Extremely refreshing take on the fall of the Ottoman Empire, starting with the Balkan wars and ending with the Turkish Defeat of Greece in 1923. McMeekin's thesis is that the Empire never had a chance in the First World War: due to its exhaustion in the First and Second Balkan wars, and being completely overmatched by its opponents. He dismisses the Skyes-Picot agreement as the reason for modern middle eastern turmoil citing that the Ottoman Empire was already experiencing ethnic issues before the war. Ataturks revival and rebirth of the Turkish state was extremely impressive, but also relied on intelligent state building that gave Turkey natural ethnic and geographic boundaries that still exist today. My one criticism is that the battle descriptions are way too detailed and long.