Department of History History 241

War and Society in the Modern Middle East

University of Michigan Fall 2000

SYLLABUS

Course Title: War and Society in the Modern Middle East

Class Schedule: Lec TTH 2:30-4 pm A H Aud D

Office Hours: T 12-1, Th. 2-2:30

Instructor: Juan Cole

Telephone: 763-1599; e-mail: jrcole@umich.edu

This course treats the impact and experience of warfare on the modern Middle East as it emerged from the empires of the 16th and 17th centuries. It deals with the military and strategic aims of the colonial powers (France, Britain, and Russia) as well as Ottoman and other local attempts to meet the European challenge in the nineteenth century. It then examines the impact of WW I, WW II, the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli Wars, and the Gulf Wars on the shaping of the 20^th century Middle East. Grading is based upon a midterm and a final.

Required texts: (Available at Shaman Drum, 313 S. State St., tel. 662-7407,

and at Reserve Reading Room, 3rd Floor, Shapiro Undergraduate Library):

Course pack at: Dollar Bill's

Texts:

William L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East (Boulder, Co.: Westview, 2000, 2nd edn.)

N. Elmessiri and A. Elmessiri A Land of Stone and Thyme: An Anthology of

Michael R. Gordon with Bernard E. Trainer, The Generals' War, Little, Brown, 1996.

Ilyas Khuri. Kingdom of Strangers. (Univ. of Arkansas Press, 1996).

Victor Kiernan. Colonial empires and armies, 1815-1960. Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 1998.

T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Anchor, 1991)

Yitzhak Rabin, The Rabin Memoirs (Berkley: University of California Press, 1996)

Class Sessions

Sept 7 Orientation

Sept 12 Islam: The Myths and Realities of Jihad

Cleveland, History, pp. 1-39

Sept 14 War and Society in the Ottoman Empire

Cleveland, History, pp. 40-58.

Sept 19 Bonaparte's Invasion of Egypt

Cole, "Bonaparte’s Invasion of Egypt."

Sept 21 Colonialism: Geography, Logistics, Technology

Kiernan, Colonial Empires, pp. 11-36, 123-145

Sept 26 The "Civilizing Mission," Religion, and the Impact on Europe

Kiernan, Colonial Empires, pp. 146-178

Sept 28 France in the Middle East to WW I

Kiernan, Colonial Empires, pp. 73-77, 82-83

Oct. 3 The British in Egypt and the Sudan

Kiernan, Colonial Empires, pp. 77-82

Cleveland, History, pp. 92-101

Oct. 5 Russia and the Great Game

Kiernan, Colonial Empires, pp. 57-72

Oct. 10 Ottomanism, Islam, and Structures of Resistance

Cleveland, History, 117-129

Oct. 12 The Myth of Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence, Seven Pillars, chs. 8, 12, 20, 26-27, 40-45, 48-55, 66- 68, 80, 84-86, 109, 112-119, 122
Digital Reference: Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence Factfile

Oct. 17 World War I and the Making of the Middle East

Kiernan, Colonial Empires, pp. 179-201

Cleveland, History, pp. 130-140, 146-167

Oct. 19 Turkey from Gallipoli to Ataturk

Cleveland, History, 169-181

Oct. 24 Class Discussion

Oct. 26 Midterm Exam

Oct. 31 WW II and the Middle East

Cleveland, History, 190-211

Nov. 2 The Cold War as a Framework for Middle Eastern Wars, 1946-1991

Coursepack reading on the Cold War

Nov. 7 The Algerian War of Independence

Coursepack reading on Algeria

Nov. 9 The Arab-Israeli Wars, Pt. 1

Cleveland, History, pp. 233-266, 293-307

Nov. 14 The Arab-Israeli Wars, Pt. 2

Cleveland, History, 328-333, 336-372

Nov. 16 Film on Arab-Israeli Conflict

Nov. 21 The Lebanese Civil War

Khuri, Kingdom of Strangers

Cleveland, History, pp. 212-225, 372-381,

Nov. 28 Women and War

article in coursepack

Nov. 30 Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988

To be assigned

Dec. 5 The Gulf War, 1990-1991

Gordon and Trainer

Dec. 7 Afghanistan Wars and the Theocratic International

Isby in coursepack

Art. On Bin Laden

Dec. 12 Class Discussion