University of Texas Press
The Great Syrian Revolt and the Rise of Arab Nationalism
Key Metrics
- Michael Provence
- University of Texas Press
- Paperback
- 9780292706804
- 8.76 X 6.06 X 0.66 inches
- 0.76 pounds
- History > Middle East - General
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
The Great Syrian Revolt of 1925 was the largest and longest-lasting anti-colonial insurgency in the inter-war Arab East. Mobilizing peasants, workers, and army veterans, rather than urban elites and nationalist intellectuals, it was the first mass movement against colonial rule in the Middle East. The revolt failed to liberate Syria from French occupation, but it provided a model of popular nationalism and resistance that remains potent in the Middle East today. Each subsequent Arab uprising against foreign rule has repeated the language and tactics of the Great Syrian Revolt.
In this work, Michael Provence uses newly released secret colonial intelligence sources, neglected memoirs, and popular memory to tell the story of the revolt from the perspective of its participants. He shows how Ottoman-subsidized military education created a generation of leaders of modest background who came to rebel against both the French Mandate rulers of Syria and the Syrian intellectuals and landowners who helped the colonial regime to function. This new popular nationalism was unprecedented in the Arab world. Provence shows compellingly that the Great Syrian Revolt was a formative event in shaping the modern Middle East.
Author Bio
Michael Provence teaches modern Middle East history, focusing on the 20th century Arab East. He received the Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2001. During 2017-2018 he was Chercheur Résident (Research Fellow in Residence), Institut d’Etudes Avancées de Nantes, France. In 2010-11 and 2014 Provence was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin, Germany.
He is the author of two books and many articles. The books are The Great Syrian Revolt and the Rise of Arab Nationalism (2005), also translated and widely reviewed in Arabic as al-Thawra al-Suriyya al-Wataniyya, and The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East (2017), selected a Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2018.
Provence lived and studied over the course of many years in several Middle Eastern countries, particularly Syria and Lebanon between 1998 and 2006. He returns as often as possible.
Source: University of California San Diego
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