Aviel Roshwald - Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires [2001][A]

Book Description
Publication Date: January 22, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0415178932 | ISBN-13: 978-0415178938 | Edition: 1
Ethnic Nationalism and the Fall of Empires is a wide-ranging comparative study of the origins of today's ethnic politics in East Central Europe, the former Russian empire and the Middle East.
Centred on the First World War Era, Ethnic Nationalism highlights the roles of historical contingency and the ordeal of total war in shaping the states and institutions that supplanted the great multinational empires after 1918. It explores how the fixing of new political boundaries and the complex interplay of nationalist elites and popular forces set in motion bitter ethnic conflicts and political disputes, many of which are still with us today.

Topics discussed include:
* the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire
* the ethnic dimension of the Russian Revolution and Soviet state building
* Nationality issues in the late Ottoman empire
* the origins of Arab nationalism
* ethnic politics in zones of military occupation
* the construction of Czechoslovak and Yugoslav identities
Ethnic Nationalism is an invaluable survey of the origins of twentieth-century ethnic politics. It is essential reading for those interested in the politics of ethnicity and nationalism in modern European and Middle Eastern history.

Reviews
"The author shows how the interplay of nationalist elites and popular forces during the First World War ignited bitter disputes that have not yet been resolved.... Each chapter includes a discussion of the development of ethnic nationalism in the Middle East-- its seeding, growth, radicalization, suppression, and political expression in the form of the nation-state.."
–Middle East Journal

"A stimulating survey of First World War ethnic politics.."–The International History Review, December 2003

"Superb... well-conceived and elegantly written.." –Nationalities Papers, June 2003