Book SummaryA Peace to End All Peace, by David Fromkin

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of A Peace to End All Peace

A Peace to End All Peace (1989) by David Fromkin provides an overview of how the modern Middle East came into being after World War I (1914-1918). He uses the term Middle East to refer to the path Britain cleared to more easily reach its colonies in India. It includes Egypt, Türkiye, Iran, Afghanistan, the Arabian Peninsula, and the territories within that perimeter. Before World War I, countries like Israel, Jordan, and Syria didn’t exist—they were all part of the Ottoman Empire, which lost them following its defeat in World War I.

(Shortform note: In December 2021, the Turkish government requested that the United Nations refer to it as Türkiye, matching how the name is spelled and pronounced in Turkish. The government rebranded the country to better represent its culture and disassociate itself from Turkey, the bird.)

Fromkin contends the modern Middle East arose from England and France’s negotiations during and after World War I. Seeking compensation for the war’s losses, these European powers reshaped the remnants of the Ottoman Empire into new countries with new leaders.

(Shortform note: Just like the modern Middle East’s political geography, the term Middle East is a European creation. The British coined the term during the late 1800s to describe the area between...

A Peace to End All Peace Summary Before World War I

Before World War I, Europe and Asia’s major powers frequently shifted alliances. Fromkin notes that these changes paved the way for the conflict between the Allies (the British Empire, France, and Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany, the Ottoman Empire, and Austria-Hungary). These alliances contributed to the Ottoman Empire’s collapse, reshaping it into the modern Middle East.

(Shortform note: Fromkin highlights the Ottoman Empire’s collapse and the rise of the modern Middle East, but World War I also reshaped Europe. New European states, such as the Weimar Republic and Austria, formed after the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian empires fell.)

This section discusses these shifting alliances in the context of the “Great Game,” a 19th-century imperial competition among Britain, France, and Russia. We then examine Europe’s policy changes toward the Ottoman Empire as the “Great Game” evolved. As we’ll discuss, this led the Ottomans to join the Central Powers.

Essential Context: The Great Game

Fromkin argues that the pre-war period (late 19th and early 20th centuries)...

A Peace to End All Peace Summary During World War I (1914-1918)

World War I pitted the Allies against the Central Powers from 1914 to 1918. This section will first discuss how shifting alliances set the course for the war. We’ll then explore how those shifts informed two key decisions the Allies made:

• The Sykes-Picot agreement outlining how the Allies would split the territories of the soon-to-be-dismantled Ottoman Empire
• The Balfour Declaration supporting the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine

Essential Context: Conflicting Alliances

Fromkin discusses the conflicting alliances during World War I. These alliances complicated Britain’s efforts to negotiate with any single group. In addition, Britain struggled to balance immediate goals, such as winning the war quickly, with long-term goals, such as placing British-friendly leaders in strategic places. This section describes some of these alliances.

The Triple Entente

Russia’s alliance with Britain and France (“The Triple Entente”) was in peril due to an economic crisis that led to the Soviet revolution. Vladimir Lenin, a Soviet leader who advocated for ending Russia’s involvement in the war, seized control of the Russian government in 1917. Fromkin...

A Peace to End All Peace Summary After World War I (1918-1923)

By the end of the war, the Central Powers had lost and the Ottoman Empire was dismembered. (Shortform note: The war ended by degrees, just as it began. The Ottoman Empire surrendered in October, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire ended in November. With no allies left and facing unrest from its population, Germany signed an armistice in November 1918. The war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919.)

Fromkin explains that many countries we think of today as part of the Middle East emerged from the postwar remains of the Ottoman Empire. The period between 1918 and 1923 was one of intense negotiations between European powers as well as unrest and bids for independence from Middle Eastern countries. It culminated in what Fromkin calls the 1922 settlement, a series of agreements delineating new borders for the Middle East. However, Fromkin argues that Europe’s agreements failed to ensure lasting stability in the region it tried to govern.

(Shortform note: Europe also failed to ensure lasting stability within itself. [The precarious peace settlements after World War I led to a second...

Shortform Exercise: Reflect on Word War I’s Impact on the Middle East

Fromkin gives an overview of how Europe’s decisions before, during, and after World War I changed the Middle East. Think about what you’ve read and how it might change your views on this region.

How familiar were you with the history of the Middle East before reading this guide? What was your impression of this region?