Turkey, the Great Powers, and the Bagdad Railway: A study in imperialism

This work examines how the Ottoman Empire became a focal point for competing European and American interests at the turn of the twentieth century. Using the Bagdad Railway as a case study, the author traces the tangled negotiations, financial deals, and diplomatic maneuvers that drew Britain, Germany, France, and the United States into the region’s politics and commerce. The narrative reveals how infrastructure projects were wielded as tools of influence, shaping both the empire’s internal reforms and its external relations.

The author’s access to previously unpublished documents and firsthand accounts brings vivid detail to the era’s economic imperialism. Readers will encounter the perspectives of financiers, diplomats, and Ottoman officials as they grapple with questions of sovereignty, corruption, and modernization. The book offers a nuanced look at the early stages of a struggle whose reverberations still echo in today’s Middle‑Eastern geopolitics.