'FOR CIVILISATION' temporary exhibition from 12 March to 2 October 2022.

The Great War in the Middle East 1914-1923

Info: In Flanders Fields Museum

In 1914, war broke out not only in Europe, but also in the Middle East. This region was largely dominated by the Ottoman Empire. As a German ally, the regime of the Young Turks in 1918 found itself on the losing side. The Ottoman Empire disintegrated and the borders were redrawn according to the interests of the Western powers. A Turkish-national movement led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk opposed this and continued to fight for an independent Turkey until 1923. Elsewhere, new states such as Syria, Iraq and Trans-Jordan were demarcated and placed under French or British mandate. Dissatisfaction with this drove various local communities into conflicts that smouldered and flared up for years. The Israeli-Palestinian question, the problems between Turkey and Armenia, or the fate of the Kurds: anyone who wants to better understand the current sensitivities and power relations in the Middle East must return to their wartime origins.