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The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East Hardcover – March 10, 2015
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By 1914 the powers of Europe were sliding inexorably toward war, and they pulled the Middle East along with them into one of the most destructive conflicts in human history. In The Fall of the Ottomans, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict. Unlike the static killing fields of the Western Front, the war in the Middle East was fast-moving and unpredictable, with the Turks inflicting decisive defeats on the Entente in Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, and Gaza before the tide of battle turned in the Allies' favor. The postwar settlement led to the partition of Ottoman lands, laying the groundwork for the ongoing conflicts that continue to plague the modern Arab world. A sweeping narrative of battles and political intrigue from Gallipoli to Arabia, The Fall of the Ottomans is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Great War and the making of the modern Middle East.
- Print length512 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBasic Books
- Publication dateMarch 10, 2015
- Dimensions6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
- ISBN-10046502307X
- ISBN-13978-0465023073
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Rogan has written an impressively sound and fair-minded account of the fall of the Ottoman Empire."―Max Hastings, Sunday Times (UK)
"[An] assured account.... The book stands alongside the best histories."―Economist
"The book is not only exact and readable but also has the elements of a thriller and thus is all the more remarkable in view of its thoroughness in covering a linguistically and historically difficult subject."―Wall Street Journal
"This engrossing history unfolds in the Middle Eastern theatre of the First World War, capturing the complex array of battles, brutalities, and alliances that brought down the six-hundred-year-old Ottoman Empire.... Rogan argues that the empire's ultimate demise was the result not of losing the war but of a clumsily negotiated peace. His balanced narrative unearths many seeds of current conflicts."―New Yorker
"Admirable and thoroughly researched.... A comprehensive history of World War I in the Middle East."―New York Review of Books
"[An] intricately worked but very readable account of the Ottoman theocracy's demise.... This is an extraordinary tale and Rogan recounts it well."―New York Times
"To have written a page-turner as well as an accurate and comprehensive history of the Ottoman struggle for survival is a remarkable achievement."―Wall Street Journal
"As the Middle East is collapsing all around us, if you wanted to know where it all began and when, read this great book by a great Oxford historian."―Fareed Zakaria, Fareed Zakaria GPS, Book of the Week
"[Rogan's] account is geopolitical and military writing at its best - taut, anecdotal and extraordinarily researched. A tangled story, to be sure, one that both commands and rewards the reader's attention."―Washington Times
"A comprehensive, lucid and revealing history.... This book will surely become the definitive history of the war."―The Times (UK)
"The Fall of the Ottomans is a remarkably lucid and accessible work of history, involving a large cast of contradictory and complex characters.... Telling quotations from diplomats, field commanders, and ordinary soldiers of all the combatants lend the narrative a powerful sense of immediacy."―The Daily Beast
"Eugene Rogan has given us an absorbing history of the war's principal military and political battles in the Middle East through the eyes of those who fought them."―Mustafa Aksakal, chair of Modern Turkish Studies and associate professor of history at Georgetown University
"[A] masterly history of the Ottoman empire in its final years.... Eugene Rogan has written a meticulously researched, panoramic and engrossing history. The book is essential reading for understanding the evolution of the modern Middle East and the root causes of nearly all the conflicts that now plague the area. The Fall of the Ottomans is an altogether splendid work of historical writing."―Ali A. Allawi, The Spectator (UK)
"A fantastic, readable, and much needed study of the most chronically neglected of all of the Great War's participants: the Ottoman Empire. Informative and enlightening."―Alexander Watson, author of Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I
"This is a gripping, masterful account of World War One in the Middle East from the vantage point of the Ottoman Empire.... Combining magisterial scholarship with a keen sense of drama and lively narrative style, it tells a grim story but a fascinating one.... If you want to understand the underlying causes of conflict and violence in the Middle East in the last century, you will not find a better book."―Avi Shlaim, authorof The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World
"This book opens up a window on vital chapters in the shaping of the Middle East as well as the history of the Great War, bringing together vivid personal details with a broad historical panorama of human suffering and heroism, the incompetence and folly of the general staffs, and the scheming of the great powers."―Rashid Khalidi, authorof Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path inthe Middle East
"Thoroughly researched and elegantly written by one of the leading experts on the region, The Fall of the Ottomans reminds us that the 1914-18 conflict was truly a world war with huge and continuing consequences. No one is better equipped than Eugene Rogan to handle the course and impact of the war in the Middle East and he does a superb job, telling a complex and multifaceted story with great clarity, understanding, and compassion. This timely and important work restores the Middle East to its rightful place in the history of the Great War."―Margaret MacMillan, author of The War That Ended Peace: The Road to1914
"Thrilling, superb, and colorful, Eugene Rogan's The Fall of the Ottomans is brilliant storytelling. Filled with flamboyant characters, impeccable scholarship that illuminates the neglected Near Eastern theater of WWI--showing how the Ottomans managed repeatedly to defeat the Allies--and revelatory analysis that explains the modern Mideast, The Fall of the Ottomans is truly essential but also truly exciting reading."―Simon Sebag Montefiore, authorof Jerusalem: The Biography
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Product details
- Publisher : Basic Books; 1st edition (March 10, 2015)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 512 pages
- ISBN-10 : 046502307X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0465023073
- Item Weight : 1.62 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #386,418 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #67 in West African History
- #133 in Turkey History (Books)
- #454 in World War I History (Books)
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The Fall of the Ottomans begins while the empire is in terminal decline The weak Ottoman state had been in decline for a long time but the author begins with the domestically politically challenging period of 1908-13 while the Sultan had reclaimed authority due to a weak parliamentary government. The author introduces the political movement of the Young Turks who were focused on bringing back the parliamentary process to Turkey and create a stronger national voice for the people. The author details how the weakness of the state and the hostile borders the Ottomans faced led to a Young Turk bargain with the Germans's after the start of the first world war to become allies. In particular Turkey felt threatened by Russia which had long outstanding border and citizen disputes due to orthodox and muslim rivalries near Serbia. The author gives the reader insight into the German's perspective on the value of the Ottomans and in particular how a jihad could help catalyze local rebellions throughout the colonial empires of France and in particular Great Britain. The author discusses how the Turkish helped disrupt the Italian conquest of Libya initially with the help of religious ties (though this ended badly) and how such a model was seen as a force that could help throughout the war.
The author then starts giving the details of the major battles in the Near East between the Allies and the Turks. The Turks initially lost a sequence of battles and territory in Egypt and modern Iraq. The perspective that the Turks were a military liability for the Germans and an easy target for the Allies led to the move to take Istanbul via the Dardanelles. The strategy and history is given of Gallipoli is then given which marks the turning point for the Turks. The battles were horrific for both sides with mass loss of life on both sides but the retreat by the British at Gallipoli was a major setback. The author discusses how the fractured Ottoman empire was creating rifts in the local populations where people's allegiances were torn. In particular many Orthodox Armenians favored Allied victory as they felt repressed and underrepresented in the empire. The move to resettle orthodox christians took place in small communities near Greece but with the Armenians the policy took a most sinister turn and the Turks undertook the first modern genocide and through death marches and outright killing, decimated the Armenian population in the empire. The details are horrifying and the author spends time going through how the events unfolded as well as the nonetheless inexcusable outcome as well as the modern day issues that still surround the events. The author then moves back to the middle east where Turkey first lost major territory and gives a history of Kut, where the English took the city but then had to surrender due to exhaustion of resources. The horrors of the war and the starvation and conditions endured are given along with some photos. The author spends quite a bit of time as well on the Arab revolt and Lawrence of Arabia. The mixed allegiances of the Arab sub populations and the lack of affiliation with the Ottoman based Caliphate goes to show that the initial belief in the power of a call to jihad was misplaced. The author also spends time discussing the Sykes-Picot Agreement and in particular how the Arab revolt and alliance with the Allies was based of a subsequent territorial understanding of what the post war landscape would be, which was liberated and under the rule of Amir Faysal and his sons. The Ottomans of course lost the war and the author goes into how that took place. The ending was quick and the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire was entire. All of the Middle East was carved up and into what we see today. The author gives the reader the political reasons for the need to create a zionist Palestine and how it was and continues to be bitterly disputed. The Turks got a buffer between themselves and Russia with the creation of new nation states and kept Constantinople and Anatolia. The author is careful to discuss how the modern map of the region was effectively created in those weeks and their repercussions lie with us today.
The Fall of the Ottomans was really enjoyable to read and it completely refreshed my understanding of the last days of the Ottoman Empire as well as the events in the first world war that led to its dissolution. For all interested in the forming of the modern middle east, the first world war or the Ottoman empire, this book is a must read. Even without those interests this book will hold your attention!
