Los últimos días del Imperio otomano, 1918-1922

The Ottoman Empire was one of the great forces in European history since the Middle Ages. By 1914 it had lost a lot of territory, but it was still the largest state in Europe after Russia. The empire, which stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indian Ocean, was a large political and religious entity, since the sultan ruled the Holy Places and, as caliph, was the successor of the prophet Muhammad. However, the empire's fateful decision to support Austria-Hungary in 1914, although it was able to defend itself for much of the war, doomed it to disaster, divided it into several European colonies, and led to the birth of an independent Saudi Arabia. Ryan Gingeras' magnificent new book, published just over a hundred years after the last sultan went into exile, explains how these momentous events occurred and shows the extent to which we continue to live in the shadow of decisions made so long ago. . Would the entire empire fall to the allied armies marauding the region, or could something be saved? In such an ethnic and religious labyrinth, what price would have to be paid to create a new cohesive and independent State? The story of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of modern Turkey is an extraordinary and bitter epic, splendidly told in these pages.