History Book Club
Wednesday,
November 29, 2017
The Fall of the Ottomans
British
troops at Gallipoli, 1915
Wednesday,
November 29, 2017: The Decline of Major Powers.
How does it happen, that a nation that has been
calling all the shots suddenly finds out that it’s not the Big Cheese any
longer? Read about Athens and Sparta, or look at Rome, or the Arab Caliphate,
Spain, Great Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union. Do we see China coming
to take the mace away from the United States of America? [Suggested
by Beverly Verrengia]
Rogan, Eugene, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920,
New York: Basic Books, 2016. 485 pp.
This story of the fall of the
Ottomans reveals a lot of things that have been obscured by traditional telling
of the story of The Great War of 1914-1918. Eugene Rogan has produced an exciting, carefully researched book.
While we Americans focused upon U.S.
involvement in the war, 1917-1918, and Europeans focused on the stalemate in France
more war was raging in the Ottoman Empire, from Morocco in the west to Persia
in the east, and including what are now called Israel, Jordan, Syria, Turkey,
Greece, Cyprus, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon,
Iran, Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and more.
The Fall of the Ottomans, which
began almost exactly a century ago, is so connected to the history we have
experienced since World War II, from the creation of the State of Israel, the
Baghdad Pact, the shattering of Yugoslavia, War between Iraq and Iran, the
creation of a modern, secular Turkey, the alliances of Middle Eastern countries
with the USSR or the United States, the Suez Crisis, all the wars between Arabs
and Israelis, seizure of Kuwait and Desert Storm
in Iraq, Al Qaeda attack on the U.S., U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq,
Arab Spring beginning in Tunisia in 2010, the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya,
resignation of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, the start of the Syrian Civil War in
2012, and ISIS. If you pull out any of those events to examine them, you find
connections to others that go back to 1920 and earlier.
Just in the last few days, President
Trump has informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that the U.S. will no
longer provide arms to Turkish Kurd troops.
The Kurds have been enormously helpful in defeating ISIS in Syria and
Iraq, but Turkey fears Kurdish moves to form a new state of Kurdistan.
The
Ottoman Empire. The organization of peoples
which would someday be called an Empire
began as a principality in Anatolia in 1299.
It was Sultan Mehmed II (1451-1481) who began to accumulate power. In 1453 the Ottomans attacked Constantinople
(present-day Istanbul) and ended the Byzantine Empire. By taking over the
remnants of the old Roman Empire, the Ottomans had arrived.
During the 16th and 17th
centuries, under Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire rose to its high
point, ruling over most of southeastern Europe, parts of Central and Eastern Europe,
Western Asia, the Caucasus, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Imagine this
collection of Arabs, Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Serbians, Assyrians, Africans,
Albanians, Hungarians, Macedonians, Jews, Catholics and Muslims all together in
one empire!
A long period
of peace n the 18th brought about weaknesses and the Empire declined
in strength, but then a modernization effort called the Tanzimat took place. Starting in 1839 and ending in 1876, the
Ottoman Empire completely overhauled itself, creating a financial market and
currency compatible with the European model, reorganization of the military
services, inclusion of non-Muslims, creation of a civil and criminal code
modeled on the Napoleonic code, creation of improved public education and
universities and establishment of a Meclis,
or parliament.
By the start of
the 20th century the modernized Ottoman Empire was a considerable
power in the world, and this was before the automobile created a world demand
for oil that would make the Middle East crucially important.
The Ottomans
allied with Germany early in the 20th Century and the Germans, who
did not have many Muslims in their colonies, looked to the Ottoman Sultan to
promote an Islamic holy war. However, as we see today, stirring up Muslims can
work in many directions, as Shiites go against Sunni, and Sufis and Wahhabis
get in the crossfire. At the time, Arabs in the Ottoman empire were promoting
revolt against Constantinople.
As war broke
out Turkey maintained quasi-neutrality, while allowing German warships to enter
the Dardanelles. Then they mined both ends, and the Bosporus as well, to
prevent Russians from leaving the Black Sea.
Ottoman forces
were concentrated in the Straits, so the British attacked Turkish coastal
cities in the Aegean Sea, and in the Mediterranean down to Syria.
The British
determined to invade Constantinople by landing in Gallipoli in the
straits. This was an idea strongly
pushed by Britain’s Winston Churchill and resulted in British defeat by the
Ottomans, and the killing of thousands on both sides. At the Naval Academy we studied this battle
because it contained so many lessons of how not to fight.
The start of
the Great War in 1914 meant the acceleration of troubles with Armenians.
Armenians in Ottoman territory left for Russian territory en masse. Some 50,000
Armenians in the Ottoman army deserted to Russia. The Russians used their
religious influence over Ottoman Christians, especially Armenians and Greeks. Russians were doing their best to stir up
hatred between Ottomans and their Armenian subjects, and in 1915, led by the Committee of Union of Progress, the shadowy organization that
was directing the Ottoman war effort, orders went out for the mass murder of
Armenians.
