100 years of Dura Europos

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Jaś Elsner
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
World War ◽  
Oriental Institute ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Temple ◽  
First World

It was more than 100 years ago, in March 1920, that British troops camping in the ruins of some unknown ancient fort on the Euphrates, named Al-Salihiyah in Arabic, during the skirmishing that followed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of the First World War, dug a trench and excavated some astonishing wall paintings. The officers in charge, along with the Civil Commissioner, managed to call in an American archaeologist who happened to be in Syria at the end of April, James Henry Breasted, first director of the Oriental Institute in Chicago (founded the previous year, 1919). Breasted visited in May, in dangerous conditions and with the British about to withdraw. He stayed only a day, managing to clear and take photographs of the murals that depict the sacrifices of Conon and Julius Terentius in what later became known as the Temple of Bel or the Temple of the Palmyrene Gods.

THE RUSSIAN CONSUL IN DAMASCUS PRINCE BORIS N. SHAKHOVSKOY’S ROLE IN INTERFAITH PEACE ON THE EVE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

2020 ◽  
pp. 162-178
Author(s):  
Aleksei V. Sarabiev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Interfaith Relations ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
Sharia Law ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Common ◽  
Foreign Ministry ◽  
First World

Prince Boris N. Shakhovskoy (1870–1926), the Russian consul in Damascus from 1907 until the First World War, left to his descendants a legacy of attentive and balanced diplomacy. His reports to the Russian Embassy in Constantinople and to the 1st Division of the Foreign Ministry contain invaluable information shedding light on interfaith relations in the Syrian regions of the Ottoman Empire on the eve and after of the Young Turk Revolution, as well as on the early months of the so-called Great War (WWI). The article analyzes the messages of the diplomat on various aspects of the religious situation in the region. He considered the activities of the Islamist organization Muslim League in Damascus, which aimed at enforcing Sharia law throughout Syrian society and countering non-Muslim and European influence in the region. An anxious change in interfaith relations is being evaluated, when Muslim suspicion towards Christians grew, aggravated by the common conscription in the context of the Tripolitan and two Balkan wars. The consul attentively followed the problems of the participation of the Orthodox Arabs in the Ottoman institutions, as well as the attempts to join the English Old-Catholics to Orthodoxy, acting through Metropolitan of Beirut. Of historical interest is also the information about the transition of the Syrian Jacobites to Catholicism, as well as notes on the Catholic missions activities in the region. All these issues in the Syrian soil are viewed by the diplomat through the prism of competition between European powers, especially France and Italy.

THE BRITISH MANDATE AND THE UPRISING OF 1920 IN IRAQ

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (73) (1) ◽  
pp. 140-153
Author(s):  
S. S. Shchevelev
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Middle East ◽  
World War I ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
British Mandate ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

The article examines the initial period of the mandate administration of Iraq by Great Britain, the anti-British uprising of 1920. The chronological framework covers the period from May 1916 to October 1921 and includes an analysis of events in the Middle East from May 1916, when the secret agreement on the division of the territories of the Ottoman Empire after the end of World War I (the Sykes-Picot agreement) was concluded before the proclamation of Faisal as king of Iraq and from the formation of the country՚s government. This period is a key one in the Iraqi-British relations at the turn of the 10-20s of the ХХ century. The author focuses on the Anglo-French negotiations during the First World War, on the eve and during the Paris Peace Conference on the division of the territory of the Ottoman Empire and the ownership of the territories in the Arab zone. During these negotiations, it was decided to transfer the mandates for Syria (with Lebanon) to the France, and Palestine and Mesopotamia (Iraq) to Great Britain. The British in Iraq immediately faced strong opposition from both Sunnis and Shiites, resulting in an anti-English uprising in 1920. The author describes the causes, course and consequences of this uprising.

The East’s Eastern Front: The Ottoman–Russian Clash in the Great War and Its Legacies

2019 ◽  
pp. 096834451982733
Author(s):  
Michael A. Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Eastern Front ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World

This article provides an overview of the neglected Caucasian front of the First World War and explores its impact on the overall course of the war and its legacy for the Middle East and Eurasia. By unexpectedly prolonging hostilities and leading the Russian empire to overextend itself, the conflict with the Ottoman empire contributed critically to Russia’s revolutionary crisis and collapse and thereby altered decisively the fate of the Middle East and Eurasia. The article places the Ottoman–Russian conflict in the context of the relentless growth of Western European military and economic might from the eighteenth century onward.

