New Books Network

In what ways was the course of twentieth-century Middle Eastern history shaped by the immediate post-World War I years at the dawn of the Mandatory Period? Winston S. Churchill and the Shaping of the Middle East, 1919-1922 (Academic Studies Press, 2020) examines the key developments in Iraq, Palestine and the Aegean as they were coped with by Winston S. Churchill, who served as Secretary for War and Air and as Colonial Secretary during 1919-1922. Author Sara Reguer depicts the diplomatic relationship between Churchill and the Zionist movement, the formation of a Middle East Department in the Colonial Office, the dangers posed by the Bolsheviks in the post-Russian Revolution moment, and the threat to British interests posed by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) of Turkey in a new light to stress the unique role in diplomatic history played by Winston Churchill as a creative, nuanced and sophisticated individual situated in the right place at the right time.

Ari Barbalat holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of California in Los Angeles. He lives in Toronto with his family.

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