Fighting for Jerusalem: The History of the Most Important Battles and Sieges for Control of World’s Holiest City [Audiobook]

When Israel captured East Jerusalem during the Six Day War in 1967, it established Jewish control over the city for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, and in many ways it brought a story full circle, as Jerusalem has witnessed some of history’s most important battles over the past 3,000 years. Over 2,500 years before the Six Day War, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II oversaw the expansion of the Neo-Babylonian Empire during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, which placed him in conflict with Egypt and the ancient kingdom of Judah. His ruthless conquest of Judah resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the entire kingdom, and it ultimately earned him notoriety in the Old Testament, where he is mentioned in the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The Assyrians also exiled the Jews. The Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE is arguably the most important event in Jewish history. First, it was the central battle in the First Jewish-Roman war. Second, the failure of the siege on the Jewish side resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, a disaster that would eventually prove both permanent and catastrophic, since it was never rebuilt.