"It is time to restore the Ottoman front to its rightful place in the history of the of both the Great War and the modern Middle East. For, more than any other event, the Ottoman entry into the war turned Europe's conflict into a world war."
This is not a short book, as it has multiple campaigns and a lot of geography to cover. Despite the length, it captured my attention and kept me interested in because he not only tells the story from the usual British, French, and German perspectives but from the Ottoman perspective as well. To be honest, the Ottoman, Armenian, and Arab perspectives are what dominate the book. Rogan explains the Ottoman front by explaining what led up to the Ottoman entry into the war on the side of the Central Powers, what happened during the war, and what happened during peace process after the war, showing how what happened in World War I helped shape the Middle East we know today.
"If the Ottomans turned Europe's conflict into a world war, it is equally true the Great War transformed the modern Middle East."
There is a lot to like about this book. Rogan doesn't just tell what happened; he truly gets into the why by getting right down to the individual level. Examples are the stories of a Turkish medic and an Armenian priest when the story of the Armenian genocide is told. Rogan pulls no punches, not only does he not gloss over what happened to the Armenians, he is forthright about poor decision making on both sides of the conflict in both military and foreign policy arenas. Jihad takes a prominent role, explaining how the Central Powers sought to exploit it, Muslims didn't flock to the call, and how the Triple Entente overly feared it. He covers each part of the Ottoman war, the Caucasus, the Dardanelles, the Sinai and Palestine, and the Persian Gulf and explains how successes and failures in one area affected another.
This is definitely a book worth reading if you're interested in World War I or the Middle East. It seems well researched and comprehensive and it offers a balanced look at the what happened during and after the war. The only complaint I have is that it lacked maps; only 6 maps for a military history book of this length is simply not enough. It's hard to comprehend movements without them, particularly when dealing with geography not everyone may be familiar with (I fully admit that my knowledge of the Caucasus isn't what it should be). If there had been more maps, properly placed I would have gladly given The Fall of the Ottomans five stars, but even at four stars I consider this a must read book for anyone studying the history of World War I and/or the Middle East
Top reviews from other countries
N.B.
The Arab Revolt started by Sharif Hussein which was aimed to get the Independence from Ottoman rule and to create an Arab Kingdom, British used the Arab Revolt against Ottomans in the Middle East to defeat the Ottoman army. The greatest loss was the Jerusalem and eventually entire Palestine falling to the British hands, with the full support of British and the Zionist forces working relentlessly to occupy land of Palestine to create a Jewish State. Ottoman forces lost the major cities of Middle East one by one to British forces. Finally accepting its defeat in First World War and with that the Great Ottoman Empire came to an end.
Reviewed in India on January 14, 2024
The Arab Revolt started by Sharif Hussein which was aimed to get the Independence from Ottoman rule and to create an Arab Kingdom, British used the Arab Revolt against Ottomans in the Middle East to defeat the Ottoman army. The greatest loss was the Jerusalem and eventually entire Palestine falling to the British hands, with the full support of British and the Zionist forces working relentlessly to occupy land of Palestine to create a Jewish State. Ottoman forces lost the major cities of Middle East one by one to British forces. Finally accepting its defeat in First World War and with that the Great Ottoman Empire came to an end.
Having read this book, I agree with him on both points. I love reading and watching history related material. This is an exceptional book and I learnt so much on a topic I thought I already knew quite a lot about. This book has really changed a lot of my previous (incorrect) understandings of what caused World War 1 and the significance of the Eastern Front of the Great War.
I also learnt more about the Armenian genocide than I had ever known.
The book contains moving anecdotes of sparks of humane behaviour between soldiers fighting each other in trench warfare that is surprising to read and not the kind of stuff normally covered in standard histories.
The tempo of the book and stle of writing is like if a really exciting thriller. I kept wanting to just keep reading on and on.
Importantly, the book covers both perspectives of Allied Poerws and Central Powers. Unbiased account.
This book is clearly an example of history telling at its very best. I highly recoomend this book.
このような商品を売るamazonの品質管理はどうなっているんでしょうか?
内容はおもしろかったので4です
近々、日本語版も販売されるのでそっちに興味をもたれてもいいかもしれません。









