The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East

The book, "The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East", is a popular history book by Oxford historian Eugene Rogan (Basic Books, 2015) and covers the period 1908-1919. It offers a glimpse into some of the major events of the early tumultuous decades of the last century, particularly in the Balkans and Anatolian regions of the Ottoman Empire, and the Armenian Genocide. It is an easy to read volume suitable for the general reader, although very well-documented with end-notes and references using primary sources in Turkish, Arabic, and European languages. This book comes at a very important moment in world affairs as it touches upon some very current and relevant hot topics debated around the world: the upheaval in the Middle East, the rise of Islamic State militant group, and the controversy surrounding the treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in Turkey.

Eugene Rogan is a fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford and lectures in the Modern History of the Middle East at the University of Oxford. He is a well-known Middle Eastern scholar and author of the book "The Arabs". While growing up in Bangladesh, our interest in Turkey and the Middle East were limited to the rise of modern Turkey under Kamal Ataturk and Pakistan's participation with the anti-Soviet military alliance CENTO of which Turkey was a member.  Recently, my interest in Turkey and its geopolitical role was reignited by the recent upheavals in the Middle East which has affected Turkey closely and tested its relationship with the USA.  Turkey is at the center of the ongoing US war with ISIS, Syria, and Iraq, and this book is an essential read for any scholar and world citizen watching the developments unfold in that segment of the world.

There are three areas that the book offers insight into: the role of Turkey during World War I where it allied itself with Germany; the myths and reality surrounding the migration and decimation of its Armenian population; and the rather fascinating role that the long-suffering Kurds have been thrust into in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.  For military hobbyist like myself, the battles in Gallipoli during the Great War and the success of Turkish forces against the British invasion which had overwhelming superiority in manpower and armor have always been of interest.  As a professional military historian, Rogan painstakingly undertakes the grim task of recounting the key battles in Gallipoli, Dardanelles, the market town of Van (against the Armenians), and Mesopotamia. The Turks, allied as they were with the Germans, faced the enemy on several fronts in the spring of 1915. The Allied forces invaded Gallipoli with a massive buildup of battleships and soldiers in Moudros Harbour leading to troop landings on April 25, 1915. British aircraft in the air directed naval bombardments towards Turkish worksites or troop concentrations during the day forcing the Turks to dig trenches for their defensive positions only at night.  The Turkish nation which had in the last decades found that the European powers and Russia were either seizing land, or inciting citizens of its colonies in Africa, Europe, and Asia to take up arms against Turkey or declare independence, was determined to repel attacks on Gallipoli at the cost of their lives to save the existence of the Sultan, and fought to defend it at all costs. As Rogan writes, Kamal Ataturk who was a young commander gave a speech in which he said, "I don't order you to attack, I order you to die. In the time which passes until we die other troops and commanders can take our places". And they listened to their future founding president of the Turkish republic. The story then carefully paints the war of attrition that led to the withdrawal of the Australian and New Zealand forces known as Anzacs.

The book also provides a very convincing rationale for Turkey's alignment with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  During the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the Ottoman ruler who reigned between 1876-1909, Britain seized Cyprus and Egypt between 1878 and 1882, France occupied Tunisia in 1881, and Russia annexed three provinces in the Ottoman Caucasus in 1878. While Sultan Abdul Hamid was deposed by the Young Turk Revolution, the new leaders and the Parliament felt that their chances of preserving the sovereignty was best served if they joined forces with any entity fighting Britain, France and Russia. 

The Armenian Genocide is an issue hotly contested by the Turkish government and the Armenian Diaspora in the west. According to some estimates, more than one million Armenian Christians living in the Ottoman Empire died during the Great War, most of them roughly around 1915. However, as Rogan documents, the conflict between Turks and the Armenians had a very long history.  And, as confirmed by Cemal Pasha, a leader of the Young Turks, "between 25 and 28 April, 1908, some Armenians were killed in a frenzy of bloodletting" in Adana. However, the most egregious and large-scale killing happened just after WWI started and some Armenian leaders in Istanbul had openly declared their support for the Allied campaign against the Ottomans and Germans, right after the Allied forces launched their invasion of Gallipolli. What is in dispute is whether the Armenians died in the hands of Turkish government troops and officials or because of starvation and disease as they were dislocated during the war that Turkey fought against the Russians. And also, whether there was any official declaration from the government, the Parliament, or the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), a secret society of civilians and military, to undertake mass killings or "final solution" akin to the pogrom ordered by Hitler to eliminate the Jews. Rogan very methodically goes through archives in Turkey and outside, to uncover the truth and present the evidence that indicates that mistakes were made on both sides. The Armenians sided with the enemies of Turkey in the hope that they would be accorded a better treatment after the war.  They also took up arms in many locations, particularly in Van, to defeat the Turkish forces. However, while the numbers are in dispute, there is convincing evidence and argument that Turkish population and the leaders feared that the presence of Armenians and Assyrians, who were Christians, and ethnically closer to the Slavic Russia, were acting as "fifth columnists" and felt that the presence of Armenians in frontline areas would compromise their ability to wage a war both within and without. Rogan has a chapter entitled "The Annihilation of the Armenians" but appears to be sympathetic when he says "In the Spring of 1915, the empire faces invasion on three fronts simultaneously: in the Dardanelles, on the Caucasus frontier, and in Mesopotamia." (p. 183)

Rogan gives credit to the Turkish army for forcing the British, French, Australia, and New Zealanders to withdraw from Gallipoli. He writes with a sense of humor, "As they withdrew from their trenches, the Tommies and Anzacs left notes for the Ottomans, promising to meet again" in war, and cites the following poem written by a withdrawing soldier:

"I reckon the Turk respects us, as we respect the Turk;

Abdul's a good, clean fighter, we fought him, and we know"

And meet again they did; in Mesopotamia, where the Balfour Declaration indicates the desire to establish a Jewish homeland. The region known as Mesopotamia covers a vast area ruled by the Ottoman Sultans including Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Rogan faithfully documents the methodical way the Brits snatched away vast territories from Turkey and this campaign to avenge for their defeat in Gallipoli is meticulously described and grimly recounted. The Turkish and the British forces finally shake hands on December 9, 1917 with the surrender of Jerusalem which Lloyd George dubs as the "Christmas present for the British nation". By the end of 1917, the Ottomans had surrendered three cities of great symbolic value: Mecca, Baghdad, and Jerusalem.

Rogan to his credit is not shy to speak his mind. He is critical of the post–war partition of the Ottoman Empire. "After four centuries united in a multinational empire under Ottoman Muslim rule, the Arabs found themselves divided into a number of new states under British and French domination.  ... These outlandish agreements were concluded solely to advance Britain and France's imperial extension. Had the European powers been concerned with establishing a stable Middle East, one can't help but think they would have gone about drafting the borders in a very different word". Bold but sad statement! One that future world leaders must remember after the dust settles down in the conflict-ridden Middle East that we see at the dawn of the 21st Century. 

Dr. Shibli Jabir lives and works in Boston, USA.