the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Middle East /
David Fromkin
1st Owl Books ed
New York :
H. Holt,
2001
635 pages, [32] pages of plates :
illustrations, maps ;
21 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 607-620) and index
The last days of old Europe -- The legacy of the great game in Asia -- The Middle East before the war -- The young Turks urgently seek an ally -- Winston Churchill on the eve of war -- Churchill seizes Turkey's warships -- An intrigue at the Sublime Porte -- Kitchener takes command -- Kitchener's lieutenants -- Kitchener sets out to capture Islam -- India protests -- The man in the middle -- The Turkish commanders almost lose the war -- Kitchener allows Britain to attack Turkey -- On to victory at the Dardanelles -- Russia's grab for Turkey -- Defining Britain's goals in the Middle East -- At the narrows of fortune -- The warriors -- The politicians -- The light that failed -- Creating the Arab bureau -- Making promises to the Arabs -- Making promises to the European allies -- Turkey's triumph at the Tigris -- Behind enemy lines -- Kitchener's last mission -- Hussein's revolt -- The fall of the allied governments : Britain and France -- The overthrow of the Czar -- The new world -- Lloyd George's Zionism -- Toward the Balfour Declaration -- The promised land -- Jerusalem for Christmas -- The road to Damascus -- The battle for Syria -- The parting of the ways -- By the shores of Troy -- The ticking clock -- Betrayal -- The unreal world of the peace conferences -- The troubles begin, 1919-1921 -- Egypt, the winter of 1918-1919 -- Afghanistan, the spring of 1919 -- Arabia, the spring of 1919 -- Turkey, January 1920 -- Syria and Lebanon, the spring and summer of 1920 -- Eastern Palestine (Transjordan), 1920 -- Palestine : Arabs and Jews, 1920 -- Mesopotamia (Iraq), 1920 -- Persia (Iran), 1920 -- Unmasking Britain's enemies -- The Soviet challenge in the Middle East -- Moscow's goals -- A death in Bukhara -- Winston Churchill takes charge -- Churchill and the question of Palestine -- The alliances come apart -- A Greek tragedy -- The settlement of the Middle Eastern question
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An account of how the modern Middle East came into being, and why it is in upheaval, focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922
In our time the Middle East has proven a battleground of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and dynasties. All of these conflicts, including the hostilities between Arabs and Israelis that have flared yet again, come down, in a sense, to the extent to which the Middle East will continue to live with its political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed upon the region by the Allies after the First World War. In A Peace to End All Peace, David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies came to remake the geography and politics of the Middle East, drawing lines on an empty map that eventually became the new countries of Iraq, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all-even an alliance between Arab nationalism and Zionism-seemed possible he raises questions about what might have been done differently, and answers questions about why things were done as they were. The current battle for a Palestinian homeland has its roots in these events of 85 years ago