War by Revolution: Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I - Softcover

McKale, Donald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0873389727 ISBN 13: 9780873389723

Publisher: The Kent State University Press, 2008

Synopsis

“Professor McKale’s book is a careful and comprehensive study based on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, some of which have only recently been declassified. The author describes in some detail how British and German policies in the Middle East involved the native tribes in the First World War and the impact these policies had on the final peace settlements. Students of the First World War and the Middle East will find this an important contribution to the literature of the period.”
―George O. Kent, professor emeritus, University of Maryland at College Park

German leaders believed that in the event of a war among European powers, they could organize and exploit a unified Islam. In addition to providing military assistance to the Ottomans, they collaborated with the Turks in appealing to pan-Islamism to stoke the fire of native Muslim revolts against the British in Egypt and India, and they inflamed anti-British passions in the Turkish provinces of Arabia and Mesopotamia and in Libya, Abyssinia, Persia, and Afghanistan.

Key British leaders panicked after defeats at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia, They feared pan-Islamism and a “holy war” directed against Britain’s control of Muslim lands and its rule in India. At the war’s end, Britain and France purposely destroyed the Turkish Empire and divided its former lands among themselves and the Arabs.

About this title

About the Author

Donald M. McKale is Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of Humanities at Clemson University. His publications include Rewriting History: The Original and Revised World War II Diaries of Curt Prüfer, Nazi Diplomat (Kent State University Press, 1988); Curt Prüfer: German Diplomat from the Kaiser to Hitler (Kent State Unviversity Press, 1987); and Hitler: The Survival Myth.

From Library Journal

McKale (history, Clemson Univ.) provides an in-depth analysis of Anglo-German rivalry in the Middle East from about 1900 through the end of World War I. Germany and Britain both regarded the Middle East as essential to their strategic interests, and therefore both invested time and resources into attempting to gain influence with the Ottomans or their subject Arab populations. McKale argues that the results of the wartime Anglo-German rivalry were an intensification of Arab nationalism, the Arab revolt (begun in 1916), and the destruction not only of Ottoman power but eventually of European imperial power in the region. In the process, the boundaries of the modern Middle East and the political morass that troubles much of the world today were created. Solidly researched in German and British archives, this is recommended for advanced undergraduate readers and up.?Frederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0873389727
• ISBN 13: 9780873389723
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 356