As political tensions in Europe grew, the world's most powerful governments divided into two camps and went to war. As history shows, the Ottomans chose the losing side, resulting in the dismantling of their empire. From the ashes of war, the Middle East was reshaped into Western-style nation-states. Today, as modern political boundaries divide the map, empires are a distant memory. With most Middle Eastern governments less than eighty years old, national lines are fresh and, in some cases, unsettled.