This chapter traces the origins and the entry of the Middle East states into the international system after the First World War. It draws on the ideas of the ‘English School’ for whom international relations is understood in terms of an ‘international society’ in which shared norms, values, and practices develop that states find in it their interests to nurture and preserve. The chapter also explores the emergence of the Middle East, which saw states entering and participating in society, though on very unequal terms. The chapter analyzes visible elements of resistance and revolt, wherein the state system and the regimes it sponsored failed to meet the needs of different peoples and became synonymous with oppression and inequality. It covers the experience of Ottoman reforms that left an important legacy of statecraft in the Arab world, but the Arab people had little prior experience of diplomacy.
Chapter
2. The Emergence of the Middle East into the Modern State System
Eugene L. Rogan
Chapter
2. The Emergence of the Middle East into the Modern State System
Eugene L. Rogan
This chapter traces the origins and the entry of Middle East states into the international system after the First World War. The modern states of the Arab Middle East emerged from the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the post-First World War settlement. The fall of the Ottoman Empire left the Turks and Arabs ready for statehood, although unprepared for dealing with the international system. Indeed, the Palestine crisis brought to light Arab weaknesses in the international arena and in regional affairs that were a legacy of the way in which the colonial powers shaped the emergence of the modern Middle East. Ultimately, the emergence of the state system in the Middle East is a history both of the creation of stable states and of destabilizing conflicts.
Chapter
2. The History of the Practice of Strategy from Antiquity to Napoleon
Beatrice Heuser
This chapter discusses the history of the practice of strategy from Antiquity to the First World War. After introducing the reader to the various definitions of strategy, the chapter considers sources of Antiquity about warfare, from ancient Greece and Rome to the time of Rome’s Constantinopolitan (Byzantine) successors, Justinian I and Heraclius. It then examines episodes of European history since Antiquity for which historians claim to have found evidence of the practice of strategy. In particular, it looks at the West European Middle Ages, which saw the rise of complex decision-making involving multiple tools—strategy. It also analyses the transformation of warfare and of strategy in early modern Europe, covering case studies that span the wars involving Philip II of Spain, Louis XIV of France, and Frederick II of Prussia, as well as the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars.
