Search results for ""Author Ian Rutledge""
Saqi Books Sea of Troubles: The European Conquest of the Islamic Mediterranean and the Origins of the First World War
In the mid-eighteenth century, most of the Mediterranean coastline and its hinterlands were controlled by the Ottoman Empire, a vast Islamic power regarded by Christian Europe with awe and fear. By the end of the First World War, however, this great civilisation had been completely subjugated, and its territories occupied by European powers. Sea of Troubles is the definitive account of the European conquest of the Levant and North Africa over three centuries. Ian Rutledge reveals the intense imperial rivalry between six European powers - Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Austria-Hungary and Russia - who all jostled for control of the trade, lands and wealth of the Islamic Mediterranean. The competition between these states made their conquest a far more difficult and extended task than they encountered elsewhere in the world. Yet, as new contenders entered the contest, and as rivalries intensified in the early twentieth century, events would spiral out of control as the continent headed towards the First World War.
£22.50
Saqi Books Enemy on the Euphrates: The Battle for Iraq, 1914-1921
In 1920 an Arab revolt came perilously close to inflicting a shattering defeat upon the British Empire's forces occupying Iraq after the Great War. A huge peasant army besieged British garrisons and bombarded them with captured artillery. British columns and armoured trains were ambushed and destroyed, and gunboats were captured or sunk. Britain's quest for oil was one of the principal reasons for its continuing occupation of Iraq. However, with around 131,000 Arabs in arms at the height of the conflict, the British were very nearly driven out. Only a massive infusion of Indian troops prevented a humiliating rout. Enemy on the Euphrates is the definitive account of the most serious armed uprising against British rule in the twentieth century. Bringing central players such as Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell vividly to life, Ian Rutledge's masterful account is a powerful reminder of how Britain's imperial objectives sowed the seeds of Iraq's tragic history.
£10.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Addicted to Oil: America's Relentless Drive for Energy Security
It has long been acknowledged that in America the car is king. However, America's car-orientated and car-dependent lifestyle goes beyond the culture of fast cars and freeways. In "Addicted to Oil", Ian Rutledge explores the political, economic and social ramifications of the motorisation of the US economy. He argues that America's dependence on the car has created a lifestyle leading to oil needs which have heavily influenced US foreign policy in the modern era. Rutledge traces the origins of America's addiction throughout the twentieth century and explains how America's relations with the Middle East were developed through its quest for energy security. America's motorisation and its consequent demand for oil at predictable market prices was and continues to be an important influence on US policy towards Iraq - especially given the uncertainties relating to what has so far been the securest source of Middle East oil - Saudi Arabia. Ian Rutledge argues that the war in Iraq was neither a war for 'freedom' or 'democracy' nor was it a plot to 'steal Iraq's oil', but rather an attempt to establish a pliant and dependable oil protectorate in the Middle East which would underwrite the soaring demand from America's hyper-motorised consumers. "Addicted to Oil" is the first book to undertake an in-depth analysis of the motorisation of US society which explicitly links it to America's foreign policy adventures, past and present. "Addicted to Oil" is essential reading for an understanding of America's international political priorities and its fraught relations with the Middle East.
£23.33
