Sea of Troubles : The European Conquest of the Islamic Mediterranean and the Origins of the First World War - By: Ian Rutledge

ISBN: 978 0 86356 950 0

By: Ian Rutledge

Year of Publishing: 2023

Publisher: Saqi Books

Page Numbers: 584 pages

Cover: Hardback

Dimensions: 15.88 x 5.08 x 23.5 cm

In the mid-eighteenth century, most of the Mediterranean coastline and its hinterlands were controlled by the Ottoman Empire, a vast Islamic power which – although past its zenith – was still regarded by Christian Europe with awe and fear. However, by the end of the First World War, this great civilisation had been completely subjugated, its territories occupied by European states.

In Sea of Troubles, Ian Rutledge reveals how the Mediterranean – the fault line between Europe and Islam – became the most important centre of European imperialist rivalry. Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Austria-Hungary and Russia all jostled for control of the trade, lands and wealth of this Islamic region. This competition made their conquest a far more difficult and extended task than they encountered elsewhere in the world. As rivalries intensified in the early twentieth century, events would spiral out of control as the continent headed towards war.

Sea of Troubles is a sweeping and fascinating account of the fall of the Ottoman Empire, told from all key players’ perspectives. Ian Rutledge masterfully investigates over three centuries of European imperialism in the Islamic Mediterranean, showing that it was the chain reaction of their violence in this region that was the primary cause of the First World War.