Throwing Snowballs in France: Muslimsipahisof the Indian Army and Sheikh Ahmad's dream, 1915–1918

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 1024-1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
GAJENDRA SINGH
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
Sexual Relationships ◽  
Single Chain ◽  
World War ◽  
British Raj ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Martial Race ◽  
First World

AbstractThe arrival of Indiansipahis(or ‘sepoys’) to fight alongside soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force in France in October 1914 was both a victory and a source of concern for the British Raj. It proved to be the zenith of martial race fantasies that had been carefully codified from the 1890s, and birthed fears about the effects that Europe and the rapidly intensifying conflict on the Western Front would have upon the ‘best black troops in the world’. The situation resulted in the appointment of a special military censor to examine the letters sent to and from Indiansipahisand compile a fortnightly summary of Indian letters from France for the duration of the First World War. This paper investigates a portion of the letters contained in these reports. More particularly, it investigates the life of a single chain letter and the effect its chiliastic message had upon Muslim troops of the Indian Army during the First World War. As the letter was read, rewritten, and passed on, it served as a rejoinder to missionary efforts by theAhmadiyyaMovement, reinterpreted as a call for soldiers to purify their own bodies and oppose interracial sexual relationships, before, finally, being used as a critique of the British war effort against the Ottoman empire.

scholarly journals AN OVERVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES OF TESKILAT-I MAHSUSA IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (48) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Core ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Military Activity ◽  
First World

The Ottoman Empire signed an alliance agreement with Germany right after the start of the First World War. After the Alliance treaty, political and military targets were determined in the meeting held among the leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress to determine the policy to be followed. In this meeting, it was also decided to set up an Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, which would carry out a guerilla war for the army. Establishment of Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, immediately after the alliance signed with Germany, shows that Germany is also looking at this kind of initiative. It was established under the proposal of Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa Enver Pasha under the Ministry of War. Süleyman Askeri Bey, who dealt with the guerilla war, was brought to the head of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa. The next two presidents were elected among soldiers of military origin. Unionist officers formed the core of the organization. Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa carried out activities in the Balkans, Caucasus, Morocco, Tripoli, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria during the First World War. However, during the war, the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa underwent some changes. After Ali Başhampa, a civilian, became the president, the name of Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa became Umur-ı Şarkiyye Dairesi, and Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa became more central and civil. Following this change, Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa started to conduct propaganda rather than military activity. In this article, the activities carried out by Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa during the First World War will be evaluated. Keywords: Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, Enver Pashaa, the Committee of Union and Progress, the Ottoman Empire

scholarly journals The Impact of the Spanish Influenza on the Ottoman Empire

Belleten ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 79 (286) ◽  
pp. 1099-1120
Author(s):  
Murat Yolun ◽  
Metin Kopar
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Spanish Influenza ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First World

As the Spanish influenza affected almost all the world, the Ottoman Empire suffered from it. The geoepidemiology of the Ottoman was vulnerable to epidemic or pandemic diseases. Since it was an active participant of the First World War, it can be said that it was inevitable situation to escape from this devastating pandemic. Probably, the pandemic disease entered into the Ottoman from Europe and it led to cases or death in many places of Anatolia. The armies were so affected from it that this pandemic played a considerable role in the end of the war. So as to prevent this pandemic influenza, some precautions such as closure of public spaces like schools were taken. Much social mobility resulted from wartime caused this epidemic influenza to spread world widely easily. In order to prevent the pandemic, new inoculations and drugs were tested, but these attempts failed to prevent the spread of the flu completely. On account of the fact that present sources are inadequate, it is impossible to say the exact number of dead people of this pandemic. Nevertheless, available primary and secondary sources give us to estimate the impact of this pandemic disease on the Ottoman Empire.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Smiley
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
State Agency ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

This chapter sums up the arguments of the book, after a brief discussion of how Ottoman captivity during the First World War continued earlier legacies. It assesses the book’s lessons for our view of international law, of the Ottoman Empire, and of slavery. Law, it argues, was never absent from the story of Ottoman captivity; the question was which rules were seen as binding, by which individuals or institutions, how they interpreted them, what their sources were, and how they were enforced. The Ottoman law of captivity was a contingent product of its context, but nonetheless converged with practices in Europe. Thus we might look for changes in the eighteenth century, often seen as a period of stagnation or undifferentiated transformation. We also see active Ottoman state agency, in conversation with its own subjects’ claims, in shaping the international rules by which the empire was bound and foreshadowing later political developments.

