The First World War and Its Aftermath: The Shaping of the Middle East - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1909942758 ISBN 13: 9781909942752

Publisher: Gingko, 2016

Synopsis

Think of a map of World War I and chances are that map will be of Europe—but the First World War had just as heavy an impact on the Middle East, shaping the region into what we know it as today. This book gathers together leading scholars in the field to examine this impact, which is crucial to understanding the region’s current problems and the rise of groups like the Islamic State.

In addition to recounting the crucial international politics that drew fierce lines in the sands of the Middle East—a story of intrigue between the British, Russians, Ottomans, North Africans, Americans, and others—the contributors engage topics ranging from the war’s effects on women, the experience of the Kurds, sectarianism, the evolution of Islamism, and the importance of prominent intellectuals like Ziya Gökalp and Michel ‘Aflaq. They examine the dissolution of the Ottoman empire, the exploitation of notions of Islamic unity and pan-Arabism, the influences of Woodrow Wilson and American ideals on Middle East leaders, and likewise the influence of Vladimir Lenin’s vision of a communist utopia. Altogether, they tell a story of promises made and promises broken, of the struggle between self-determination and international recognition, of centuries-old empires laying in ruin, and of the political poker of the twentieth century that carved up the region, separating communities into the artificial states we know today.   

About this title

About the Author:

T. G. Fraser is professor emeritus at Ulster University. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Royal Society of Arts, and the Royal Asiatic Society, he is the author of The Arab-Israeli Conflict and Chaim Weizmann: The Zionist Dream, the latter published by Haus. Leila Fawaz is the Issam M. Fares Professor of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University. 

Review:

“Fraser edited this collection of important, well researched essays on topics relating to a period that in many ways created today’s Middle East—notably, its political map and many of its problems. Fraser’s excellent, informative introductory chapter focuses on the period ending in 1923, but several contributors go considerably beyond that date, and there is much emphasis on the lasting impact of these years on shaping national identities (and “toxic sectarianism”). One contributor makes cogent points about how immediate post–Great War events led to the recent emergence of the Islamic State in the Fertile Crescent. This volume typifies the miscellaneous nature of collections of papers growing out of conferences, but all the essays represent scholarship of high quality. . . . Specialists in a wide variety of disciplines will find valuable analyses of such topics as wartime hunger and how it has been remembered, some key literary figures, the status of women, oil, and much more on the rise of nationalist movements. . . . Highly recommended.”
  (Choice)

About this edition

• Publisher: Gingko
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1909942758
• ISBN 13: 9781909942752
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 450
• Editor: Fraser T. G