The First World War in the Middle East (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781849042741)

The First World War in the Middle East is an accessibly written military and social history of the clash of world empires in the Dardanelles, Egypt and Palestine, Mesopotamia, Persia and the Caucasus. Coates Ulrichsen demonstrates how wartime exigencies shaped the parameters of the modern Middle East, and describes and assesses the major campaigns against the Ottoman Empire and Germany involving British and imperial troops from the French and Russian Empires, as well as their Arab and Armenian allies.

Also documented are the enormous logistical demands placed on host societies by the Great Powers' conduct of industrialised warfare in hostile terrain. The resulting deepening of imperial penetration, and the extension of state controls across a heterogeneous sprawl of territories, generated a powerful backlash both during and immediately after the war, which played a pivotal role in shaping national identities as the Ottoman Empire was dismembered.

This is a multidimensional account of the many seemingly discrete yet interlinked campaigns that resulted in one to one and a half million casualties. It details not just their military outcome but relates them to intelligence-gathering, industrial organisation, authoritarianism and the political economy of empires at war.

Author: Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
ISBN-10: 1849042748
ISBN-13: 9781849042741
Publisher: Hurst & Co.
Language: English
Published: 06/25/2014
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 03/24/2014
Library Journal 04/15/2014 pg. 101
Choice 12/01/2014 pg. 680