Ottomans and Armenians A Study in Counterinsurgency [Paperback]

Covering the period from 1878-1915, Ottomans and Armenians is a military history of the Ottoman army and the counterinsurgency campaigns it waged in the last days of the Ottoman empire. Although Ottomans were among the most active practitioners of counterinsurgency campaigning in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, in the vast literature available on counterinsurgency in the early twenty-first century, there is very little scholarly analysis of how Ottomans reacted to insurgency and then went about counterinsurgency. This book presents the thesis that the Ottoman government developed an evolving, 35-year, empire-wide array of counterinsurgency practices that varied in scope and execution depending on the strategic importance of the affected provinces.Introduction 1. Insurgency by Committee 2. Counterinsurgency in the Empire's Core 3. Counterinsurgency in the Periphery 4. A Template for Destruction 5. Invisible Armies 6. Readiness for War 7. Irregular War in Caucasia and in the Levant 8. Enemies Within 9. A New Course of Action 10. Aftermath"Ed Erickson's Ottomans and Armenians is courageous and provocative. Whether or not one agrees with the author's military-strategic interpretation of the catastrophe which befell Ottoman Armenians in the First World War, it is impossible to ignore the depth of his research and the cogency of his argument. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to get to the bottom of what really happened in 1915 and why." - Sean McMeekin, Bard College, USA, author of The Berlin-Baghdad Express and The Russian Origins of the First World War

"Readers offended by dispassionate analysis of late Ottoman history should avoid this book. Readers who value such analysis or have a serious interest in the history of irregular warfare, however, will find it enlightening, informative, and readable." - Douglas Streusand, Marine Corps University, USA, author of Islamic Gunpowder El3(