The Great War and the Middle East By Rob Johnson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. 354 pages.)

Abstract

This book attempts to provide a new reading of the historical events that
served to shape the Middle East, during and immediately after the first
Great War (1914-1918). While it does not go so far as to make revisionist
claims, it does make a claim to an alternative perspective on other narratives.
The author questions how this grand conflict has been portrayed, not
only in its immediate aftermath but also in its long-term effects observed in
current regional instabilities.
The book includes twelve chapters arranged chronologically and by region,
focusing on the military conflicts of WWI not as a study of “military
history of maneuvers” as such, but as a “study of war” in a fashion that reflects
the interactions of decision-makers involved in this great conflict (x).
The first chapter introduces the reader to the “making of imperial strategy”
focusing on “ends and ways” (1). By the early twentieth century, Britain appeared
to face numerous threats from other great powers such as Germany, ...