Dr Eugene Rogan

Tuesday 8 July 2014, 6 - 7.15pm
The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH

Chaired by: Professor Sir Adam Roberts KCMG FBA, University of Oxford

Islam became a propaganda tool in the Great War. The Germans persuaded the Ottoman sultan to declare a jihad against Britain and France. The British recruited the Sharif of Mecca to lead an Arab revolt against the Ottomans. The Germans established special camps for Muslim POWs and encouraged North Africans and Indians to defect to the Ottoman army, and the British and their Sharifian allies recruited Ottoman POWs for the Arab Revolt. In this lecture, Dr Eugene Rogan looks at how Islam had more impact on European policies than on the loyalties of the Muslim peoples caught up in the First World War.

About the speaker:
Dr Eugene Rogan lectures in the modern history of the Middle East at the University of Oxford. He was awarded the 2011 British Academy Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship for his forthcoming book on the Great War in the Middle East.

Rival Jihads: Islam And The Great War In The Middle East, 1914 - 1918

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