jon_norstog
01-01-2023, 06:04
I was rereading David Fromkins "A Peace to End All Peace" when this jumped out at me
Churchill had his career ups and downs, for instance he took the heat for the failure of the Gallipoli disaster. In 1919 he was brought back into the Lloyd George government as Colonial Secretary to manage the Britain?s creation of friendly protectorates in Palestine, Transjordan and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The author mentions in passing that prior, he had opposed the Allied dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. This:
"Arguing that Allied policy in the Middle East ought to be completely reversed, he (Churchill) argued that the Ottoman Empire be restored to its prewar frontiers and suggested that the European powers renounce their claims to Syria, Palestine and other such territories.'Instead of dividing up the Empire into separate territorial spheres of exploitation,' he argued, 'we should combine to preserve the integrity of the Turkish Empire as it existed before the war, but should subject that Empire to a strict form of international control.' "
1 Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill: Companion Volume, Vol. 4, Part 2: July 1919-March 1921. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, p. 938 (Fromkin's source)
I had thought the same thing when the Middle East started unraveling: Give it back to the Turks. They kept the lid on it for 500 years ? By the time Churchill got back into the government the big decisions had already been made and the government was committed. And here we are, a hundred years later ... talk about sad.
from Fromkin, David: "A Peace to End All Peace." New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1989. p. 494
Churchill had his career ups and downs, for instance he took the heat for the failure of the Gallipoli disaster. In 1919 he was brought back into the Lloyd George government as Colonial Secretary to manage the Britain?s creation of friendly protectorates in Palestine, Transjordan and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The author mentions in passing that prior, he had opposed the Allied dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. This:
"Arguing that Allied policy in the Middle East ought to be completely reversed, he (Churchill) argued that the Ottoman Empire be restored to its prewar frontiers and suggested that the European powers renounce their claims to Syria, Palestine and other such territories.'Instead of dividing up the Empire into separate territorial spheres of exploitation,' he argued, 'we should combine to preserve the integrity of the Turkish Empire as it existed before the war, but should subject that Empire to a strict form of international control.' "
1 Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill: Companion Volume, Vol. 4, Part 2: July 1919-March 1921. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, p. 938 (Fromkin's source)
I had thought the same thing when the Middle East started unraveling: Give it back to the Turks. They kept the lid on it for 500 years ? By the time Churchill got back into the government the big decisions had already been made and the government was committed. And here we are, a hundred years later ... talk about sad.
from Fromkin, David: "A Peace to End All Peace." New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1989. p. 494