The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East

by Michael Provence

The modern Middle East emerged out of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, when Britain and France partitioned the Ottoman Arab lands into several new colonial states. The following period was a charged and transformative time of unrest. Insurgent leaders, trained in Ottoman military tactics and with everything to lose from the fall of the Empire, challenged the mandatory powers in a number of armed revolts. This is a study of this crucial period in Middle Eastern history, tracing the period through popular political movements and the experience of colonial rule. In doing so, Provence emphasises the continuity between the late Ottoman and Colonial era, explaining how national identities emerged, and how the seeds were sown for many of the conflicts which have defined the Middle East in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This is a valuable read for students of Middle Eastern history and politics.

Genres: History, Middle East, Politics, Nonfiction, World History, 20th Century, Academic

280 pages, Hardcover

First published August 18, 2017

Reviews

[Murtaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since the opening of Turkish archives in recent years, there have been a flood of incredible books with new information about late-Ottoman history. This book in particular stands out for its focus on the Arab Ottomans and their role during the Great War and in the post-Ottoman Middle East. In contrast to nationalist historiographies popular in modern Turkey and the Arab World, the truth is that there were huge numbers important Arab Ottoman officers who fought on behalf of the empire until the end and never took part in the Western-led insurgency against it. Many of these men were deeply influenced by the modernizing ideology of the CUP/Young Turks. During the last decades of Ottoman rule, schools and military academies were opened throughout the Arab world as part of an effort to modernize the empire as a whole. These schools produced a generation of military officers very much in the mould of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who sought to transform and defend their homelands from Western colonialists following the end of the Great War and the partition of the empire.

Among the notable figures whose lives are documented in this book are the Iraqi nationalist Yasin al-Hashmi, Abdalrahman Shahbandar and Shakib Arslan. All were important Ottoman Arab officials who were part of the modernization movement that took place during the late-Ottoman period. Provence draws on voluminous public and private documentation to show that most Arab Ottomans actually remained loyal to the empire until the end, even while they opposed its dictatorial tendencies. There was never a mass defection of high-ranking officers to the British fomented "Arab revolt" and the Arab Ottoman officers trained at the elite military schools set up by the empire continued to see themselves as part of a cross-sectarian brotherhood with others who were part of the same generation. Even while they sought self-determination, the denizens of the former Arab Ottoman lands almost universally preferred continuing to live in a reformed empire to the crushing reality of Western colonial rule. The book powerfully documents the brutality with which their aspirations were suppressed by French and British colonial official, who at the time were less rhetorically subtle in the ways that they expressed their contempt for the people of the region.

This was an absolutely excellent read on the late-Arab Ottoman world and an important component for understanding the trajectory of later Middle Eastern political life. I was expecting a dry academic text, but I was actually surprised by the passionate way in which the story was told. I would categorize it as a must read for those interested in the history of this period, along with Eugene Rogan's "Fall of the Ottomans."

[Serdar Erenler · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Dünya savaşı sonrası, yıkılan Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun küllerinden doğan Türkiye'ye benzer şartlardaki Arabistan'ın neden aynı bağımsızlık yolunda ilerleyemeyip İngiliz ve Fransız mandası altında nasıl ezildiğini, toplumun ve yönetici kesimin özgürlük çabalarının "uygar" batı medeniyeti tarafından nasıl alaşağı edildiğini anlamak için okunması gereken bir kitap. Yozlaşmış sömürü düzeni nedeniyle otoriter ve askeri yönetimlerin Arap ülkelerinde yönetimi ele geçirmesinin nedenleri de anlatılıyor. Türkiye'nin Kurtuluş Savaşı'nda yer alan kadrolarıyla aynı sınıflarda okumuş, aynı savaş ve yönetim deneyimleri olan kadroların sömürge yönetimleri tarafından elimine edilmesini okurken gerçekten Arap halkının başına gelenler için üzüntü duymamak elde değil. Günümüzdeki Ortadoğu sorununun temellerini anlamak için okunması gerektiğini düşünüyorum.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very productive approach to considering and contextualizing the lives of some of the major (and major-adjacent) political and intellectual figures in the region during the late- and post-Ottoman periods.

I read this book with an eye toward Palestinian history during this period, and was richly rewarded by the excellent work Provence has done on some of the major historical figures that interested me.

