Imperial Resilience

Imperial Resilience tells thestory of the enduring Ottoman landscape of the modern Middle Easts formative years from the end of the First World War in 1918 to the conclusion of the peace settlement for the empire in 1923. Hasan Kayali moves beyond both the well-known role that the First World Wars victors played in reshaping the regions map and institutions and the strains of ethnonationalism in the empires Long War. Instead, Kayali crucially uncovers local actors searches for geopolitical solutions and concomitant collective identities based on Islamic commonality. Instead of the certainties of the nation-states that emerged in the wake of the belated peace treaty of 1923, we see how the Ottoman Empire remained central in the mindset of leaders and popular groups, with long-lasting consequences.