(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Eugene Rogan: The Fall of the Ottomans. The Great was in the Middle East, 1914-1920. Penguin Random House.
Eugene Rogan is a Doctor of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford and has previously published the book The Arabs, which is also published in Norwegian. This time it is the Ottoman (or Ottoman) empire he is writing about – about the last year of the vast empire until the downfall and loss of the First World War, and the national catastrophe this entailed. "The empire fell more for a peace process than for the war itself," the author writes.
Holy war. The Ottoman Empire's interference in the war caused the conflict to develop into the First World War. In 1908, the kingdom faced one of its biggest crises: the Ottoman army in Macedonia in the vulnerable Balkan region had risen, demanding its own independent government following the constitution of 1876. Sultan Abdul Hamid II was forced to make political compromises with the powers. But once this was done – and he had allowed for free elections that included the regions – the realm faced an even greater threat: the threat from Russia. Russia regarded itself as the head of the Orthodox Church. The Russians wanted to control the strategic areas of the Bosphorus Strait and the Dardanelles, which formed an important link to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The Russians therefore declared war with the Ottomans in April 1908.
The Sultan then declared holy war on Russia. He had not entered into agreements with the more democratic powers of the Ottoman Empire, and his declaration of holy war led to serious divisions within the kingdom – and the sultan eventually had to leave the Cabinet on July 23 of that year, under pressure from the young Turks, who were gathered under the lot Community of Union and Progress (CUP). This in turn led to the Turkish revolution.
Divisions. The CUP decided to keep the sultan on the throne, but the introduction of democratic organizations and rules of the game unfortunately also led to the empire being weakened militarily and politically. On October 5, 1908, Bulgaria declared its independence from the empire. In the same year, Austria-Hungary – that is, the Habsburg Empire – took ownership of the lands of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and at about the same time, the Ottoman Empire also lost Crete, which became part of Greece. The empire was divided into many different factions that came into opposition to each other – and one of the most dangerous spits was that between Turkey and Armenia, which ended with Muslim masses massacring thousands of Armenians in the southeastern part of the Anatolian region. The roots of the pogroms had their roots in 1870, but emerged as the first genocide of the 20th century.
The summer of crises. For as the reader will see: Eugene Rogan does not hesitate to call the extermination of the Armenian population a genocide. Anyone who goes to this book to find support in the opposite view, and who believes that the Turks are not to blame for the purges, will have little to gain here.
In the summer of 1914, the Ottoman Empire oscillated between economic and foreign policy crises. When Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand was executed in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, the event opened up for all kinds of alliances between different political partners – and for new and dangerous political blocs: France wanted to annex Syria, the British had interests in Mesopotamia, the Russians had interests along eastern Anatolia , and the Greeks had interests in the areas around the Aegean Sea. "Against so many enemies, the Ottoman Empire had few or no opportunities to defend itself," Rogan writes.
The first pogroms. The book is very detailed and could have been a difficult read if the author had not drawn personal anecdotes into the text. Both the depiction of the battle of the Dardanelles and the depiction of the purges of the Armenians also make an impression.
In the spring of 1915, the Ottoman Empire faced threats from three fronts, and the total collapse of the empire was close at hand. Between October 1914 and May 1915, as many as 150 soldiers in northeastern Turkey died of various diseases, and over 0000 soldiers died in the Battle of Surakamis in the battle against the Russians. At the same time, the Armenians were accused of deep disloyalty to the Ottomans – for collaborating with the Russians, for providing information on important political strategic positions to the other side – and the initiative for the first pogroms was taken by one key figure: Corporal Ali Riza Eti, who had personal reasons to hate the Christian Armenians. At the same time, the ethnic Greeks were deported from the empire.
Rooting. In February 1915, the Ottomans began deporting Armenians from parts of the empire. The Armenians felt attacked for no reason, and built up their own army independent of the Ottoman army – which in turn led to parts of the population grouping into gangs and rebel groups. As punishment for this, large sections of the Armenian population were deported to central Anatolia or placed under arrest, and on April 24, the priest and "light bearer" Grigoris Balakian was also arrested. This date has since become the most important day in the history of the Armenians: it is this date that marks the beginning of the extinction of the Armenian population.
Sometimes the author calls the extermination of the Armenians a massacre, other times a genocide. The priest Grogoris Balakian called the purges "the Armenian Calvary." The portrayal of this person makes a particularly strong impression – he appears to me as a witness to the truth. He paid 1500 gold pieces to the local authorities to start a death march, with a view to giving himself the role of a main witness to the purges. He was eventually advised to seek refuge in the Armanus Mountains, and survived the massacres.
Eugene Rogan discusses whether the massacres were an unintended consequence of the war, or a deliberate political extermination. He writes: "There is no doubt that people from both the Armenian and the Assyrian groups had shown solidarity with the Ottoman war enemies," but hastens to add: "This in no way excuses the crime against humanity that would result from this. »
The Armenians were attacked from all sides. They were totally incapable of defending themselves, they were killed, raped, robbed and tortured, and the few who survived were forced to convert to Islam.
The Entente powers openly condemned the Ottoman government for the massacre of the Armenians. The new Ottoman government then established a military tribunal to prosecute those responsible after the annihilation. They wanted to avoid blaming the Turkish people as such for the purges. Between January and March 1915, many hundreds of Turkish authorities – including unionist leaders from parliament and many others – were indicted, and the trial was open to the public. Among the accused was Cemal Pasha, who Gergoris Balakian had claimed was guilty of the massacres of 42 Armenians. He was killed on July 000, 25.
The case. There can be no doubt that the extermination of the Armenians has since remained the greatest stain on the history of the Turkish government and country.
It is a strength of the book that it begins with a personal story, namely the one about the author's uncle's own uncle and his death at Gallipoli on June 29, 1915. This man died at the age of nineteen. This is how the author himself is woven into his own story, in a personal and interesting way.
Eugene Rogan's book has many strengths: good language, personal approaches to conflicts and a balanced presentation. It can be recommended to anyone who is interested in the history of the Ottoman Empire, and who wants a credible explanation of what contributed to the final fall of this empire.
