-
In the summer of 1914, the Ottoman Empire faced a world of enemies. Surrounded by voracious powers – Britain in Egypt, Russia along the Black Sea, a hostile Habsburg Empire to the west, and a recently hostile Italy in the Mediterranean – the Young Turks who ruled the empire saw enemies everywhere. Their desperate gamble to cut the Suez Canal would become one of the most audacious – and doomed – campaigns of the First World War.
-
The decline of the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire ottoman-empire The Islamic empire centred on Istanbul that ruled Anatolia, the Arab Middle East, North Africa, and southeastern Europe from the fourteenth century to its dissolution after the First World War. Its collapse created the modern states of the Middle East, Turkey, and the Balkans in ways that continue to shape regional politics. At its peak in the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire encompassed an enormous territory from Hungary to Yemen, from Algeria to the borders of Persia. It was a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state governed through the millet system, which granted non-Muslim communities…
-
Revolutions rarely end with the fall of the old regime. Often, that is merely the prelude to a deeper, bloodier struggle over what comes next. In the Ottoman Empire, the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 was greeted with jubilation. Turks, Arabs, and Armenians celebrated in the streets, believing that the restoration of the constitution would save the empire.
-
When we think of the revolutions that shaped the 20th century, our minds naturally drift to 1917. The collapse of the Romanov dynasty and the rise of the Bolsheviks is the central drama of modern history. However, almost a decade earlier, another great empire underwent a convulsion that was just as significant for the future of the Middle East and Europe.
-
The Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire ottoman-empire The Islamic empire centred on Istanbul that ruled Anatolia, the Arab Middle East, North Africa, and southeastern Europe from the fourteenth century to its dissolution after the First World War. Its collapse created the modern states of the Middle East, Turkey, and the Balkans in ways that continue to shape regional politics. At its peak in the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire encompassed an enormous territory from Hungary to Yemen, from Algeria to the borders of Persia. It was a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state governed through the millet system, which granted non-Muslim communities (Christians, Jews) significant…