Ottoman Arab Officers between Nationalism and Loyalty during the First World War

According to commonly held opinion, Arab officers of the Ottoman Army were instrumental in the initiation of the Arab Revolt and the Ottoman final defeat by throwing their lot in with the British and French. This article is an effort to correct this stereotypical opinion by making use of untapped Ot...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:War in history 2013-11, Vol.20 (4), p.526-544
Main Author: Uyar, Mesut
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arab nationalism
Archives
Armies
Military history
Military schools
Prisoners of war
Secondary schools
Soldiers
War
World wars
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:According to commonly held opinion, Arab officers of the Ottoman Army were instrumental in the initiation of the Arab Revolt and the Ottoman final defeat by throwing their lot in with the British and French. This article is an effort to correct this stereotypical opinion by making use of untapped Ottoman archive records and creating a data set. Even though the Ottoman Empire did not manage to integrate different ethnic groups, it did succeed in creating a viable and effective officer corps by making use of military educational institutions for implanting general unity and a sense of inclusiveness. Thanks to esprit de corps and long-established military institutions, most of the Arab officers stayed loyal to the empire up until the very end.
ISSN:0968-3445
1477-0385
DOI:10.1177/0968344513494658