"Between 1911 and 1923, a series of wars--chief among them World War I--would engulf the Ottoman Empire and its successor states. It is a story we think we know well, but as Sean McMeekin shows us in this revelatory new history, we know far less than we think. Drawing from his years of ground-breaking research in newly opened Ottoman and Russian archives, The Ottoman Endgame brings to light the entire strategic narrative that led to an unstable new order in postwar Middle East--much of which is still felt today"-- Jacket.

Introdution: The Sykes-Picot myth and the modern Middle East -- Prologue: September 7, 1876 -- Part I: The sick man of Europe -- The sick patient -- Radical surgery: the young Turks -- The jackals pounce -- Searching for an ally -- Part II: The War of 1914: Turkey plays its hand -- Manna from Mars: the arrival of SMS Goeben -- The battle for Ottoman belligerence -- Basra, Sarkams, and Suez -- Dardanelles -- Gallipoli -- Massacre in Turkish Armenia -- A cold winter for the British Empire -- Erzurum and Kut -- Double bluff -- Ottoman holy war and Arab revolt -- Russia's moment -- Turning the Arabs -- Brest-Litovsk -- Part III: Death and rebirth -- Mudros -- Sevres -- Sakarya -- Smyrna -- Lausanne and the Ottoman legacy.