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Palestine (Paperback)

The Ottoman Campaigns of 1914-1918

Military WWI > By Year > 1914 WWI > By Year > 1915 WWI > By Year > 1916 WWI > By Year > 1917 WWI > By Year > 1918

By Edward Erickson
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 240
Illustrations: 30 illustrations
ISBN: 9781399019774
Published: 28th June 2022

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The campaigns fought by the Ottomans against the British in Palestine are often neglected in accounts of the Great War, yet they are fascinating from the point of view of military history and critically important because of their impact upon the modern Middle East. Edward Erickson's authoritative and absorbing account of the four-year struggle for control of Palestine between 1914 and 1918 – of the battles fought for Suez, Sinai, Gaza, Jordan and Syria – opens up this little-understood aspect of the global conflict and it does so in a strikingly original way, by covering the fighting from the Ottoman perspective.

Using Turkish official histories and military archives, he recounts the entire course of the campaigns, from the initial attack by German-led Ottoman forces on Sinai and the Suez Canal, the struggle for Gaza and the outbreak of the Arab Revolt to the British offensives, the battle for Jerusalem, the Ottoman defeat at Megiddo and the rapid British advance which led to the capture of Damascus and Aleppo in 1918.

"This book is an important addition to the historiography of World War I. It is highly recommended to anyone interested in the Middle East theater of operations, especially to those who want to read about the Ottoman perspective."

Roads to the Great War

Review essay featured by

Marine Corps History, Volume 5, Number 1 (Summer 2019) - by Major Timothy Heck, USMCR

Handsomely produced by Pen and Sword Publishing, this will become a standard reference work for military historians and suggest avenues for future research into World War I in the Middle East.

Middle East Policy Council

As featured on...

History of War

Authoritative and absorbing account of the
four-year struggle for control of Palestine.

Journal of the Indian Maritime Foundation, February – April 2017 – reviewed by Paul Ridgway

The book looks at individual battles which were far more free flowing that the static trench lines on the Western Front and the author offers a critical insight into the opposing force, the Ottoman army in particular being put under the spotlight. The main commanders under scrutiny for their decision making include, Erich von Falkenhayn, Liman von Sanders, Mustafa Kemal and Edmund Allenby. A very informative and eye-opening book. Recommended.

Read the full review here

Military Modelling Magazine Facebook

Based on original research in the Turkish Military Archives, this companion volume to the author's The Ottoman Army At Gallipoli provides an in-depth history of the Palestine campaigns during the Great War from the Ottoman perspective. The work follows the entire course of the conflict from the initial attack by German-led Ottoman forces in Sinai and the Suez Canal, through the struggle for Gaze and the outbreak of the Arab revolt, to the British offensives, the Battle for Jerusalem, the Ottoman defeat at Megiddo and the capture of Damascus and Aleppo in 1918. The first-class work provides a detailed history of a theatre of war often overlooked in favour of the Western Front.

Highly recommended. 10/10

The Great War Magazine, November 2016 - reviewed by Mark Marsay

This has largely been a neglected campaign on the Allied side, let alone the campaign waged by the Axis powers. Edward Erickson's book sets the record straight and will, I am guessing, become a standard work on this little-understood aspect of the First World War. Comprehensive index, bibliography, notes and Ottoman Orders of Battle.

Amazon Reviewer

About Edward Erickson

Edward J. Erickson was born in Norwich, NY and is professor of military history at the US Marine Corps University. He retired from a long distinguished US Army career which included service in senior positions in Europe and the Middle East, in particular in Turkey and Iraq. He is one of the foremost authorities on the Ottoman Army during the Great War. Among the many articles and books he has published are Ordered To Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War, Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans 1912-1913, Gallipoli: The Ottoman Campaign and Gallipoli: Command under Fire.

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