Laurence of Arabia? A small group of armed rebels effectively working over the entire ME, in the face of a indifferent population.
Wasn't the biggest reason the Alexander got so famous because the invaded the backwater regions of Persia, where no armies were kept? If someone invaded a temperate siberia and beat back the individual armies sent from the far west (east), it'd look more impressive than it was.
Also, from a 1900 POV, the fact that in the following 80 years almost all monarchies in the world be gone.
the UAE and Bahrain...
Yes, they are.Not sure whether Oman and Qatar are monarchies ?
I think if there is a theme here, it is successful revolutions. In addition to the Bolshevik Revolution, pointed out earlier, I'd also like to mention the Cuban Revolution. The latter, beginning with the Moncada Barracks whereby many guerillas were killed and Castro, and others, imprisoned. Although he was released early, Castro went into exile in Mexico. Coming back to Cuba, he and his followers had more setbacks (their boat was delayed and landed in the wrong place on the island), lost some rebels, and continued to be heavily outnumbered by Batista and his forces. Yet, Casto took over the country in a couple of yrs, and continues to rule it to this day(!)---more or less--despite attempts by the US/CIA/exiles to get rid of him.
Jordan Remaining Neutral During The Yom Kippur War ...
Thiis, After Being One of The Aggressors ...
In The Six Day War, ONLY Siix Years Prior!
We would then compare it against the 'disappeared' - Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Rumania, Russia, Germany (and all the internal ones), Austria, Italy, Portugal - for Europe
How about, after 50 years of Communism, a democratic Bulgaria elects King Simeon as Prime Minister?