In less than two years, the name ISIS has gained a colossal amount of fame. Between prisoner killing videos, destruction of artifacts, slaughtering of civilians, usage of chemical weapons and attacks abroad, ISIS had been condemned as a dangerous threat and has become a high priority of foreign superpowers. Although their actions receive an exorbitant amount of attention from the media, many people don’t understand ISIS. Their origins, territory, and goals are unknown to a lot of the public. In order to understand the violent nature and it rise to power, you must know where they came from.

The root of ISIS begins back in the 1970’s when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to fight rebels within the country engaged in a so-called “holy struggle.” From this group emerged two major leaders: Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Osama Bin Laden went on to become the founder of Al-Qaeda and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also formed his own group, but it was shaky and much weaker. Both groups eventually fall under the rule of the Taliban, but once the U.S. interfered in Afghanistan, both leaders fled to local countries.

Al-Qaeda becomes weaker, Bin Laden decides to form an alliance with al-Zarqawi. This branch led by al-Zarqawi becomes known as the Al-Qaeda in Iraq, or ASI. Then in 2006 and 2007, a U.S. surge pushed Al-Qaeda out of Iraq, during which killed al-Zarqawi. This did not defeat them, as they simply regrouped and rebuilt after the American troops withdrew from the Middle East and Syria’s civil war began. While Syria’s affairs occupy foreign powers, AQI renamed themselves The Islamic State of Iraq and appoints Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as their leader.

ISI attacks prisons in Iraq, recruiting their inmates and becoming a stronger force. They also take control of Al-Qaeda forces in Syria, expanding their territory and becoming the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or much more commonly known as ISIS. Syria stand by and allows ISIS to gain power in order to refocus foreign powers and gain advance in its own affairs. Then, ISIS launches an attack on Iraq. The majority of Iraqi troops laid down their arms because they refused to risk their lives for their corrupt government they opposed anyway, and ISIS gained control of about a third of Iraq and civilians tolerated them.

Once they gained power, ISIS had strict guidelines, such as no music, no smoking, no teaching of history, no sports and much more. Those who did not obey these new laws were beheaded, publicly hanged, and subjected to other cruel forms of execution. In 2014, Al-Qaeda cut ties with ISIS for being too extreme. Later that year, propaganda videos of beheadings were released, and ISIS became an independent organization.

According to Vox News, the goal of ISIS is to gain territory. It’s state, called the Caliphate, is currently the size of the United Kingdom. ISIS wants to revive the ancient Caliphate, which would cover the majority of the eastern hemisphere. Their war would therefore bring on the apocalypse in Islamic scriptures.

This goal is highly unlikely to be achieved. In 2015 alone, the U.S. and other allies have taken almost a fourth of their territory away from them. The current theory is that due to ISIS’s struggle to hold territory, they are initiating more terrorist attacks abroad. The Paris Attacks were the first major attack that ISIS claimed responsibility for. Since then, there have been attacks in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia. ISIS has also inspired attacks, such as the San Bernardino shooting. Politicians and military experts say that ISIS intends to send a message that the more we fight against them, the more they will hurt people around the world. Therefore, these attacks seem to be coming from a place of weakness, not to display strength.

It is estimated that ISIS will not remain the power it is for much longer. The U.S., France, Germany, and other foreign powers have been fighting against them for several months now and taken away a significant amount of territory away from them. ISIS has no outside allies, and therefore are only relying on themselves. Although ISIS will shrink, its is likely that the weakened ISIS will rejoin with Al-Qaeda and become ASI once again. Although they would be smaller and not as powerful, they would have allies and be better connected, meaning that they would be able to operate for an extended period of time into the future.