A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

I'm delightfully close to the end of my study of WWI!  Not that I haven't enjoyed it.  To the contrary, it's been fascinating digging into such an important topic of which I knew almost nothing.

But finishing WWI brings me closer to WWII.  And that gets me closer to going back to the beginning of history and starting all over.  And for that I am GREATLY excited.

This book rounds out my study of WWI with a close look at the Allied war against the Ottoman Empire, and the setting of the sad stage for the Middle East of the 20th and 21st centuries.

It's the story of greed and ignorance.  Greed, because it centers on England's fear of losing access to the wealth transfer from India.  Ignorance, because England fails to understand or appreciate the people of the Middle East.  At times its ignorance is both astounding and appalling.

England fought the war in the east to protect both the land and sea routes to and from India.  The Ottoman Empire sided with Germany in the war, guessing incorrectly that it would best help protect the Ottomans from crumbling entirely.  A victorious Germany, allied with Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman east could perhaps cut England entirely from India, both by land and sea. 

Further fear of encroachment by Russia in pursuit if its mission to obtain a warm-weather port caused England to fight hard on the eastern front of WWI.

But the most shameful part of the story is how England always assumed that the people across the Middle East were, A) incapable of ruling themselves, and B) in fact desirous of being ruled or administered by England.  Almost no one thought otherwise across the British ruling class.

So the story is a long series of attempts to conquer, prop up, buy off, wipe out and otherwise interject its authority in countless Middle Eastern regimes, monarchies, tribes, nations, regions and revolutionary movements.  Each effort went wrong in one way or another.

And all of it led to the continuing instabilities in the region today.  England and its allies divided the spoils of its victory across the Middle East by drawing maps that made no sense, without any consideration for the wants, needs and realities of the conquered peoples.

Yes the region was less civilized than the Allied powers.  But that doesn't mean its peoples didn't deserve to choose their own destinies.  Forcing one's will on a less civilized power will never endure, and will never be right.  Perhaps it can work for a time, but eventually that force will be broken, creating death and destruction in its path. 

That's the great lesson I take away from the eastern front of the "great" war.