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.
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.
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.
The Jordan valley is occupied by the Tulunids, extending in the north to the outposts in the Anti-Lebanon mountains on the Byzantine border, enabling them to defend Egypt against Abbasid attack.[1]Tulunid Emirate in 893
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
French
Deutsch
Lebanon portal