The First World War quickly escalated from a European war into a global conflict that would cause fundamental changes in the Middle East Africa Asia and the Americas. Its end signalled the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire which had controlled most of the Arab Middle East. Over the wartime period millions of people across the Empire died as a result of warfare epidemics famines and massacres. However for the Ottoman leaders their entry into the war was not just a response to a life-or-death struggle but rather presented them with an opportunity to transform the empire into a new type of state. Syria in World War I brings together leading scholars working with original Turkish Arabic Armenian and German sources to present a comprehensive examination of this key period in Syriaâs history. Together the chapters demonstrate how the war represented a radical break from the past for the Syrian lands which underwent crucial political economic social and cultural transformations. It contextualises various facets of the then Unionist ruler of Syria Djemal Pasha as well as exploring the impact of the Ottoman leadersâ divergent policies on the Syrian lands and people which would undergo a series of political economic and ecological catastrophes whose traces are still evident in the regionâs collective memory. Introducing a significant body of new information and considerably expanding the parameters of current debates Syria in World War I is of key interest to students and scholars of Middle East History as well as History of the Late Ottoman Empire and World War I History. . Language: English