The Fall of the Ottomans by Eugene Rogan

6.5 out of 10

For three centuries the Ottoman Empire boasted magnificent armies.  In 1914 with the world at war, they found their territory threatened on all fronts.  The British and French were already encroaching on North Africa with an eye on Mesopotamia.  Russia's looming presence played a role in inspiring the genocide of Russophilic Christian Armenians.  Australia, New Zealand, The British Raj, The United States and other allies brought force into the Middle East.  Trench warfare at Gallipoli and naval battles in The Dardanelles were as bloody as Europe's notorious western front.  The Ottomans held on to survive WWI, but internal divisions--mainly among Turks and Arabs--withered their leverage at Versailles.  In part, boarders drawn by the Entente are proximate cause for today's hostilities.