ABSTRACT
The destruction of the Ottoman Empire, brought about in the period 1908-23, marked a major turning point in the history of the Near and Middle East, a tectonic shift in the political and social structure of the area, comparable in the range and depth of its consequences with the break-up of the Habsburg, Tsarist and German empires that occurred in the same period. For the Great Powers the end of the empire marked the end of the Eastern Question, the great diplomatic, religious, economic and strategic question that had dominated European politics and diplomacy for a century and more. Responsibility for the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the First World War on the side of the Central Powers had generally been laid at the door of the Germans, who are believed to have exercised a predominant influence in Istanbul, and on Enver and his faction, who from the beginning appear to have adopted a pro-German stance.
