A Peace to End All Peace |
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The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
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by David Fromkin,
Avon Books December 1990
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If you want to read just one book on World War One and the Middle East, this is it. Fromkin dissects the
events before, during and after hostilities with precision, and clarifies a confusing subject. The details
lurking in the shadows are suddenly illuminated for inspection, chapter by chapter, as he explores the
preliminary sparring, the war itself, and its aftermath. Starting with Churchill?s seizure of two Turkish
warships being built in British shipyards, the early setbacks when the Turks were dominant, and on to the
back-stabbing Sykes Picot agreement this book does much to explain today?s realities.
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Today, we have fighting in the streets of Jerursalem and anger on the part of the Palestinians clashing with
Jewish determination to fight back. It is important to remember when there was a time when the people of
the Middle East paid homage to the Turks who ruled them. At the beginning on World War One, Syria,
Palestine, and modern-day Iraq were all under the sway of the Ottoman Empire, and had been for the
previous 4 centuries. Within less than 4 years, all that changed. The Empire was destroyed, the peoples of
the Mid East were set free, and the ?Pax Ottomania? dissolved. In its place came a hankering for spoils that
was mitigated by the populace?s desire to make good on the promises made to them. In Palestine, both Jews
and Arabs had been offered sovereignty over the land; in reading Fromkin?s book we learn that these
promises had been mere expedients to victory.
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The Middle East seethes with turmoil and strife. These are the fruits of what was sown during the World
War. Books like Fromkin?s help explain the passions of today and the aspirations of the past. This is a very
readable, very insightful and highly respected body of work. It is worth both reading and treasuring.
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