafic Hariri, who opposed Syrian presence in Lebanon, the
Cedar Revolution took place: following massive, peaceful demonstrations, the Syrian troops completely withdrew from Lebanon on 27 April 2005.
2007 Lebanon conflict: fighting between Fatah al-Islam, an Islamist militant organization, and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) on May 20, 2007 in Nahr al-Bared, an UNRWA Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli.
2008
May
2008 Lebanon conflict: Hezbollah-led opposition fighters seized control of several West Beirut neighborhoods from Future Movement militiamen loyal to the government, in street battles that left 11 dead and 30 wounded. The opposition-seized areas were then handed over to the Lebanese Army.
Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon - Between 2011 and 2017, fighting from the Syrian Civil War spilled over into Lebanon as opponents and supporters of the Syrian Arab Republic traveled to Lebanon to fight and attack each other on Lebanese soil. The Syrian conflict stoked a resurgence of sectarian violence in Lebanon.
On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion occurred at the Port of Beirut, Lebanon, resulting in at least 218 deaths, over 7,000 injuries. The explosion was one of the most powerful non-nuclear blasts recorded and the cause is still unknown.
2020 Beirut explosion