Includes bibliographical references and index.

Pt. 1. At the crossroads of history --
Ch. 1. The last days of old Europe --
Ch. 2. The legacy of the great gamer of Asia --
Ch. 3. The Middle East before the war --
Ch. 4. The young Turks urgently seek an ally --
Ch. 5. Winston Churchill on the eve of war --
Ch. 6. Churchill seizes Turkey's warships --
Ch. 7. An intrigue at the sublime porte --
Pt. 2. Kitchener of Khartoum looks ahead --
Ch. 8. Kitchener takes command --
Ch. 9. Kitchener's lieutenants --
Ch. 10. Kitchener set out to capture Islam --
Ch. 11. India protests --
Ch. 12. The man in the middle --
Pt. 3. Britain is drawn into the Middle Eastern Quagmire --
Ch. 13. The Turkish commanders almost lose the war --
Ch. 14. Kitchener allows Britain to attack Turkey --
Ch. 15. On to victory at the Dardanelles --
Ch. 16. Russia's grab for Turkey --
Ch. 17. Defining Britain's goals in the Middle East --
Ch. 18. At the narrows of fortune --
Ch. 19. The warriors --
Ch. 20. The politicians --
Ch. 21. The light that failed --
Ch. 22. Creating the Arab Bureau --
Ch. 23. Making promises to the Arabs --
Ch. 24. Making promises to the European allies --
Ch. 25. Turkey's triumph at the Tigris --
Pt. 4. Subversion --
Ch. 26. Behind enemy lines --
Ch. 27. Kitchener's last mission --
Ch. 28. Hussein's revolt --
Pt. 5. The allies at the Nadir of their fortunes --
Ch. 29. The fall of the allied governments: Britain and France --
Ch. 30. The overthrow of the Czar --
Pt. 6. New worlds and promised lands --
Ch. 31. The new world --
Ch. 32. Lloyd George's Zionism --
Ch. 33. Toward the Balfour declaration --
Ch. 34. The promised land --
Pt. 7. Invading the Middle East --
Ch. 35. Jerusalem for Christmas --
Ch. 36. The road to Damascus --
Ch. 37. The battle for Syria --
Pt. 8. The spoils of Victory --
Ch. 38. The parting of the ways --
Ch. 39. By the shores of troy --
Pt. 9. The tide goes out --
Ch. 40. The ticking clock --
Ch. 41. Betrayal --
Ch. 42. The unreal world of the peace conferences --
Pt. 10. Storm over Asia --
Ch. 43. The troubles begin: 1919-1921 --
Ch. 44. Egypt: the winter of 1918-1919 --
Ch. 45. Afghanistan: The spring of 1919 --
Ch. 46. Arabia: The spring of 1919 --
Ch. 47. Turkey: January 1920 --
Ch. 48. Syria and Lebanon: The sprig and summer of 1920 --
Ch. 49. Eastern Palestine (Transjordan): 1920 --
Ch. 50. Palestine_Arab and Jews: 1920 --
Ch. 51. Mesopotamia (Iraq): 1920 --
Ch. 52. Persia (Iran): 1920 --
Pt. 11. Russia returns to the Middle East --
Ch. 53. Unmasking Britain's enemies --
Ch. 54. The Soviet challenge in the Middle East --
Ch. 55. Moscow's goals --
Ch. 56. A death in Bukhara --
Pt. 12. The Middle Eastern settlement of 1922 --
Ch. 57. Winston Churchill takes charge --
Ch. 58. Churchill and the question of Palestine --
Ch. 59. The alliances come apart --
Ch. 60. A Greek tragedy --
Ch. 61. The settlement of the Middle Eastern question.

The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts – including the hostilities between Arabs and Israelis, and the violent challenges posed by Iraq's competing sects – are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War.

In A Peace to End All Peace, David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time, showing how the choices narrowed and the Middle East began along a road that led to the conflicts and confusion that continue to this day.

A new afterword from Fromkin, written for this edition of the book, includes his invaluable, updated assessment of this region of the world today, and on what this history has to teach us.