Shadow of the Sultan’s Realm: The Destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by Daniel Allen Butler. Potomac Books, Washington D.C. 2010.
From the remnants of the Byzantine Empire arose the Ottomans, an empire that extended from North Africa, Asia Minor, the Middle East, and the Balkans. Many areas of interest to the United States today were former Ottoman dominions like Egypt, Iraq, Syria, even Libya. Understanding the mechanics of this former empire is crucial to comprehending the nuances of the region. Understanding NATO-member Turkey also requires an appreciation for Ottoman history. In the mid-sixteenth century Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent played off European monarchs, and struggled to avoid European entanglements in factional religious wars. Daniel Allen Butler has written several non-fiction books on the history of the Titanic and the British experience fighting the so-called Mahdi in the Sudan. His latest book looks into the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and from this fall the creation of the modern Middle East.
The book opens with introducing various Turkish reformers each with their own distinct ideas on how to address Ottoman decline. Midhat Pasha would promulgate a constitution modeled vaguely on the British constitutional monarchy in 1876. In reality, having the dressings of constitutionalism without practicing democracy saw many Ottoman subjects viewing Ottoman constitutionalism as an expedient to make the Turks more acceptable to western powers. Sultan Abdul-Hamid II had no intention of giving up his powers, and organized opposition to him began in 1889. The criticism included Ahmed Riza who advocated curbing the Sultan’s power and return to the framework of the Midhat Constitution with an added parliamentary structure. Sabbahedin Bey wanted an advisory council to the Sultan modeled on a western-style cabinet, with less centralization to attract foreign investment to modernize Ottoman infrastructure to enable the empire to join other great powers. Military school cadets wanted a revolution, any revolution to agitate for change.
In attempting to pacify the Balkans the Sultan posted larger garrisons like the Third Army Corps in Macedonia, it is the officers of this corps that would be the spark that would evolve into the Young Turks movement. They include the violent Major Ahmed Niyazi who took 200 soldiers and marched on Istanbul demanding a restoration of the 1877 constitution, and Major Ismail Enver Bey, who would rise to become one of three leaders that would govern the Ottoman Empire in World War I, with disastrous results. The book discusses the incompetent strategy of Enver Pasha and his failed military adventure along the Turkish-Russian frontier, and Djemal Pasha’s failure in attempting to take the Suez Canal. The British would suffer the surrender of an entire British Army in Kut, Iraq under the generalship of Ottoman General Nurriddene Pasha, it would be a classic case of overreach and conflicting policies from London, the British High Commissioner in Egypt, and the British Viceroy in India.
The book discusses the influence of Germany to insight a jihad against the French, British, and Russians. The Germans would conduct an elaborate campaign of propaganda that was not lost three decades later by the Nazis in World War II. Among the German-Ottoman propaganda successes was inciting the Afghan King to start what would be the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. Readers will be introduced to Kemal Ataturk, and his generalship in Gallipoli that rescued the Ottoman capital from British capture. Ataturk would utilize his brilliance on the battlefield and transform it into political capital. Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) would gradually see an emphasis on preserving Turkey (Asia Minor) and not preserving the Ottoman Empire as the only means of salvation. In 1923, he would create the Republic of Turkey, and a year later deposes the last Ottoman Sultan. Read this book to get the details of how the end of Ottoman Empire came about.
Editor’s Note: Commander Aboul-Enein is author of “Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat,” (Naval Institute Press, 2010). He has a book on modern Iraqi political history, “Turmoil in Iraq,” that will be published by Naval Institute in April 2012. He teaches part-time at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.