Anatomy of a massacre

The Damascus Events is a fascinating narrative of the interplay between geopolitical, social, economic, and technological transformations that culminated in two catastrophic wars of the 20th century

The Damascus Events: The 1860 Massacre and the Destruction of the Old Ottoman World

Author: Eugene Rogan

Publisher: Allen Lane

Pages: 400

Price:  Rs 1,999

The Ottoman Empire endured from the 14th to the 20th century covering a vast area including West Asia and North Africa, the Balkans and some parts of Central Europe. Its unusual longevity as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multicultural and multilingual entity, ruled from Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) has not been the subject of careful analysis. Western histories have focused on the extended period of its decline in the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was preyed upon by