[Plof · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my reading, the book does two main things:
1) show the resounding impact of the expansion of the Ottoman military education/system on the eve of, and during World War I on the post-Ottoman Middle East political and societal formations (primarily in Greater Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Palestine);
2) show the futility of post-WWI appeals to justice and sovereignty made by former Ottoman elites to the British and French mandate powers, plus the League of Nations that was tasked with ensuring fair governance. The League of Nations was practically powerless; the flows of petitions from the mandates' residents to the League didn't make any difference, and petitions were even ordained to go through the High Commissioners before reaching the League. The failure of civil actions seems to have been a big factor behind a series of armed uprisings in the mandates throughout the 1920ss and 30s, led by former Ottoman officers (who had mostly been loyal to the Ottoman Empire until its loss from the War became apparent). It also diminished the credibility of nonmilitary politicians who made compromises with the colonial powers. The resilient revolts were violently suppressed using aerial bombing, execution/arrests without trial, and martial law -- especially in French Syria.

Importantly, it was the French mandate authorities that instituted a divisive sectarian form of governance along religious lines that had been unprecedented under the Ottoman governance system. Although the book stops before World War II, it shows the profound impact that individuals who lived through the years of the Ottoman Empire, French and British Mandates, and the League of Nations made in the future of the Middle East.

[Kenneth Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My last review was rather negative and since I try to maintain a net positive trend, let's look at a winner. "The Last Ottoman Generation" (2017) by Michael Provence gives us an intriguing look not only at what happened in the last days of the Ottoman Empire and first days of the French and British mandates in the eastern Arab world, but hints at what could have happened. Not least among the possibilities that failed to come to fruition in this period would have been nationalisms or patriotisms not based on the geo-political lines sketched out by Picot and Sykes during WWI. In other words, there could have been advocacy of some kind of continuing ties to what was going to become Turkey; there could have been a stronger movement towards pan-Arabism, seen in the post-1950s world in the pronouncements of President Nasser, and in the Baath Party (the latter came to power in Syria and Iraq). Or there could have been stronger intra-regional groupings. None of these possibilities were realized.
In the period 1918-1940, when embryonic national movements were forming, there was no lack of bold Arab leaders, such as Yassin al-Hashimi in Iraq, and Fawzi al-Qawuqi in Syria. These were usually the products of Ottoman military training and academies, but these individuals were also capable of envisioning futures without an Ottoman sultan, or without Turkey at all. To put it another way, these individuals had one foot in the Ottoman age, and another in the modern age. Their influence has been little studied.
As usual, however, the French and British new arrivals had the technological edge: advanced weapons; in Iraq, air-power; and better-trained troops. On the French side, they were particularly good at dividing up and confusing the loyalties between Druze, Christian, Sunni and Shia groups in Lebanon and Syria, which facilitated their control. Viewers of the loved film "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) will recall that at one point T.E. Lawrence was an advisor (though not a leading figure, of course) of the Arab Provisional Government in Damascus--thus pitting him against the very western allies he was representing. This speaks to the confusion of that immediate post-WWI age.
Citizens in our contemporary age frequently fall into the "logical fallacy of inevitability:" believing things were destined to turn out the way they did. This book shows us persuasively that events could have gone any number of other ways.
Outstanding work from this member of the faculty at UC San Diego.
Enjoy.

[TimEs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like this book. I suppose his intervention was valid althought not at all novel (that there is continuity between the Ottoman period and the Modern Middle East and that British and French colonial influence bred a lot of communal/nationalist sentiments which created arbitrarily defined border to the detriment of the local population). His evidence was unconvincing. He not only focuses on exclusively elite perspectives, but he only has one example actually from the Ottoman era which enabled this continuity - that of military education and the military institution. By focusing on elite perspectives, he loses the Gramscian mechanics which enabled nation-building to actually work. An approach like Eugen Weber's would have been better. He also has no description of the post-colonial Middle East, which would have really strengthened his claims of continuity.

[Carolyn Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the history of the parts of the middle East that were the Ottoman Empire. It covers the time frame from World War I, after which the areas were illogically divided by the whims of the European conquerors, up to the beginning of WWII.
It focuses on the last great military and civilian leasers of the OE, and the roles they played in the mandated territories. There is a lot of general history mixed in.

[Allison Wise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really well done by Provence! Presents a compelling arguement that he reinforces throughout the book. I appreciated his attention to personal narratives whilst conveying a larger meaning for the entire region. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an in-depth history of the region, but doesn't want to read a textbook.

[Sami Albanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent history built on Original sources

This an outstanding history of West Asia (modern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Palestinian). The author eloquent in his prose and concepts depended on original sources extending from pre WWI through WWII to describe the massive bloody transformation imposed by the Western powers, especially UK and France.

[Morgan Dysert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish.