The Last Chapter in the Ottoman Empire: Revolution and the Shaping of the Middle East

The Last Chapter in the Ottoman Empire retells the 20th century from the Ottoman perspective with a surprising approach, while offering new insights that will help us better understand the First World War and today's Middle East.

The Ottoman Empire and its successor states experienced a series of wars, especially the First World War, between 1911 and 1923. Sean McMeekin shows how little we actually know about this experience we think we know well. Based on the author's years of research in newly opened Ottoman and Russian archives, The Last Chapter in the Ottoman Empire sheds light on the grand strategic narrative that led to an unstable new order in the post-war Middle East.

Drawing on British, German, French, American and Austro-Hungarian sources, McMeekin explains the birth of modern Turkey and the situation of the remaining Ottoman lands with a rare competence. It puts forward a new perspective on issues such as the ethno-religious crisis and forced migration that accompanied the dissolution of the empire, the Balfour Declaration, the collapse of the caliphate, and the partition of Iraq and Syria, and brings into clear focus the consequences of these issues that continue to this day.
It is rare to see a history book completely reshape our established understanding of a historical topic of current importance. The Last Chapter in the Ottoman Empire achieves this.

“McMeekin explains this balanced view of the 12-year War of the Ottoman Succession (1911-1923), which put an end to a six-century-old empire, redrawn the map of the Middle East while reshaping its culture, and played an important role in the beginning of the First World War and the peace that (temporarily) ended it. and brings together in its comprehensive analysis a wealth of new material from archives across Europe.”

- Dennis Showalter, Professor of History at Colorado College

(From the Promotional Bulletin)

Dough Type: 2nd Dough

Number of Pages: 516

Size: 16.5 x 23.5

First Printing Year: 2019

Number of Printings: 1st Edition