The Last Treaty: The Middle Eastern Front and the End of the First World War

FAIN: HB-281641-22

Michelle Elizabeth Tusan
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV 89154-9900)

Research and writing leading to a book on the final years of World War I, focusing on conflict and humanitarian disaster in the Middle East.

“The Last Treaty: The Middle Eastern Front and the End of the First World War” rewrites the final years of the war as a story of failed diplomacy and humanitarian crisis. The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, I argue, marked the true end of WWI. This book integrates the path to peace in the Middle East after the 1918 armistices and 1919 Versailles Treaty into WWI’s grand narrative to show how the protracted nature of the war challenged old certainties about a European-led imperial order. It also traces Allied assumptions about the role of diplomacy and humanitarianism in war and peacemaking while exposing the deep imperial institutions and attitudes rooted in ideas of minority protection and humanitarian intervention that guided the war’s prosecution, settlement and aftermath.

Associated Products

The Last Treaty: Lausanne and the End of the First World War in the Middle East (Book)
Title: The Last Treaty: Lausanne and the End of the First World War in the Middle East
Author: Michelle Tusan
Abstract: In The Last Treaty, forthcoming with Cambridge University Press, 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 post-war world.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: http://www.cambridge.org/core/books/last-treaty/6116FCE9E7C4F4B2F698DBF81844A7E6
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
Copy sent to NEH?: No

The Last Treaty: Lausanne and the End of the First World War in the Middle East (Book)
Title: The Last Treaty: Lausanne and the End of the First World War in the Middle East
Author: Michelle Tusan
Abstract: 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 post-war world.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: http://www.cambridge.org/core/books/last-treaty/6116FCE9E7C4F4B2F698DBF81844A7E6
Primary URL Description: Cambridge University Press website
Access Model: For purchase
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-1-00-93710
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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