On this day in history

In 1917, the British defeated the Ottoman Turks at the battle of Rafa.
While much attention is paid to the fighting in France and Flanders, the Middle Eastern campaigns of the Great War are less well considered. With the present troubles in that region, perhaps this situation should be altered?

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Colormegone · 70-79, M Best Comment

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Northwest · M

Turkey, under new management, and no longer the Ottoman Empire, did not lose WWI. It was able to defend Turkey successfully.

The Western Powers, France and the UK, were in charge of the cluster fuck that followed.

Altered how? Time Machine?

MandyMitchell · 80-89, F

@Northwest A time machine would have to go back some thousands of years but the present situation is a shambles. Most always has been of course.

Subsumedpat · 36-40, M

At some point after many generations you have to acknollwge a nations right to exist as it is where it is, even if you think long ago maybe it would have been "fair" for it to belong to someone else. To do otherwise leads to constant never ending conflict. In many areas of life you have to recoginize the winner as the winner because they won.

MandyMitchell · 80-89, F

@Subsumedpat I think many nations have pushed somebody aside to be where they are now. England was founded by tribes from Germany, USA by emigrants from all over the world; Turkey was founded by a tribe from Central Asia, as was Hungary. . . and so on.

SatyrService · M

the real disaster was right after the war
the Sykes-Picot agreement DREW the map of the middle east,, that we have now
two colonialists, carving up our future
that theatre of ops was horrific too

MandyMitchell · 80-89, F

@SatyrService how long have these ME nations been independent now? israel, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon?

SatyrService · M

@MandyMitchell each is different and when you consider the support of many of those nations, by the colonial powers. the question is have ANY of them really been independent?

MandyMitchell · 80-89, F

@SatyrService As independent as anybody else in a global world. All the nations I mentioned were under Ottoman domination before the First World War and under LofN mandate for about thirty years, or less. So independent for twice as long, roughly.

Babaloo64 · 41-45, M

Will history repeat itself?

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