الشيخ محمود البرزنجي وجهوده لقيام دولة كوردستان Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji and his Efforts for the Establishment of the Kurdistan

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-115
Author(s):  
كمال طاهر رشيد (Kemal Rashid) ◽  
محمد روسلان (Mohamed Ruslan) ◽  
فيصل عبد الحميد (Feisal AbdulHamid)
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
British Occupation ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
First World ◽  
Southern Iraq

الملخصتهدف هذه الدراسة إلى إلقاء الضوء على حقبة مهمة من تاريخ كوردستان، بعد الحرب العالمية الأولى التي عانت خلالها المنطقة من فراغ سياسي وإداري، تم ملؤه بظهور قائد عرف باسم الشيخ محمود البرزنجي. وقد ذاع صيت الشيخ في فترة شهدت العديد من الأحداث السياسية الجسيمة، فضلاً عن المحاولات العديدة لدول الشرق والغرب للهيمنة على كوردستان بعد نهاية الخلافة العثمانية. وقد ترعرع الشيخ محمود البرزنجي في أسرة متدينة عرفت ببراعتها في العلوم الشرعية ونضالها السياسي والعسكري. وقام البريطانيون بمساندة دعوته لتأسيس مملكة كوردية، وكانوا يهدفون من وراء ذلك إضعاف أثر السلطة العثمانية في المنطقة. فيما اصطدم الشيخ محمود البرزنجي فيما بعد مع البريطانيين والروس أيضاً، وفي عام 1918م تم تنصيبه ملكاً لكوردستان. وقد جرت مراسيم الإعلان عن حكومته ثلاث مرات، ثم سقطت مملكة كوردستان في عام 1925م وأصبحت جزءاً من مملكة العراق. وقد توصلت الدراسة إلى العديد من النتائج أهمها أنّ الشيخ محمود البرزنجي بقي ثابتاً على مبادئه ولم يتخل عنها مقابل الإغراءات المالية التي قدمها له الأتراك والبريطانيون، كما أثبت الشيخ محمود البرزنجي أنه شخصية ديموقراطية، حيث سعى جاهداً لتمثيل طوائف المجتمع الكوردي ومكوناته كافة في حكومته بما فيهم غير المسلمين. كما سعى الشيخ محمود البرزنجي جاهداً للتعاون مع مسلمي المنطقة، حيث ساعد الأتراك في حربهم ضد الروس، كما ساند العرب في جنوب العراق عسكرياً في حربهم ضد البريطانيين. الكلمات المفتاحية: محمود البرزنجي، كوردستان، نضال الكورد، البرزنجييون، الاحتلال البريطاني. *********************************************************AbstractThis study aims at shedding light on an important era after the First World War in the history of Kurdistan during which the region suffered from political and administrative vacuum and it was filled by the emergence of the leader known as Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji. He shot to renown in the period that witnessed many serious political events as well as numerous attempts of many of Eastern and Western countries to dominate the Kurdistan after the end of the Ottoman Empire. Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji grew up in a religious family known for its agility in Islamic SharÊ‘ah sciences and political and military struggle. The British supported his call for the establishment of the Kurdish Kingdom and their aim behind this support was to weaken the Ottoman power in the region. Later on Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji collided with both the British and Russia, and in year 1918 he was ushered in as the king of Kurdistan. His government announced decrees three times and the Kingdom of Kurdistan fell in 1925 and became part of the Kingdom of Iraq. This study found many important results. The most significant findings show that Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji remained firm on his principles and refused to abandon them against the financial incentives offered to him by the Turks and the British. Sheikh Mahmoud Barzanji proved to be a democratic person as he struggled for the representation of all sects of the Kurdish community and all of its components in his government, including non-Muslims. He also worked hard to cooperate with the Muslims of the region as he supported the Turks in their war against the Russians and the Arab the southern Iraq against the British.     Keywords: Mahmoud Barzanji, Kurdistan, struggle of the Kurds, Alborznjiyon, British occupation.

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