"In 1914, the Ottoman government took its empire to war with the hope of "saving its people and its homeland." Over the course of the next four years, that same government killed more of its own citizens-men, women, and children-than enemy guns, allowed hundreds of thousands of its people to starve to death, lost perhaps as many as a million men in uniform, and surrendered more than half of its territory. The First World War put an end to a state that had governed vast territories and diverse populations for over six centuries. Why was the First World War in the Ottoman empire so destructive? What were the roots of such violence? In The War That Made the Middle East, historian Mustafa Aksakal argues that the answer lies in the curious position of the Ottoman empire as both a colonized and a colonizing state. The Young Turks ruling from Istanbul saw themselves as taking up arms against foreign control and occupation in a war for survival. As Aksakal sees it, the pressure from the British, Russia, and French empires especially lent brutal urgency to the governing elite's calculations. On the other hand, opposition groups inside the empire fought their own anti-colonialism against these very same leaders. The paradox of the Ottoman empire's situation provoked a violent spiral that ended in the devastation of the populace. Offering a new interpretation of World War I from the Ottoman perspective, this book explains the motivations on all sides of the fighting and tracks with equal attention the experience of ordinary people when decisions in Istanbul landed with disastrous consequences across Ottoman lands. A new history of the "Great War's" great destruction, this book explains why the Middle East arguably has not yet recovered even today"--