The Berlin-Baghdad ExpressThe Berlin-Baghdad Express
"A seminal work that demonstrates for the first time that Imperial Germany's jihad strategy in World War I---exploiting pan-Islamism in the Middle East to stoke the fire of native Muslim revolts against the British and against Russia---played a crucial role in German plans to win the war. Now students of the `Great War' will no longer be able to dismiss the German `holy war' strategy as merely peripheral. There is much to be learned in this superb work about the recent past and today in the Middle East."---Donald M. McKale, author of War by Revolution: Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I
The modern Middle East was forged in the crucible of the First World War, but few know the full story of how war actually came to the region. As Sean McMeekin reveals in this startling reinterpretation of the war, it was neither the British nor the French but rather a small clique of Germans and Turks who thrust the Islamic world into the conflict for their own political, economic, and military ends.
The Berlin-Baghdad Express tells the fascinating story of how Germany exploited Ottoman pan-Islamism in order to destroy the British Empire, then the largest Islamic power in the world. Meanwhile, the Young Turks harnessed themselves to German military might to avenge Turkey's hereditary enemy, Russia. Told from the perspective of the key decision-makers on the Turco-German side, many of the most consequential events of World War I---Turkey's entry into the war, Gallipoli, the Armenian massacres, the Arab revolt, and the Russian Revolution---are illuminated as never before.
Drawing on a wealth of new sources, McMeekin forces us to re-examine Western interference in the Middle East and its lamentable results. It is an epic tragicomedy of unintended consequences, as Turkish nationalists give Russia the war it desperately wants, jihad begets an Islamic insurrection in Mecca, German sabotage plots upend the Tsar delivering Turkey from Russia's yoke, and German Zionism midwifes the Balfour Declaration. All along, the story is interwoven with the drama surrounding German efforts to complete the Berlin to Baghdad railway, the weapon designed to win the war and ensure German hegemony over the Middle East.
During World War I, Germany exploited pan-Islamism in the Ottoman empire--then the largest Islamic power in the world--to create native Muslim revolts against Britain and Russia and destroy the British Empire, while the Young Turks connected themselves to the German military to avenge Turkey's enemy, Russia. McMeekin (international relations, Bilkent U., Turkey) relates the story from the standpoint of the Turco-German side, detailing key events in the war, including Turkey's entry, Gallipoli, the Armenian massacres, the Arab revolt, the Russian Revolution, and German efforts to complete the Berlin to Baghdad railway, designed to win the war and ensure German dominance over the Middle East. Belknap Press is an imprint of Harvard U. Press. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
The modern Middle East was forged in the crucible of the First World War, but few know the full story of how war actually came to the region. As Sean McMeekin reveals in this startling reinterpretation of the war, it was neither the British nor the French but rather a small clique of Germans and Turks who thrust the Islamic world into the conflict for their own political, economic, and military ends.
The Berlin-Baghdad Express tells the fascinating story of how Germany exploited Ottoman pan-Islamism in order to destroy the British Empire, then the largest Islamic power in the world. Meanwhile the Young Turks harnessed themselves to German military might to avenge Turkey’s hereditary enemy, Russia. Told from the perspective of the key decision-makers on the Turco-German side, many of the most consequential events of World War I—Turkey’s entry into the war, Gallipoli, the Armenian massacres, the Arab revolt, and the Russian Revolution—are illuminated as never before.
Drawing on a wealth of new sources, McMeekin forces us to re-examine Western interference in the Middle East and its lamentable results. It is an epic tragicomedy of unintended consequences, as Turkish nationalists give Russia the war it desperately wants, jihad begets an Islamic insurrection in Mecca, German sabotage plots upend the Tsar delivering Turkey from Russia’s yoke, and German Zionism midwifes the Balfour Declaration. All along, the story is interwoven with the drama surrounding German efforts to complete the Berlin to Baghdad railway, the weapon designed to win the war and assure German hegemony over the Middle East.
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- Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010.
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