maps of war - control of over the Middle East

I've always loved maps (even if my paltry knowledge of geography belies that claim). Today, I read an article from the New Republic about the conflicts in the Middle East that essentially blame today's conflicts on French and British colonialism and arbitrary creation of states after WWI and WWII. It's certainly a claim with some warrant and one that has also been used to explain the breakup and conflicts in Eastern Europe. I freely admit that I don't know enough about the region to make any claims about the causes of the conflicts. Nevertheless, I thought this map was interesting-- it takes a truly longue durée view of the area's history. Clearly, control of the area has changed many hands and one wonders if fault can really laid at any one or two groups...

At any rate, it's a very cool site.