Overview

In The Last Treaty, Michelle Tusan profoundly reshapes the story of how the First World War ended in the Middle East. Tracing Europe's war with the Ottoman Empire through to the signing of Lausanne, which finally ended the war in 1923, she places the decisive Allied victory over Germany in 1918 in sharp relief against the unrelenting war in the East and reassesses the military operations, humanitarian activities and diplomatic dealings that continued after the signing of Versailles in 1919. She shows how, on the Middle Eastern Front, Britain and France directed Allied war strategy against a resurgent Ottoman Empire to sustain an imperial system that favored Europe's dominance within the nascent international system. The protracted nature of the conflict and ongoing humanitarian crisis proved devastating for the civilian populations caught in its wake and increasingly questioned old certainties about a European-led imperial order and humanitarian intervention. Its consequences would transform the postwar world.

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9781009371087

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Reviews

'In her superbly researched and powerfully argued new book, Michelle Tusan brings the Middle Eastern Front from the periphery to the center of the history of the First World War and invites us to complicate its usual periodization. At a time when the refugee crisis and the role of international community once again take center stage, her work is an essential read for anyone interested in the legacies of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.' Bruno Cabanes, author of The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism, 1918-1924 'In her lucid prose Michelle Tusan tells the story of the Great War that would not end. Turning the lens from the West to the Middle East, she shows how fighting continued until the final treaty at Lausanne appeared to settle the Eastern Question once and for all. But in fact neither the treaty nor the emergence of new humanitarian institutions and practices settled the deep structural divisions with which imperialism failed to deal. Tusan tells us about the moment when the making of the modern Middle East marked the first shaky steps toward the unmaking of the region that persists to the present.' Rony Suny, author of They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else : A History of the Armenian Genocide 'The Last Treaty is a book about endings, ending of war, ending of empire, ending of hope for some. But as Tusan's fabulous exposure of the archive so powerfully shows, it was not an overnight closure but rather a slow, drawn-out, and excruciating end. By narrating how the war ended on the Middle Eastern Front, Tusan exposes the centrality of violence and genocide to the history of World War I and how the possibilities and impossibilities of peacemaking consistently changed, considering imperial and nationalist ambitions and shifting powers. Most importantly, The Last Treaty is a pioneering work in its meticulous analysis of the entangled relationship between military conquest and humanitarianism, a relationship that not only has been ignored in the scholarship of humanitarianism in the Eastern Mediterranean but also significantly shaped the conduct and outcome of the war.' Melanie S. Tanielian, author of The Charity of War: Famine, Humanitarian Aid, and World War I in the Middle East

'Michelle Tusan brings the 'Middle Eastern Front' from the periphery to the center of the history of the First World War and invites us to complicate its usual periodization. At a time when the refugee crisis and the role of the international community once again take center stage, her work is an essential read for anyone interested in the legacies of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.' Bruno Cabanes, author of The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism, 1918-1924 'Turning the lens from the West to the Middle East, Michelle Tusan shows how fighting continued until the 'final treaty' at Lausanne appeared to settle the Eastern Question once and for all. But in fact neither the treaty nor the emergence of new humanitarian institutions and practices settled the deep structural divisions with which imperialism failed to deal. Tusan tells us about the moment when the making of the modern Middle East marked the first shaky steps toward the unmaking of the region that persists to the present.' Ronald G. Suny, author of 'They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else': A History of the Armenian Genocide 'The Last Treaty is a book about endings: ending of war, ending of empire, ending of hope for some. It is a pioneering work in its meticulous analysis of the entangled relationship between military conquest and humanitarianism, a relationship that not only has been ignored in the scholarship of humanitarianism in the Eastern Mediterranean, but also significantly shaped the conduct and outcome of the war.' Melanie S. Tanielian, author of The Charity of War: Famine, Humanitarian Aid, and World War I in the Middle East

Author Information

Michelle Tusan is Professor of History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her previous publications include The British Empire and the Armenian Genocide (2017), Smyrna's Ashes (2012) and Women Making News (2006).

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