The Makers of the Modern Middle East

401 Pages·2015·2.99 MB·English

by  T. G. Fraser

T G Fraser
The Makers of the Modern Middle East
with andrew Mango and robert McNamara
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Haus Publishing Ltd
This revised and updated second edition published in 2015 by
Gingko Library
70 Cadogan Place
London sw1x 9aH
www.gingkolibrary.com
Copyright their text © T G Fraser, robert McNamara and andrew Mango, 2011
The moral right of the authors has been asserted
a CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
IsBN 978-1-909942-00-4
eIsBN 978-1-909942-01-1
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CONDITIONs OF saLe
all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
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This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or
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Contents
Preface and acknowledgements vii
1 The Birth of Nationalisms 1
2 wartime Promises and expectations 44
3 arabs and Zionists in Paris 115
4 san remo and sèvres: the Flawed Peace 167
5 The Middle east rebels and the Peace settlement revisited 219
6 From war to war 275
7 Conclusion: The Legacy 327
Further Reading 367
Index 377

Preface and Acknowledgements
Historians have long known that the settlements negotiated at the end
of the First World War had ramifications well beyond Europe. Much
of Volume VI of H w V Temperley’s monumental study A History of
the Peace Conference of Paris, published in 1924, was devoted to the
affairs of the Middle east and the attempts to set in place a peace set-
tlement with the Ottoman empire and its successors. as such, the con-
tributors ranged across Turkey, syria, Iraq, egypt, Palestine and Persia,
as well as the Zionist movement.1 since then, there have been many
investigations of how the region was transformed during the critical
years between 1914 and 1923, some of them becoming classic studies.2
This book approaches the problem of post-war reconstruction from
three very different perspectives; namely, the emerging but increasingly
insistent claims of arab nationalism, Turkish nationalism and Zionism.
whilst these movements, which recast the political shape of the region
in spite of the imperial ambitions of the triumphant european powers,
transcend any individual, three leaders emerged, who by any reckon-
ing became the makers of the modern Middle east. The Hashemite
Prince Feisal, with British encouragement, raised the standard of arab
1 H w V Temperley (ed), A History of the Peace Conference of Paris, Vol VI,
(Oxford University Press, London, New York, Toronto: 1924) Chapter 1, ‘The Near
and Middle east’.
2 see, for example, George antonius, The Arab Awakening (Hamish Hamilton,
London: 1988) and Leonard stein, The Balfour Declaration (Vallentine, Mitchell &
Co Ltd, London: 1961). For a discussion of antonius’s book, see Chapter 1.
viii THe Makers OF THe MODerN MIDDLe easT
nationalism against centuries of Turkish rule, only to see his hopes of an
arab kingdom destroyed, albeit with compensation for him in Iraq and
for his brother in Transjordan. From an obscure university position in
the north of england, the russian-born scientist Dr Chaim weizmann
enlisted the support of key British politicians for a Jewish national home
in Palestine in the shape of the Balfour Declaration, and then translated
that document into a British League of Nations Mandate for Pales-
tine charged with bringing it into effect. The Turkish soldier Mustafa
kemal came to prominence in the successful defence of the Gallipoli
peninsula in 1915, and then went on to lead and inspire his country’s
defiance of the victorious Allied powers to establish a modern, secular
Turkish republic, becoming atatürk, the ‘Father of the Turks’. what
their movements achieved, and failed to achieve, are part of their lega-
cies nearly a century later.
This volume was suggested to me by Dr Barbara schwepcke of
Haus Publishing, who realised that the deliberations of the post-First
world war Peace Conference relating to the Middle east could be
approached from three very different perspectives. This was apparent
from three volumes she had published in The Makers of the Modern
World series under the editorship of Professor alan sharp: namely,
andrew Mango, From the Sultan to Atatürk: Turkey; robert McNa-
mara, The Hashemites: The Dream of Arabia; and my own, Chaim
Weizmann: The Zionist Dream. This book, thus, attempts to bring these
studies together into an account of a seminal period of Middle eastern
history.
The Middle east is an area both of fascination and controversy. as
an historian who has taught and researched its history at universities
in Northern Ireland and the United states for over four decades, I have
been lucky enough to have visited its countries many times, in the
belief, taught me years ago by the late Professor L F rushbrook wil-
liams, that it is essential for a scholar to get the ‘feel’ for the societies
under review. His kindly interest in my work as an apprentice historian
of the Middle east and south asia is a memory I will always cherish. I
have never encountered anything other than the hospitality for which
the Middle east is justly renowned, and I retain the fondest memories
PreFaCe aND aCkNOwLeDGeMeNTs ix
of the people I have met and who have educated me in its affairs. If I
have become convinced of anything, it is that those brought up in the
west should have a proper appreciation of, and acknowledge, just how
much world civilisation has owed to the contributions of the peoples
of the Middle east.
Unfortunately, it is also a part of the world which has endured
more than its fair share of turmoil and tragedy, and this, too, must be
acknowledged and understood. Tragic events in the Middle east have
become standard fare in the headlines for decades, and it is, alas, all
too tempting to develop an indifference towards them, or worse. such
a path is neither realistic nor justifiable. This book proceeds from the
belief that a sympathetic, but not uncritical, understanding of Middle
eastern affairs is a sine qua non for the informed citizen. The Makers
of the Modern Middle East, then, analyses a critical series of events
before, during, and after the Paris Peace Conference when the future
shape of the Middle east as we have come to know it came into focus.
I am particularly grateful to my fellow authors andrew Mango and
robert McNamara for their tolerance as I worked with their texts, and
for their general advice. I have to note with great sadness that andrew
Mango did not live to see this new edition. with his death, the world
of Turkish studies has lost a scholar of incomparable talent and expe-
rience. Barbara schwepcke of Haus and Jaqueline Mitchell patiently
encouraged me through the unfamiliar experience of making a coher-
ent text from three volumes. Janet Farren deployed her customary skills
in assisting with the preparation of the work for the publisher. The
series editor of The Makers of the Modern World, alan sharp, read and
commented on the text, as, amidst all the other priorities of academic
life, did Dr Leonie Murray of the University of Ulster, saving me from
many errors of expression and emphasis. Finally, my wife, Grace, was,
as ever, an unfailing source of critical understanding and support.
T G Fraser, MBe
Emeritus Professor of History and Honorary Professor of Conflict Research,
University of Ulster