A peace to end all peace : the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Middle East / David Fromkin.

"Featuring a new afterword by the author"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 615-628) and index.

Introduction -- Part I: At the crossroads of history. The last days of old Europe -- The legacy of the great game in Asia -- The Middle East before the war -- The young Turks urgently seek an ally -- Winston Churchill on the eve of war -- Churchill seizes Turkey's warships -- An intrigue at the sublime porte -- Part II: Kitchener of Khartoun looks ahead. Kitchener takes command -- Kitchener's lieutenants -- Kitchener sets out to capture Islam -- India protests -- The man in the middle --Part III: Britain is drawn into the Middle Eastern question. The Turkish commanders almost lose the war -- Kitchener allows Britain to attack Turkey -- On to victory at the Dardanelles -- Russia's grab for Turkey -- Defining Britain's goals in the Middle East -- At the narrows of fortune -- The warriors -- The politicians -- The light that failed -- Creating the Arab bureau -- Making promises to the Arabs -- Making promises to the European allies -- Turkey's triumph at the Tigris -- Part IV: Subversion. Behind enemy lines -- Kitchener's last mission -- Hussein's revolt -- Part V: The Allies at the nadir of their fortunes.The fall of the allied governments: Britain and France -- The overthrow of the Czar -- Part VI: New worlds and promised lands. The new world -- Lloyd George's Zionism -- Toward the Balfour declaration -- The promised land --Part VII: Invading the Middle East. Jerusalem for Christmas -- The road to Damascus -- The battle for Syria -- Part VIII: The spoils of victory. The parting of the ways -- By the shores of Troy -- Part IX: The tide goes out. The ticking clock -- Betrayal -- The unreal world of the peace conferences -- Part X: Storm over Asia. The troubles begin: 1919-1921 -- Egypt: the winter of 1918-1919 -- Afghanistan: the spring of 1919 -- Arabia: the spring of 1919 -- Turkey: January 1920 -- Syria and Lebanon: the spring and summer of 1920 -- Eastern Palestine (Transjordan): 1920 -- Palestine-Arabs and Jews: 1920 -- Mesopotamia (Iraq): 1920 -- Persia (Iran): 1920 -- Part XI: Russia returns to the Middle East. Unmasking Britain's enemies -- The Soviet challenge in the Middle East -- Moscow's goals -- A death in Bukhara -- Part XII: The Middle East settlement of 1922. Winston Churchill takes charge -- Churchill and the question of Palestine -- The alliances come apart -- A Greek tragedy -- The settlement of the Middle East question -- Afterword to the 2009 edition.

The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions, whose conflicts are largely rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, this book reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map the remade the geography and politics of the Middle East.--From back cover.