With the courage of the Hejaz princes, the British (mainly through its Egyptians Forces) and French threw in their support. In the end, the immediate collapse of the Ottomans did not come from an imperial power, the psychological advantage of the Jihad was lost immediately Arabs in their own territory entered the fray. He devoted his sons to pursue the war against the Ottomans whose brave efforts despite limited resources, gave the war an Arabian hue and quietened the Jihad propaganda. The Hejaz region is partly located in the present day Yemen and had its King with the huge territorial ambition to become the King of Arabs. The propaganda of the Jihad did not last with the Amir Faisal, the prince of the Hejaz region entering the war. The jihad call was limiting the capacity to put in locals in the fight but time tells. The British desperation for solution created a multiple webs of Skye-Picot, Husayn-McMahon and Zionist agreements - Balfour declaration that preceded the creation of State of Israel. Religion was a good propaganda for the Ottoman Empire when it was only seeking survival with its pact with the Germans who led the offensive for the Great War. The British could not entire the war in its full might lest it rallies Muslim-dominant lands against it. Apart from securing the Bosphorus straits, that’s critically for its commerce, standing firm for its Serbian ally, a part of the motivation of Russia to enter to the Great War was the unification of the Orthodox churches in St Petersburg and Constantinople. (now Istanbul), conquered 600 years, was the former capital of Orthodox Christianity and now exists as the capital of the caliphate. For the Ottoman Empire, the war against it was mainly a holy war, to preserve the reign of the Islam. The Ottomans were raising religious symbols, asking Muslims to join the jihad. In areas the British Crown ruled in Egypt, Mesopotamia and India and the rest, there were huge Muslim populations. If the British ruled over countries in its peak empire, why could it not face the Ottoman empire with a fast-paced victory? It was a difficult position. ![]() What it thought would be the easiest theatre of battle after the Western front has forced huge casualties in Somme and Verdun, ended in its serial humiliation. Failure at Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Gaza (twice) and the awful surrender of General Townsend in Kut showed strains that the British overestimated its power. Going back to the British, one would have expected them to run over the Ottoman Empire but they just could not break the lines. The Ottoman offered too little, its sultanate constantly bullied by the Young Turks who could see the weakness right from their noses. Same can be said of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that underestimated Serbian neighbours till it lost 350,000 men in the early days of the war. It really feeds into my ideas that anything that would collapse starts from the deficiency in the contest of ideas mostly science and technology. It depended heavily on the British to build its ships (before the war), the Germans to supply the aerial support and ammunition as well as gold. Like it was seen later in the war, Ottoman just occupied large trove of lands mixed with Turks, Azeri, Armenians, Arabs and could not harness intellectual capital. Italy occupied Libya, forcing a surrender from the Ottoman sultanate. ![]() Even splintered Balkan states got bold and took down its territory, marking few miles into its capital in the First Balkan wars. ![]() The Ottoman Empire fought four wars against Russia before its decline and won none. The empire like everyone did not end suddenly, it continuously extended its line beyond reaches it could defend. European states mainly Britain, France and Russia were the Ottoman nemeses as they starved its dominance by occupying Aden, Mesopotamia (now mainly Iran), Balkans (Serbia, Croats, Bulgaria, Macedonia) etc. States either fought off to stake their borders or negotiated to chip away its authority by establishing autonomous territories. Imagine right from the current corridors of Austria, Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Israel, the empire held the sword at a particular time. The Ottoman Empire existed for over 600 years and even ruled over Jerusalem for 400 years. Eugene Rogan’s book - “The Fall of Ottomans” appeared and I decided to take the plunge.Ī conquest without the frontiers of knowledge ends in a crisis.Įugene’s book took a direct lens at the theatre of Great War (known as First World War), at the eastern end. Misfortune would allow me forget in the office and I had to check over my stack of 200 books to see which can thrill me on a long journey. I had been reading “Nudge”, a masterful work of behavioural economics. Thanks to recent long travels and discipline to harness the solitude of wifi-less aeroplanes. I had the fortune of reading a book again.
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