Britain's triumph and decline in the Middle East

the long version

Rich in detail, this book gives a fascinating account of the British military campaigns in the Middle East in the Twentieth Century. After the First World War the map of the Middle East was redrawn out of the ruins of the discarded Ottoman Empire. After the defeat of Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany, the inevitable consequences of the conflicting promises the British had previously made to both the Jews and Arabs began to boil over. Arab and Jewish nationalism became unbridled and the United States entered the fray. Debilitated by the losses caused by two wars, Britain's will and capacity to rule weakened and an inevitable political and economic decline began. As the sun set on the British Empire Whitehall was forced, step by step, to surrender dominance to Washington. Britain's Triumph and Decline in the Middle East charts a century in which Britain enjoyed victory in two world wars, but suffered the collapse of the Empire and the previous world order. Now, with Britain's role in this new order in mind, William Jackson looks at the contribution of the British to the multinational force that won the Gulf War and considers Britain's future role in the Middle East.