The formation of the Milky Way must have started with some small increases in density that developed as a result of the oscillations and other dynamical behavior of the Universe as it emerged from the stage of reionization. These regions collapsed into higher density states and began to form stars. At the same time they interacted with each other due in large part to the effects of the dark matter they contained. Many of the interactions resulted in merging of these objects into a large, roughly spherical body that collapsed and formed stars, now traced as the bulge, globular clusters, and other objects with population II stars. Later, interstellar gas that gathered around this central region formed a disk, where the population I stars formed.