Shattering Empires
The Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires 1908–1918

A pioneering study of the causes and consequences of the rivalry and collapse of the great Ottoman and Russian empires.

Michael A. Reynolds (Author)

9780521149167, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 January 2011

324 pages, 25 b/w illus. 5 maps
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.54 kg

'Shattering Empires is the fruit of a rising scholar's scrupulous archival labours … required reading for everyone who wishes to become properly acquainted with Russia's Great War.' David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, The Russian Review

The break-up of the Ottoman empire and the disintegration of the Russian empire were watershed events in modern history. The unravelling of these empires was both cause and consequence of World War I and resulted in the deaths of millions. It irrevocably changed the landscape of the Middle East and Eurasia and reverberates to this day in conflicts throughout the Caucasus and Middle East. Shattering Empires draws on extensive research in the Ottoman and Russian archives to tell the story of the rivalry and collapse of two great empires. Overturning accounts that portray their clash as one of conflicting nationalisms, this pioneering study argues that geopolitical competition and the emergence of a new global interstate order provide the key to understanding the course of history in the Ottoman-Russian borderlands in the twentieth century. It will appeal to those interested in Middle Eastern, Russian, and Eurasian history, international relations, ethnic conflict, and World War I.

Introduction
1. The high politics of anarchy and competition
2. Troubles in Anatolia: imperial insecurities and the transformation of borderland politics
3. Visions of vulnerability: the politics of Muslims, revolutionaries, and defectors
4. Out of the pan, into the fire: empires at war
5. Remastering Anatolia: rending nations, rending empires
6. Brest-Litovsk and the opening of the Caucasus
7. Forced to be free: the geopolitics of independence in the Transcaucasus
8. Racing against time
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Islamic studies [JFSR2], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], European history [HBJD]