Russian Troops in trench at Sarakamis
In December 1914 Ottoman leader
Enver Pasha ordered Ottoman troops to attack Sarakamis, in northeastern
Anatolia, in the province of Kars, once Ottoman, now in the hands of the
Russians. Although the Turks outnumbered
the Russians, Enver ordered his troops to pack light, assuming that they could
get all the food and warm clothing they needed in Sarakamis. It was brutally
cold, with much snow, and the Russians easily defeated the Ottomans, who lost
60,000 to 80,000 of a force of 90,000. The
German general advising the Ottomans had advised against this mission.
When the British saw how badly the
Ottomans had been defeated at Sarakamis, they rushed to prepare for what would
be the greatest amphibious operation to date.
Their preparations were incomplete and inaccurate and resulted in defeat
for the British and French. There were many stories of heroism on both
sides. A young leader of the Ottomans in
that battle, who later became known as Kemal Ataturk, distinguished himself
here.
The Ottomans, facing the Entente
Powers at Gallipoli, and following defeat at Sarakamis and threats from all the
edges of their empire, turned on the Armenians, long a despised people in their
empire, and often supported in treasonous acts by the Russians. There were incidents of Armenians raiding
Muslim villages and killing men, women and children and burning copies of the
Quran.
However, the systematic annihilation
of the Armenians was far beyond any reprisal.
Rogan calls it what many have called it, Genocide. From 1 to 1.5 million Armenians were murdered
by the Ottomans.
The Great War ended in 1918, and the
Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919.
It was not until 1923 that the Ottoman Empire was eliminated, after wars
with all the neighbors, defeat in Mesopotamia, Jerusalem, and partition at
Versailles in which the Armenians, Arabs and Greeks won large parts, France was
awarded supervision of Syria and Lebanon, the British Arab lands and Palestine,
and Greeks western Turkey.
In July 1923 what remained became
the Republic of Turkey, led by Kemal Ataturk, and the borders of Turkey that we
see today became law.
And that was the end of the Ottoman
Empire.
---
Eugene L. Rogan is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History; Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford University.
-end-
HISTORY BOOK CLUB TOPICS FOR 2017-18
No
meeting in December
Wednesday,
January 31, 2018: Manifest Destiny: The
19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only
could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. Western settlement,
Native American removal and war with Mexico. Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and
Clark Expedition, Missouri Compromise, Oregon Territory, Indian Wars, Union
Pacific Railway, Texas, California… [Suggested
by Sam Coulbourn]
Wednesday, February 28, 2018: Famous Travelers and Adventurers before the
20th Century—their lives and stories. Marco Polo, Christopher
Columbus, Lewis and Clark, Stanley and Livingstone, more. [Suggested by Walt Frederick]
Wednesday, March 28,
2018: The U.S. Navy in Asia. The Asiatic Squadron. The Yangtze
Patrol. Patrolling the Philippine Islands, “China Sailors”, World War II, The
Seventh Fleet. [Suggested by Walt Frederick]
Wednesday,
April 25, 2018: A look at the world and
times of Jane Austen. Rockport Public
Library is celebrating “Austen in April”.
Read about the life of Austen, or focus upon England in the early 1800s,
the Royal Navy at that time, the gentle English world Jane lived in. Feel free
to read Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion,
or any of her novels to gather a sense of Jane and her world. [Suggested by Christiann Guibeau]
Wednesday, May 30, 2018: A History of Public Relations. Managing the news,
propaganda, image-building. Hitler’s Joseph Goebbels. Ancient persuasive
techniques. How information, false. Tainted or factual, can be used to elect
leaders, start wars, and more. [Suggested by Sam Coulbourn]
Wednesday, June 27, 2018: The History of
Language.
Can you understand the English spoken by Chaucer? [WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote; The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote, And
bathed every veyne in swich licour,] Choose any language and learn how it grew
from its ancient roots, how it absorbed other languages, how it spread, and its
variations in use in the world today. Did you know that only one in 40 Italians
spoke Italian in 1861? What language is
most widely spoken in the world today? How are languages changing in modern
times? [Suggested by Sam Coulbourn]
Wednesday, July 25, 2018: Immigration to America. How did we all get
here? Read about the history of
immigration, at any stage – from first settlers to the great immigration waves
of the 19th and early 20th centuries; victims of the
Irish Potato famine, Jews fleeing persecution in Europe, Europeans suffering
poverty in their countries, Africans brought here as slaves, Chinese brought
here to build railroads; Fugitives of war everywhere; Mexicans and Central
Americans coming to pick crops. Read about immigration policies and national
drives to keep out or encourage immigration.
[Suggested by Walt Frederick.]
Wednesday, August 29, 2018. Let’s hear your suggestion for a history topic!
