Empires of the Sand

Efraim Karsh is Professor and Director of the Mediterranean Studies Program at King's College, London. Inari Karsh is a scholar of Middle East history and politics.

• Introduction Part One Imperial Sunset 1. Riding the Napoleonic Storms 2. The Greek Tinderbox 3. Muhammad Ali's Imperial Dream 4. Losing Egypt 5. Out of Europe 6. The Young Turks in Power Part Two Demise of the "Sick Man" 7. The Ottoman Road to War 8. The Entente's Road to War 9. The Lust for Glory 10. Genocide in Armenia 11. Repression in the Holy Land 12. Istanbul and the Arabs 13. The "Great Arab Revolt" 14. Hussein's Imperial Bid 15. Dividing the Bear's Skin Part Three: Unite and Rule 16. The Balfour Declaration 17. The Undoing of the Sykes-Picot Agreement 18. Losing Syria 19. A K ngdom for Faisal 20. And One for Abdullah 21. From Empire to Nation Epilogue Abbreviations Notes Index

A readable, scholarly re-examination of a long and complicated Middle Eastern history...The Karshes provide useful historical backgrounds to the emergence of independent countries in Egypt, Greece, the Balkans and former Danube principalities like Serbia and Romania. But the main purpose of this very detailed and broad-shouldered history is to revise many of the standard interpretations that have been given to Middle Eastern history over the last two centuries. Most generally the Karshes dispute the idea that the main events and developments in the region stem from the machinations of the great powers, especially Britain and France. The 'main impetus behind regional developments,' they write, was 'the local actors'...The authors write clearly and authoritatively and with great geographical sweep. They provide crisp and informed accounts of the main events involving the Ottomans and the rest of the world...Those who do not know much of these events will learn a great deal from this book, while specialists with views differing from the Karshes' will face a robust challenge to their interpretations.