University Press of Kansas
Facing the Victorious Turks: How the French Misread the Turkish War of Independence
Key Metrics
- Andrew Orr
- University Press of Kansas
- Hardcover
- 9780700637775
- -
- -
- History > Middle East - Turkey & Ottoman Empire
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
At the end of World War I, parts of the defeated Ottoman Empire were seized and partitioned by the Allied Powers. In response, the newly formed Turkish National Movement waged a military campaign to win Turkey's independence, eventually leading to the declaration of the Republic of Turkey in 1923.
In Facing the Victorious Turks, Andrew Orr argues that French military, intelligence, and diplomatic officials' Orientalism and racism led them to misinterpret the Turkish War of Independence by placing Europeans at the center of their analysis of the Middle East. French observers' flawed understanding of Muslims and Islam fed conspiracy theories that distorted their understanding of Germany, the emerging Soviet Union, Middle Eastern politics, and colonialism. It allowed them to perceive and report the danger of Middle East-wide revolts without questioning whether it was European rule itself that was causing the political turmoil. French military leaders were thus able to escape the sort of self-reflection that might have exposed the exploitative nature of colonialism and pushed them to question the moral and strategic justifications for colonial rule.
Orr's study draws on French and British military, diplomatic, and intelligence documents, published Turkish sources, journalistic accounts, and combatants' and aid workers' journals. It also takes advantage of US intelligence and diplomatic papers that included correspondence with French military and diplomatic officials in Constantinople.
Facing the Victorious Turks is valuable reading for anyone interested in nationalism and imperialism, intelligence studies, French involvement in the Middle East, and modern Turkish history.
Author Bio
Andrew Orr is a specialist in modern military history. He received his B.A. from Claremont Mckenna College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. His work focuses on the 19th and 20th centuries and explores the boundaries of civilian and military identity. His first book, Women and the French Army 1914-1904, studied women’s roles in the French military and civil-military relations in France during the era of the world wars.
Dr. Orr has published on intelligence operations in the Middle East, imperialism, civil-military relations, and the history of French Communist Party. His current projects include a book on French involvement in the Turkish War of Independence and a cultural history of the military in American life since 1973.
He teaches classes in European history, American military history, and African history. Dr. Orr accepts history graduate students in European history, European and American military history, and security studies.
Source: Kansas State University
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