Turkey and Ottoman Empire
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The Irish Times is at it again. For the last few months this remnant of Imperial rule in Ireland has been slandering “our gallant allies” of 1916 in a series of articles, book reviews and comment columns. It seems that the great popularity of the centenary of 1916 among the Irish people has prevented direct…
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1916 was a pivotal year for the British Empire and for the world. In 1916 Britain suffered the humiliating surrender at Kut, a serious revolt in Dublin, the naval reverse at Jutland and the massive blood sacrifice at the Somme. It was no nearer winning the Great War it had begun two years earlier against…
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In his Irish Times (20/2/16) book review of ‘Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismarck to Hitler’ by Stefan Ihrig, Lawrence Douglas states: “Ihrig brilliantly lays bare the ‘confluence’ between German anti-Semitic and anti-Armenian stereotypes. Jews and Armenians were treated as ‘Semitic cousins’, with the latter playing the role of ‘quasi-‘ or even ‘über-Jews’.” The…
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The Irish Times (20/2/16) has a book review of Stefan Ihrig’s ‘Justifying Genocide: Germany and the Armenians from Bismarck to Hitler.’ Its reviewer is a Law Professor from the U.S. Perhaps in this year of 1916 commemoration a book and a review vilifying “our gallant allies” of Germany and Turkey is called for by the…
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The September issue of History Ireland has a sympathetic article by Angus Mitchell, author of the recent 1916 book on Roger Casement, called ‘James Bryce and the Politics of Inhumanity.’ However, the career of Lord Bryce would be better summed up in George Curzon’s memorable phrase of “fatal philanthropy”. Roger Casement’s view that James Bryce…
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The Easter Proclamation which Padraig Pearse read from the steps of the GPO at Easter 1916 is the founding document of the Irish Republic. It makes specific reference to “our gallant allies in Europe.” Who else could these “gallant allies” be but the Germans and Turks? The founding fathers of what was to become the…
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During 1919, after the Armistice and as the Royal Navy did its work in securing Germany’s surrender to the Peace Treaty of Versailles, Lord Esher conducted an interesting correspondence with Lord Hankey. The two men had worked together in the Committee of Imperial Defence to plan the war against Germany and now the war had…
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An interesting letter about the differences between propaganda and information was written by Lord Esher to General Macdonogh on 17th October 1916. Major-General George Macdonogh was a Catholic Irishman who became Director of Military Intelligence in the British Army under Sir William Robertson in 1916. When Sir Douglas Haig replaced Robertson as BEF Commander-in-Chief he…
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When: Friday 3 July 2015, 7.30 pm Where: Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre, Donegall Street (next door from The John Hewitt) The Armenian Insurrection and the Great War – A Cautionary Tale of Betrayal The Great Calamity that engulfed the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 has been narrowed down to a single question: Was…
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How did Britain’s “Armenian Question” of the 1870s become what it did in 1915? Was it simply a diabolical genocidal plan of the Turks that the Armenians be eradicated from eastern Anatolia? Or were there a series of actions instigated by external forces which altered things in such a way that the tragedy of 1915…
