In the following I am sending a few notes on the German survey of Damascus. The copy I am sending, from which the accompanying plan is taken, was torn down on the last day of the German occupation, from the wall of a German official’s room, and with his permission. Those who knew Damascus before...Read More

In his provocative Holy War Made in Germany, the Dutch orientalist Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje maintained that the Ottoman grand Jihad declared in November 1914 was a German invention aimed at stirring up Muslims under Allied rule. J-117-135DownloadRead More

Discussions on the Ottoman proclamation of the Great Jihad (Cihad-ı Ekber) in World War i usually focus only on its repercussions on the Muslim communities living outside Anatolia and tend to take Anatolian Muslims for granted. In fact, the Ottoman Jihad propaganda had a very important Anatolian dimension as well.¹ From its declaration of general...Read More

The defeat of Nazi Germany in World War ii brought to an end what Bloch has termed the imperial phase of German history (1871–1945).¹ There is an ongoing debate whether Germany’s imperial policies were carefully planned or rather opportunist in nature. Archival evidence strongly suggests the latter, particularly where German policies in the Near and...Read More